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Confusion is the Final Barrier: Rethinking Jailbreak Evaluation and Investigating the Real Misuse Threat of LLMs

Authors: Yu Yan, Sheng Sun, Zhe Wang, Yijun Lin, Zenghao Duan, zhifei zheng, Min Liu, Zhiyi yin, Jianping Zhang

Published: 2025-08-22

arXiv ID: 2508.16347v1

Added to Library: 2025-08-25 04:01 UTC

Red Teaming

📄 Abstract

With the development of Large Language Models (LLMs), numerous efforts have revealed their vulnerabilities to jailbreak attacks. Although these studies have driven the progress in LLMs' safety alignment, it remains unclear whether LLMs have internalized authentic knowledge to deal with real-world crimes, or are merely forced to simulate toxic language patterns. This ambiguity raises concerns that jailbreak success is often attributable to a hallucination loop between jailbroken LLM and judger LLM. By decoupling the use of jailbreak techniques, we construct knowledge-intensive Q\&A to investigate the misuse threats of LLMs in terms of dangerous knowledge possession, harmful task planning utility, and harmfulness judgment robustness. Experiments reveal a mismatch between jailbreak success rates and harmful knowledge possession in LLMs, and existing LLM-as-a-judge frameworks tend to anchor harmfulness judgments on toxic language patterns. Our study reveals a gap between existing LLM safety assessments and real-world threat potential.

🔍 Key Points

  • Introduction of the VENOM framework for evaluating LLMs' harmful potential beyond traditional jailbreak assessments.
  • Extensive experimentation highlighting the disparity between verbosity in jailbreak success and the actual harmful knowledge retained in LLMs.
  • Assessment of existing LLM-as-a-judge frameworks revealing their insensitivity to factual inaccuracies and reliance on superficial linguistic patterns for harmfulness judgments.
  • A structured methodology for constructing counterfactual tasks to better understand LLM capabilities in harmful planning and judgment abilities.
  • Exploration of the social risks posed by LLMs in their capacity for producing potentially harmful content in various crime-related domains.

💡 Why This Paper Matters

This paper provides vital insights into the vulnerabilities of large language models in the context of security threats posed by their misuse. The introduction of the VENOM framework represents a significant step forward in improving the reliability of assessments related to the potential harm of LLMs, moving towards a more authentic understanding of their capabilities. Its findings shed light on the need for stricter evaluation standards in AI safety assessments, particularly in instances where malicious use of LLMs might occur.

🎯 Why It's Interesting for AI Security Researchers

AI security researchers would find this paper particularly relevant as it addresses the pressing issue of jailbreak vulnerabilities in LLMs and assesses their real-world misuse potential. The methodologies outlined and the findings regarding the limitations of existing evaluation frameworks provide a basis for improving LLM safety metrics. Furthermore, by highlighting gaps in knowledge retention and judgment accuracy, this research invites ongoing scrutiny and development of robust AI safety protocols.

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