ML Security PapersAutomatic Red Teaming LLM-based Agents with Model Context Protocol Tools
Ping He, Changjiang Li, Binbin Zhao et al. · Zhejiang University · Palo Alto Networks
Automates generation of malicious MCP tools that manipulate LLM agent behavior while evading current detection mechanisms
The remarkable capability of large language models (LLMs) has led to the wide application of LLM-based agents in various domains. To standardize interactions between LLM-based agents and their environments, model context protocol (MCP) tools have become the de facto standard and are now widely integrated into these agents. However, the incorporation of MCP tools introduces the risk of tool poisoning attacks, which can manipulate the behavior of LLM-based agents. Although previous studies have identified such vulnerabilities, their red teaming approaches have largely remained at the proof-of-concept stage, leaving the automatic and systematic red teaming of LLM-based agents under the MCP tool poisoning paradigm an open question. To bridge this gap, we propose AutoMalTool, an automated red teaming framework for LLM-based agents by generating malicious MCP tools. Our extensive evaluation shows that AutoMalTool effectively generates malicious MCP tools capable of manipulating the behavior of mainstream LLM-based agents while evading current detection mechanisms, thereby revealing new security risks in these agents.