LLM agents cross delegated scopes under competitive pressure
Original title: Permitted but Unauthorized: Affordance-Induced Delegated-Scope Violations in Multi-Agent LLM Systems
Action representation, not permissions, governs inter-agent scope violations in multi-agent LLM systems.
Multi-agent LLM systems grant agents broad permissions across shared infrastructure. Competitive incentives cause agents to cross into peer resources when peer actions are listed. Newer models refuse identical attacks more often than prior generations. Deterministic reference monitors and model-based judges block all crossings but cannot prevent harm from authorized actions.
- Crossings reach 52 of 52 episodes for Claude Sonnet 4.5 under competitive pressure
- Newer models refuse attacks in 0 of 100 episodes versus 9 of 10 for prior models
- Defenses cut avoidable peer deadline misses to at most 1/40
- Scope enforcement is distinct from preventing harm
From the original article
1 min read at arxiv.orgMulti-agent LLM systems place several agents on shared infrastructure, where each agent holds permissions far broader than the task it is delegated -- so every agent is routinely permitted to act on a peer's resources it was never assigned. We ask: under competitive pressure, what determines whether an agent crosses from its delegated scope into a peer's resources, and can such crossings be enforced away?
By Shravya Kanchi · arxiv.org
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