Skip to content

Tool Poisoning Attack Prevention

What is Tool Poisoning?

Tool Poisoning is a significant security threat in systems that utilize external or dynamically loaded tools, particularly in AI and Large Language Model (LLM) ecosystems. It occurs when a malicious actor successfully deploys a tool that masquerades as a legitimate, trusted tool. The aim is to deceive users, or the LLM itself, into executing the malicious tool, leading to various harmful outcomes.

Attack Vectors

  1. Identity Spoofing: The malicious tool uses a name, description, or provider information identical or very similar to a known trusted tool.
  2. Deceptive Functionality: The tool might appear to perform its advertised function correctly for simple cases, while secretly carrying out malicious activities in the background or for specific inputs.
  3. Lack of Verification: Systems that don't rigorously verify tool authenticity, origin, or integrity are vulnerable.

Potential Impacts

  • Data Theft: Exfiltration of sensitive information, PII, credentials, or proprietary data processed by the tool.
  • Malware Execution: Running arbitrary code on the host system or within the user's environment.
  • Privilege Escalation: Gaining unauthorized access or higher privileges within the system.
  • Denial of Service (DoS): Disrupting the availability of the system or legitimate tools.
  • Compromise of LLM Integrity: Manipulating LLM outputs, behavior, or decision-making processes.
  • Supply Chain Attacks: If the poisoned tool is itself a development or integration tool, it can compromise a wider ecosystem.

ETDI's Mitigation Strategies

The Enhanced Tool Definition Interface (ETDI) provides a robust framework to combat tool poisoning attacks through multiple layers of security:

  1. Cryptographic Signatures & Verification:

    • Authenticity: Tools are cryptographically signed by their providers. ETDI clients verify these signatures, typically by having access to the provider's public key or by retrieving it from a trusted source, before execution.
    • Integrity: The signature ensures that the tool's definition and metadata have not been tampered with since publication.

  2. Provider Authentication & Trust Management:

    • OAuth 2.0 Integration: ETDI encourages tools to be protected by OAuth 2.0, ensuring that the tool provider is authenticated. This helps confirm the identity of the entity serving the tool.
    • Client-Side Verification: The ETDI client is responsible for verifying the authenticity of the tool provider, often through mechanisms like checking the issuer of an OAuth token or validating a known signature.

  3. Rich Security Metadata:

    • ETDI tool definitions include comprehensive security metadata, such as required permissions (scopes), call stack constraints, and data handling policies.
    • Clients can analyze this metadata before tool execution to assess risk and enforce policies.

  4. Client-Side Security Analysis Engine:

    • ETDI clients incorporate a security analysis engine that evaluates tools based on their ETDI compliance, signature validity, OAuth protection, and other security attributes.
    • This engine can assign trust scores and make informed decisions (allow, warn, block) about tool execution.

  5. Secure Tool Discovery & Invocation Workflow:

    • Discovery: Clients prioritize tools with strong ETDI security signals.
    • Verification: Mandatory verification steps before a tool is considered for execution.
    • Approval (Optional): For sensitive operations or less trusted tools, user or administrative approval can be enforced.

Best Practices for Developers and Users

  • Providers: Always sign your tools with a strong private key. Protect your tools with OAuth 2.0. Clearly define security metadata.
  • Developers (integrating ETDI): Implement rigorous signature verification. Use the ETDI client's security analysis capabilities. Prefer tools with complete and verified ETDI metadata.
  • Users: Be cautious of tools from unverified sources. Pay attention to warnings from ETDI-compliant clients.

By combining these technical measures and best practices, ETDI significantly raises the bar against tool poisoning attacks, fostering a more secure and trustworthy tool ecosystem.

How to see Tool poisoining Demo:

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/vineethsai/python-sdk.git
cd python-sdk-etdi

2. Set Up Virtual Environment

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -e .

4. Set up oauth (Autho0 for example), see autho

5.