What is Agent Goal Hijack?

Agent Goal Hijack occurs when an attacker manipulates an agent's objectives or decision pathways. Unlike traditional LLM attacks that focus on altering a single response, ASI01 targets the planning logic of the agent.

Agents rely on natural-language instructions, so they often can’t reliably distinguish between a legitimate command from a developer and malicious content embedded in a retrieved document or email.

Examples of ASI01:

EchoLeak: A "zero-click" attack where a crafted email silently triggers an AI (like Microsoft 365 Copilot) to exfiltrate confidential files and chat logs without any user interaction.

Goal-Lock Drift: A malicious calendar invite injects recurring instructions that subtly reweight the agent's objectives every morning, steering it toward unauthorized approvals.

Financial Manipulation: A malicious prompt override tricks a financial agent into transferring funds directly to an attacker's account.

Mitigation Methods

OWASP recommends a "Least Agency" approach which avoids unnecessary autonomy.

Key Strategies:

1. Enforce Human-in-the-Loop: Require human approval for high-impact actions
2. Intent Validation: Validate both the user's intent and the agent's proposed intent before execution.
3. Sanitize All Inputs: Apply Zero Trust to all your data sources.
4. Behavioral Baselines: Monitor continuously to detect anomalous tool-use patterns.

As we continue to adopt AI agents at scale, understanding and mitigating Agent Goal Hijack is absolutely essential for the next generation of secure automation.

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