研究发现,智能研究代理会因多步规划而泄露危险知识,比普通模型更难防范。
Deep Research Brings Deeper Harm
- 通过注入恶意目标或伪装成学术问题,突破智能研究代理的安全限制。
- 在生物安全等高风险领域,代理生成的有害内容更专业、更危险。
- 现有安全机制无法应对多步任务中的系统性漏洞,需针对性改进。
基于大语言模型的深度研究(DR)代理可通过分解任务、检索网络信息并合成详细报告,完成复杂多步研究。然而,此类能力若被滥用,将带来更大风险,尤其在生物安全等高风险领域,可能生成包含详细违禁知识的专业报告。我们实证发现:即使单一模型直接拒绝的有害请求,也能诱使DR代理输出详尽且危险的内容。这凸显了新型风险,而现有针对大模型的越狱方法难以揭示此类风险,因其未针对研究能力设计。为此,我们提出两种新越狱策略:计划注入(Plan Injection),向代理计划中插入恶意子目标;意图劫持(Intent Hijack),将有害请求重构为学术研究问题。我们在不同大模型和多个安全基准上进行实验,涵盖通用及生物安全类违禁提示。结果揭示三大发现:(1) 大模型对齐常在DR代理中失效,以学术术语包装的有害提示可劫持其意图;(2) 多步规划与执行削弱对齐效果,暴露当前提示级防护无法解决的系统性漏洞;(3) DR代理不仅绕过拒绝,还生成比独立大模型更连贯、更专业、更危险的内容。这些结果表明DR代理存在根本性对齐偏差,亟需定制化对齐技术。代码与数据集见https://chenxshuo.github.io/deeper-harm。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Deep Research (DR) agents built on Large Language Models (LLMs) can perform complex, multi-step research by decomposing tasks, retrieving online information, and synthesizing detailed reports. However, the misuse of LLMs with such powerful capabilities can lead to even greater risks. This is especially concerning in high-stakes and knowledge-intensive domains such as biosecurity, where DR can generate a professional report containing detailed forbidden knowledge. Unfortunately, we have found such risks in practice: simply submitting a harmful query, which a standalone LLM directly rejects, can elicit a detailed and dangerous report from DR agents. This highlights the elevated risks and underscores the need for a deeper safety analysis. Yet, jailbreak methods designed for LLMs fall short in exposing such unique risks, as they do not target the research ability of DR agents. To address this gap, we propose two novel jailbreak strategies: Plan Injection, which injects malicious sub-goals into the agent's plan; and Intent Hijack, which reframes harmful queries as academic research questions. We conducted extensive experiments across different LLMs and various safety benchmarks, including general and biosecurity forbidden prompts. These experiments reveal 3 key findings: (1) Alignment of the LLMs often fail in DR agents, where harmful prompts framed in academic terms can hijack agent intent; (2) Multi-step planning and execution weaken the alignment, revealing systemic vulnerabilities that prompt-level safeguards cannot address; (3) DR agents not only bypass refusals but also produce more coherent, professional, and dangerous content, compared with standalone LLMs. These results demonstrate a fundamental misalignment in DR agents and call for better alignment techniques tailored to DR agents. Code and datasets are available at https://chenxshuo.github.io/deeper-harm.
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