Backdoor Detection

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2 papers in the last four weeks, against 2 the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

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TMT: Runtime Backdoor Detection for Vision-Language-Action Policies on Unseen Tasks
Oct 7, 2026Zirun Zhou, Jingfeng Zhang, HaoChuan Xu +4Backdoor Detection Robustness of VLA Models
The University of Auckland · Fudan University · Institute of Science Tokyo
Weight Oracles: Reading Neural Network Weights with Language Models
Oct 5, 2026Krishna Kabra, Constantin Venhoff, Christian Schroeder de WittLLM Auditing Backdoor Detection
University of Oxford
Security Properties of Neural Networks as Decision Problems
Sep 30, 2026Adrian WurmNeural Network Verification Adversarial Attacks
BTU Cottbus–Senftenberg, Lehrstuhl Theoretische Informatik Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
SpecGuard: Inference-Time Backdoor Detection For Free
Sep 11, 2026Rui Wen, Ahmed Salem, Andrew Paverd +2Backdoor Detection Backdoor Defense in LLMs
Institute of Science Tokyo · Microsoft Security Response Center · Microsoft Azure +1
Beyond Small Patches: Black-Box Detection and Purification of Diverse Backdoor Triggers
Sep 2, 2026Ahmed Abdelnaby, Mohamed ElmahallawyBackdoor Detection Backdoor Defense
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Washington State University, Richland, WA 99354, USA
When Explanations Betray Backdoors: Black-Box Auditing for Language Model Classifiers
Aug 12, 2026Yang Liu, Ran ZouLLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine
LoRAScan: Detecting Backdoor Prompts in Low-Rank Adapters for Large Language Models via Down-Projection Activation Spikes
Aug 7, 2026Doniyorkhon Obidov, Honggang Yu, Xiaolong Guo +1LLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Michigan Technological University · Miami University · Lehigh University
When Modalities Fail to Tango: Conformal Backdoor Detection in Multimodal Contrastive Learning
Aug 4, 2026Yiming Chen, Kemou Li, Haiwei Wu +1Backdoor Detection Multimodal Contrastive Learning
State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City, University of Macau · School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Z-PEFT: Zero-shot Backdoor Detection in Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning via Canonical Spectral Signatures
Aug 3, 2026Nicola Pitzalis, Donald Shenaj, Giacomo Cignoni +3Backdoor Detection Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning
University of Pisa
Temporal Poisoning: Clean-Label Backdoors via Event Redistribution in SNNs
Jul 30, 2026Roberto Riaño, Gorka Abad, Stjepan Picek +1Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Radboud University, The Netherlands · Ikerlan Research Centre, Spain · University of Bergen, Norway +1
ToxScreen: Detecting Whether an LLM Has Been Poisoned
Jul 29, 2026Anthony Hughes, Nicole Xing, Collin Francel +2LLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
University of Sheffield · Yale University · University of Alabama +2
Early Detection of Distributed Backdoors in Multi-Agent LLM Systems: A Characterization Study
Jul 27, 2026Diego Fernandez Arias, Dev Prashant Mistry, Ren Wang +1Multi-Agent LLM Systems LLM Backdoor Attacks
Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois, USA
SpeechGuard: Online Defense against Backdoor Attacks on Speech Recognition Models
Jul 17, 2026Jinwen Xin, Xixiang LvBackdoor Detection Automatic Speech Recognition
School of Cyber Engineering Xidian University Xi’an, China
When Local Monitors Miss Compositional Harm: Diagnosing Distributed Backdoors in Multi-Agent Systems
Jul 13, 2026Yibo Hu, Ren WangBackdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Illinois Institute of Technology
Detecting Ladder Logic Bombs in IEC 61131-3 PLC Programs using ESBMC-PLC+: A Formal Verification Approach with Trigger Synthesis
Jul 9, 2026Pierre Dantas, Lucas Cordeiro, Waldir JuniorCybersecurity Backdoor Detection
Electrical Engineering Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) Manaus, AM, Brazil
Beware What You Autocomplete: Forensic Attribution of Backdoored Code Completions
Jul 9, 2026Anjun Gao, Yueyang Quan, Zhuqing Liu +1LLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
University of Louisville · University of North Texas
ORAN-DEFEND: Subspace Detection and Sanitization of Backdoor DRL xApps in Open RAN
Jul 7, 2026Md Raihan Uddin, Fatemeh Lotfi, Tolunay Seyfi +1Adversarial Attacks Backdoor Detection
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Learning the Backdoor to Remove the Backdoor
Jul 7, 2026Qi Zhao, Christian WressneggerBackdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
KASTEL Security Research Labs · Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Calibration-Family Overfit: Why Trusted Sabotage Monitors Don't Transfer Across Lineages
Jul 6, 2026Lucas PintoBackdoor Detection AI Agent Monitoring
Independent Researcher
CSO-LLM: Class Subspace Orthogonalization for Post-Training Backdoor Detection and Trigger Inversion in LLMs
Jun 30, 2026Zhengxing Li, David J. Miller, Guangmingmei Yang +1LLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Electrical Engineering Dept Penn State University University Park, PA 16802 · Anomalee Inc. · Computer Science & Engineering Dept Penn State University University Park, PA 16802 +1
Token-Level Generalization in LoRA Adapter Backdoors: Attack Characterization and Behavioral Detection
May 28, 2026Travis LelleLLM Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Detecting Trojaned DNNs via Spectral Regression Analysis
May 20, 2026Samuele Pasini, Jinhan Kim, Paolo TonellaBackdoor Detection
Università della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland · Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Your Neighbors Know: Leveraging Local Neighborhoods for Backdoor Detection in Decentralized Learning
May 19, 2026Sayan Biswas, Antoine Boutet, Davide Frey +7Backdoor Detection Decentralized Learning
1EPFL · 2Inria, INSA Lyon, CITI · 3Univ. Rennes, Inria, CNRS, IRISA
Fast and Lightweight Backdoor Detection via Head Random Probing
May 17, 2026Yinbo Yu, Xueyu Yin, Jing Fang +4Backdoor Detection
College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210016, China · School of Cybersecurity, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China · Shenzhen Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518057, China +1
Lightweight and Fast Backdoor Model Detection
May 17, 2026Yinbo Yu, Jing Fang, Xuewen Zhang +4Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210016, China · Shenzhen Research Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518057, China · School of Software, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710072, P.R. China +2
Universal Graph Backdoor Defense: A Feature-based Homophily Perspective
May 16, 2026Mengting Pan, Fan Li, Chen Chen +1Graph Neural Networks Backdoor Detection
The University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia · University of Wollongong Wollongong, Australia
EntropyScan: Towards Model-level Backdoor Detection in LVLMs via Visual Attention Entropy
May 15, 2026Xuanyu Ge, Zhongqi Wang, Jie Zhang +2Large Vision-Language Models Backdoor Detection
China University of Geosciences · University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences · Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Angel or Demon: Investigating the Plasticity Interventions' Impact on Backdoor Threats in Deep Reinforcement Learning
May 14, 2026Oubo Ma, Ruixiao Lin, Yang Dai +4Reinforcement Learning Backdoor Attacks
1Zhejiang University · 2National University of Defense Technol · 3Xi’an Jiaotong University
Backdoor Channels Hidden in Latent Space: Cryptographic Undetectability in Modern Neural Networks
May 13, 2026Marte Eggen, Eirik Reiestad, Kristian Gjøsteen +1Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology · Department of Mathematical Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Plan2Cleanse: Test-Time Backdoor Defense via Monte-Carlo Planning in Deep Reinforcement Learning
May 10, 2026Sze-Ann Chen, Zhi-Yi Chin, Kui-Yuan Chen +2Backdoor Detection Backdoor Defense
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan · CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Trapping Attacker in Dilemma: Examining Internal Correlations and External Influences of Trigger for Defending GNN Backdoors
May 8, 2026Fan Yang, Binyan Xu, Di Tang +1Graph Neural Networks Backdoor Attacks
The Chinese University of Hong Kong · Sun Yat-Sen University
Activation Differences Reveal Backdoors: A Comparison of SAE Architectures
May 8, 2026Sachin KumarLLM Backdoor Attacks LLM Interpretability
LexisNexis* · Raleigh, USA
BehaviorGuard: Online Backdoor Defense for Deep Reinforcement Learning
May 7, 2026Yinbo Yu, Xueyu Yin, Jiadai Wang +4Backdoor Attacks Backdoor Detection
College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics · School of Cybersecurity, Northwestern Polytechnical University · School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology +1
Detecting Data Poisoning in Code Generation LLMs via Black-Box, Vulnerability-Oriented Scanning
Mar 17, 2026Shenao Yan, Shan Jin, Shimaa Ahmed +4LLM Auditing Backdoor Detection
University of Connecticut · Visa Research

Oct 7, 2026, cs.ROJ/K move · Enter open · S save

TMT: Runtime Backdoor Detection for Vision-Language-Action Policies on Unseen Tasks

Zirun Zhou, Jingfeng Zhang, HaoChuan Xu, Xizhe Zhang+3

The University of Auckland · Fudan University · Institute of Science Tokyo

Backdoor Detection Robustness of VLA Models

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Backdoored vision-language-action (VLA) policies can preserve benign task performance while producing malicious actions when a trigger appears. Detecting such activation is difficult because malicious behavior can comprise individually plausible actions, while unfamiliar tasks introduce legitimate changes in observations and behavior. We introduce TMT, a runtime backdoor detector based on Token Manifold and latent Transition modeling. Trained on benign rollouts, its two branches assess input-token structure and prediction errors in adjacent-layer latent dynamics. A suspicious rollout identified by the token manifold branch, once confirmed through latent deviations, guides transition selection for subsequent monitoring. We further explore policy purification through self-distillation: a frozen copy of the backdoored policy provides benign-input actions to supervise a student on paired benign and triggered observations, without requiring a separate clean reference policy. For evaluation, we adapt traditional backdoor detectors and repurpose anomaly and failure detection methods as VLA backdoor detectors. In a post-hoc comparison with ten baselines, TMT achieves state-of-the-art backdoor detection performance on unseen tasks across three VLA backdoor attacks. Our project page is available at https://zzr42.github.io/tmt/.

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