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Authority Gradient Exploitation

๐Ÿ”ด CRITICAL delegation proven AVE-2025-0040

ยท aka: Hierarchy Hijacking, Chain-of-Command Attack

Summary

Attackers impersonate higher-authority agents or system components to override safety constraints. Subordinate agents follow instructions from perceived superiors without verification.

Blast Radius

Complete safety bypass. Agent performs any action if framed as coming from authority.

Prerequisites

Agent operating in a hierarchical multi-agent system or with role-based access.

Environment

  • Frameworks: LangGraph
  • Models tested: [Available in NAIL SDK]
  • Multi-agent: Yes
  • Tools required: No
  • Memory required: No