Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 warn of a proof-of-concept (PoC) assault method during which risk actors may use AI instruments to generate malicious JavaScript in actual time on seemingly innocuous webpages.
“As soon as loaded within the sufferer’s browser, the preliminary webpage makes requests for client-side JavaScript to widespread and trusted LLM purchasers (e.g., DeepSeek and Google Gemini, although the PoC could possibly be efficient throughout numerous fashions),” the researchers write.
“Attackers can then trick the LLM into returning malicious JavaScript snippets utilizing rigorously engineered prompts that circumvent security guardrails. These snippets are then assembled and executed within the browser’s runtime to render a completely useful phishing web page. This leaves behind no static, detectable payload.”
Whereas authentic AI instruments have measures to forestall misuse, the researchers discovered that they might rephrase their prompts to trick the AI into performing malicious actions.
“The assault’s success hinged on cautious immediate engineering to bypass the LLM’s built-in safeguards,” the researchers write. “We discovered easy rephrasing was remarkably efficient. For example, a request for a generic $AJAX POST perform was permitted, whereas a direct request for ‘code to exfiltrate credentials’ was blocked. Moreover, indicators of compromise (IoCs) (e.g., Base64-encoded exfiltration URLs) is also hidden inside the immediate itself to maintain the preliminary web page clear.”
Unit 42 provides, “The dynamic nature of this assault, together with runtime meeting within the browser, makes it a formidable protection problem. This assault mannequin creates a novel variant for each sufferer. Every malicious payload is dynamically generated and distinctive, transmitted over a trusted area.”
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Unit 42 has the story.
