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Exfiltration of personal information from ChatGPT via prompt injection

Authors: Gregory Schwartzman

Published: 2024-05-31

arXiv ID: 2406.00199v2

Added to Library: 2025-11-11 14:27 UTC

Red Teaming

📄 Abstract

We report that ChatGPT 4 and 4o are susceptible to a prompt injection attack that allows an attacker to exfiltrate users' personal data. It is applicable without the use of any 3rd party tools and all users are currently affected. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the recent introduction of ChatGPT's memory feature, which allows an attacker to command ChatGPT to monitor the user for the desired personal data.

🔍 Key Points

  • Demonstrates susceptibility of ChatGPT 4 and 4o to prompt injection attacks that can exfiltrate personal information, affecting all users.
  • Exploits the memory feature of ChatGPT to persistently store and later retrieve sensitive information without user awareness.
  • Presents detailed proof-of-concept examples highlighting how attackers can bypass existing defense mechanisms using subtle injection methods.
  • Describes advanced techniques for encoding data in URL requests, allowing attackers to retrieve complex data such as postal codes or long numerical identifiers.
  • Provides comprehensive mitigation strategies, emphasizing the need for improved security measures in AI models.

💡 Why This Paper Matters

This paper provides critical insights into the vulnerabilities of widely used language models like ChatGPT. The detailed exploration of prompt injection attacks and their potential to exfiltrate personal information underlines significant risks associated with AI systems that handle sensitive user data. The findings are highly relevant to developers and policymakers, advocating for enhanced security measures and user education to prevent data breaches.

🎯 Why It's Interesting for AI Security Researchers

AI security researchers would find this paper invaluable as it addresses the emerging threats posed by language models, particularly those related to user data protection and privacy. The novel methods outlined for exploiting prompt injection and the implications of the memory feature in AI systems can lead to a deeper understanding of security vulnerabilities and inform the development of more robust defensive frameworks against such attacks.

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