{
 "public_id": "AIR-2025-0002",
 "incident_id": "2025-01-openai-chatgpt-zombai-c2",
 "date_disclosed": "2025-01-06",
 "date_occurred": null,
 "title": "AI Domination: remote controlling ChatGPT ZombAI instances through memory-persisted C2 instructions",
 "class": "research_demo",
 "attack_surface": "consumer_chatbot",
 "initial_vector": "indirect_prompt_injection_document_web",
 "agent_capability_abused": [
  "memory_write",
  "web_browsing",
  "tool_invocation"
 ],
 "target_product": "ChatGPT",
 "target_vendor": "OpenAI",
 "autonomy_level": "assistant",
 "impact_realized": false,
 "impact_type": [
  "c2_control",
  "data_exfiltration",
  "persistent_memory_poisoning"
 ],
 "blast_radius": "ChatGPT users whose memory was poisoned",
 "cve": [],
 "taxonomy": {
  "owasp_asi": [
   "ASI01",
   "ASI06",
   "ASI02"
  ],
  "mitre_atlas": [],
  "labels": [
   "zombai",
   "c2",
   "memory_poisoning",
   "allowlist_abuse"
  ]
 },
 "defense_present": "url_safe domain allowlist (GitHub and Azure Blob Storage remain reachable)",
 "defense_bypassed": true,
 "fix_shipped": "partial - the SpAIware exfiltration was fixed September 2024 for iOS/macOS; disclosed to OpenAI early October 2024",
 "primary_sources": [
  "https://embracethered.com/blog/posts/2025/spaiware-and-chatgpt-command-and-control-via-prompt-injection-zombai/"
 ],
 "verified_quote": "An adversary can compromise ChatGPT instances and have them join a central Command and Control system which provides updated instructions for all the remote controlled ChatGPT instances to follow over-time.",
 "confidence": "high",
 "notes": "Extends the 2024 SpAIware work into a persistent C2 channel.",
 "risk_category": "security_fraud",
 "risk_secondary": [
  "privacy"
 ],
 "risk_subcategory": "Prompt Injection",
 "risk_sub_secondary": [
  "Persistence & Covert C2"
 ],
 "ai_entity": "generative",
 "agency": "agent_acted",
 "agency_debatable": false,
 "agency_reason": "the assistant executed C2 instructions persisted in memory",
 "vector_family": "indirect_prompt_injection",
 "vector_detail": "indirect_prompt_injection_document_web",
 "guardrail_kind": [
  "permission_scope"
 ],
 "guardrail_outcome": "silent",
 "xrefs": {
  "aiid": [],
  "atlas": [],
  "cve": [],
  "ghsa": []
 },
 "primary_asi": "ASI01",
 "agent_framework": "unknown",
 "model_provider": "openai",
 "model_name": "",
 "detection_mechanism": "external_researcher",
 "tool_access": "unknown",
 "financial_loss_band": "unknown",
 "eai_category": "data_and_memory_poisoning",
 "eai_domain": "reliability_and_observability",
 "eai_secondary": [
  "privilege_escalation",
  "data_exfiltration_channels",
  "confused_deputy"
 ],
 "eai_reason": "impact rule: data_and_memory_poisoning",
 "asi_curated": [
  "ASI01"
 ],
 "asi_scope": "in_scope",
 "asi_provenance": "curated_plus_rule",
 "asi_reason": "curated: ASI01 | added ASI06 (eai_category=data_and_memory_poisoning), ASI02 (impact=tool_misuse)",
 "submitted_by": "EAI Internal"
}