diff --git a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/mcp_debug.py b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/mcp_debug.py
index 254f208e231..e4bbe536c07 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/mcp_debug.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/mcp_debug.py
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ class MCPDebug:
             MCPRequestHandler,
         )
         from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.mcp_server_manager import (
+            INTERNAL_REQUEST,
             global_mcp_server_manager,
         )
 
@@ -300,9 +301,14 @@ class MCPDebug:
         server_auth_type: Optional[str] = None
         auth_resolution = "no-auth"
 
+        # Debug-header generation is passive observability — access control was
+        # already enforced upstream when the tool list was fetched. If the
+        # caller couldn't extract a client IP, don't drop the debug metadata;
+        # bypass the IP gate explicitly.
+        gate_arg = client_ip if client_ip is not None else INTERNAL_REQUEST
         for server_name in mcp_servers or []:
             server = global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_name(
-                server_name, client_ip=client_ip
+                server_name, client_ip=gate_arg
             )
             if server:
                 server_url = server.url
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
index b032bc4de26..009b503976d 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/server.py
@@ -885,15 +885,28 @@ if MCP_AVAILABLE:
             allowed_mcp_server_ids,
         )
         if _ip_blocked > 0:
-            verbose_logger.debug(
-                "MCP IP filtering: %d server(s) are not accessible from client IP %s "
-                "because they are restricted to internal networks. "
-                "No tools from those servers will be returned. "
-                "To expose a server externally, set 'available_on_public_internet: true' "
-                "in its configuration.",
-                _ip_blocked,
-                client_ip,
-            )
+            if client_ip is None:
+                # IP extraction failed (no X-Forwarded-* header, missing
+                # trusted-proxy config, etc.). Fail-closed at the gate
+                # silently dropped the servers — tell the operator to fix
+                # IP forwarding, NOT to expose the server publicly.
+                verbose_logger.debug(
+                    "MCP IP filtering: %d server(s) hidden because client IP "
+                    "could not be determined for this request. Fix request-IP "
+                    "extraction (X-Forwarded-For + trusted_proxies) so the "
+                    "gate can evaluate access.",
+                    _ip_blocked,
+                )
+            else:
+                verbose_logger.debug(
+                    "MCP IP filtering: %d server(s) are not accessible from "
+                    "client IP %s because they are restricted to internal "
+                    "networks. No tools from those servers will be returned. "
+                    "To expose a server externally, set "
+                    "'available_on_public_internet: true' in its configuration.",
+                    _ip_blocked,
+                    client_ip,
+                )
         allowed_mcp_servers: List[MCPServer] = []
         for allowed_mcp_server_id in allowed_mcp_server_ids:
             mcp_server = global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_id(
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/mcp_management_endpoints.py b/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/mcp_management_endpoints.py
index 7bda0f87ccd..abce1597bab 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/mcp_management_endpoints.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/mcp_management_endpoints.py
@@ -1557,9 +1557,18 @@ if MCP_AVAILABLE:
         if server is None:
             # Fall back to real DB/config server (e.g. for the user-side OAuth flow
             # which calls these endpoints with a real server_id, not a temp session id).
+            from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.mcp_server_manager import (
+                INTERNAL_REQUEST,
+            )
             from litellm.proxy.auth.ip_address_utils import IPAddressUtils
 
-            client_ip = IPAddressUtils.get_mcp_client_ip(request) if request else None
+            # Programmatic callers (no Request) bypass the IP gate explicitly.
+            # Real HTTP callers go through the normal extraction path.
+            client_ip = (
+                IPAddressUtils.get_mcp_client_ip(request)
+                if request
+                else INTERNAL_REQUEST
+            )
             server = global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_id(
                 server_id
             ) or global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_name(
diff --git a/litellm/responses/mcp/litellm_proxy_mcp_handler.py b/litellm/responses/mcp/litellm_proxy_mcp_handler.py
index 94cff6922b5..2e6a0668517 100644
--- a/litellm/responses/mcp/litellm_proxy_mcp_handler.py
+++ b/litellm/responses/mcp/litellm_proxy_mcp_handler.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ class LiteLLM_Proxy_MCP_Handler:
             List names of allowed MCP servers
         """
         from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.mcp_server_manager import (
+            INTERNAL_REQUEST,
             global_mcp_server_manager,
         )
         from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.server import (
@@ -216,7 +217,13 @@ class LiteLLM_Proxy_MCP_Handler:
         resolved_mcp_servers: List[str] = []
         resolved_toolset_ids: List[str] = []
         for name in mcp_servers:
-            if not global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_name(name):
+            # Server-side disambiguation between MCP server names and toolset
+            # names. Access control is enforced downstream by
+            # _get_allowed_mcp_servers_from_mcp_server_names; this lookup is
+            # purely "is `name` a known server?", so bypass the IP gate.
+            if not global_mcp_server_manager.get_mcp_server_by_name(
+                name, client_ip=INTERNAL_REQUEST
+            ):
                 try:
                     from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import prisma_client