Hacktron used OpenAI rival Anthropic’s Claude AI to help with the operation. According to the researchers, the model was used iteratively to refine the attack path and improve the exploit chain, including in reconnaissance, vulnerability analysis and exploit development.
Vibhum Dubey, a cybersecurity researcher and red teamer, said the findings reflect a shift in how AI systems are being used in attack scenarios.
“The focus is moving from an AI’s vulnerability to being deceived to the degree to which the AI is allowed to act on this deception,” Dubey said. “An autonomous agent can interpret instruction, call tools, write or run code, access files, and communicate with other systems — creating a much wider attack surface than would be the case for a conventional chatbot.”
