{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7154604711","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479","title":"Hidden Tail: Adversarial Attack for Stealthy Resource Consumption Against Vision-Language Models","display_name":"Hidden Tail: Adversarial Attack for Stealthy Resource Consumption Against Vision-Language Models","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-04-16","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7154604711","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S133795288","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing","issn_l":"1545-5971","issn":["1545-5971","1941-0018","2160-9209"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Rui Zhang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6412-9338"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rui Zhang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6412-9338","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5019172013","display_name":"Zihan Wang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5184-6637"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zihan Wang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5184-6637","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5101330018","display_name":"Tianli Yang","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Tianli Yang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2734-7943","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5066542952","display_name":"Wenbo Jiang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4592-8094"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wenbo Jiang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4592-8094","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5113368675","display_name":"Rui Zhang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1200-2588"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rui Zhang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1200-2588","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5081847082","display_name":"Qingchuan Zhao","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0163-2846"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I168719708","display_name":"City University of Hong Kong","ror":"https://ror.org/03q8dnn23","country_code":"HK","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I168719708"]}],"countries":["HK"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Qingchuan Zhao","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0163-2846","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I168719708"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Hongwei Li","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1961-7946"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Hongwei Li","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1961-7946","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100355814","display_name":"Yang Liu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1917-783X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I172675005","display_name":"Nanyang Technological University","ror":"https://ror.org/02e7b5302","country_code":"SG","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I172675005"]}],"countries":["SG"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yang Liu","raw_affiliation_strings":["Cyber Security Laboratory, College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7300-9215","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Cyber Security Laboratory, College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I172675005"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5046950426","display_name":"Guowen Xu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9764-9345"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I150229711","display_name":"University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","ror":"https://ror.org/04qr3zq92","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Guowen Xu","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9764-9345","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Engineering (School of Cybersecurity), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I150229711"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":3,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.43504014,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":"23","issue":"4","first_page":"8447","last_page":"8459"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.9670000076293945,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.9670000076293945,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10883","display_name":"Ethics and Social Impacts of AI","score":0.012600000016391277,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3311","display_name":"Safety Research"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.004100000020116568,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/adversarial-system","display_name":"Adversarial system","score":0.6830000281333923},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/resource-consumption","display_name":"Resource consumption","score":0.5504000186920166},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/consumption","display_name":"Consumption (sociology)","score":0.5029000043869019},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/resource","display_name":"Resource (disambiguation)","score":0.4948999881744385},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/resource-management","display_name":"Resource management (computing)","score":0.4120999872684479},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/key","display_name":"Key (lock)","score":0.3549000024795532},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/power-consumption","display_name":"Power consumption","score":0.3476000130176544},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/cryptography","display_name":"Cryptography","score":0.34209999442100525}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.8008000254631042},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C37736160","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1801315","display_name":"Adversarial system","level":2,"score":0.6830000281333923},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.6151999831199646},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777480716","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23582796","display_name":"Resource consumption","level":2,"score":0.5504000186920166},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C30772137","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5164762","display_name":"Consumption (sociology)","level":2,"score":0.5029000043869019},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C206345919","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20380951","display_name":"Resource (disambiguation)","level":2,"score":0.4948999881744385},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C31258907","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1301371","display_name":"Computer network","level":1,"score":0.4487000107765198},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780609101","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17156588","display_name":"Resource management (computing)","level":2,"score":0.4120999872684479},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26517878","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q228039","display_name":"Key (lock)","level":2,"score":0.3549000024795532},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2984118289","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29954","display_name":"Power consumption","level":3,"score":0.3476000130176544},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C178489894","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8789","display_name":"Cryptography","level":2,"score":0.34209999442100525},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C106516650","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8366","display_name":"Algorithm design","level":2,"score":0.33570000529289246},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780165032","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16869822","display_name":"Energy consumption","level":2,"score":0.33309999108314514},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C3020028006","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9158","display_name":"Electronic mail","level":2,"score":0.31769999861717224},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C29202148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q287260","display_name":"Resource allocation","level":2,"score":0.31279999017715454},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C140547941","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7797194","display_name":"Threat model","level":2,"score":0.2989000082015991},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C203062551","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q201339","display_name":"Public-key cryptography","level":3,"score":0.290800005197525},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C67186912","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q367664","display_name":"Data modeling","level":2,"score":0.2863999903202057},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C93996380","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44127","display_name":"Server","level":2,"score":0.27250000834465027},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779089604","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7169333","display_name":"Permission","level":2,"score":0.25029999017715454}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tdsc.2026.3684479","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S133795288","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing","issn_l":"1545-5971","issn":["1545-5971","1941-0018","2160-9209"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320439","host_organization_name":"IEEE Computer Society","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320439","https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["IEEE Computer Society","Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[{"display_name":"Decent work and economic growth","score":0.49806204438209534,"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/8"}],"awards":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/G6873458891","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"62402087","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","funder_display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China"},{"id":"https://openalex.org/G7486496408","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"62502075","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","funder_display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China"},{"id":"https://openalex.org/G8865301320","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"U25B2079","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","funder_display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China"}],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","ror":"https://ror.org/01h0zpd94"}],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Vision-Language":[0],"Models":[1],"(VLMs)":[2],"are":[3],"increasingly":[4],"deployed":[5],"in":[6],"real-world":[7],"applications,":[8],"but":[9],"their":[10],"high":[11],"inference":[12,35],"cost":[13],"makes":[14],"them":[15],"vulnerable":[16],"to":[17,24,84,93,139,157],"resource":[18,74],"consumption":[19,75],"attacks.":[20,61],"Prior":[21],"attacks":[22],"attempt":[23],"extend":[25],"VLM":[26],"output":[27,135],"sequences":[28],"by":[29,88,137],"optimizing":[30],"adversarial":[31,80,165],"images,":[32,81],"thereby":[33],"increasing":[34,134],"costs.":[36],"However,":[37],"these":[38],"extended":[39],"outputs":[40,87],"often":[41],"introduce":[42],"irrelevant":[43],"abnormal":[44],"content,":[45],"compromising":[46],"attack":[47,76,149],"stealthiness.":[48,150],"This":[49],"trade-off":[50],"between":[51],"effectiveness":[52],"and":[53,110,141],"stealthiness":[54],"poses":[55],"a":[56,72,98,119],"major":[57],"limitation":[58],"for":[59],"existing":[60,132],"To":[62],"address":[63],"this":[64],"challenge,":[65],"we":[66],"propose":[67],"<italic":[68,127],"xmlns:mml=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"":[69,128,173],"xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\">Hidden":[70,129],"Tail</i>,":[71],"stealthy":[73],"that":[77,102,126],"crafts":[78],"prompt-agnostic":[79],"inducing":[82],"VLMs":[83,162],"generate":[85],"maximum-length":[86],"appending":[89],"special":[90,107],"tokens":[91],"invisible":[92],"users.":[94],"Our":[95,167],"method":[96],"employs":[97],"composite":[99],"loss":[100],"function":[101],"balances":[103],"semantic":[104],"preservation,":[105],"repetitive":[106],"token":[108,145],"induction,":[109],"suppression":[111],"of":[112,161],"the":[113,143,154,159],"end-of-sequence":[114],"(EOS)":[115],"token,":[116],"optimized":[117],"via":[118],"dynamic":[120],"weighting":[121],"strategy.":[122],"Extensive":[123],"experiments":[124],"show":[125],"Tail</i>":[130],"outperforms":[131],"attacks,":[133],"length":[136],"up":[138],"19.2\u00d7":[140],"reaching":[142],"maximum":[144],"limit,":[146],"while":[147],"preserving":[148],"These":[151],"results":[152],"highlight":[153],"urgent":[155],"need":[156],"improve":[158],"robustness":[160],"against":[163],"efficiency-oriented":[164],"threats.":[166],"code":[168],"is":[169],"available":[170],"at":[171],"<uri":[172],"xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\">https://github.com/zhangrui4041/Hidden_Tail</uri>.":[174]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-07-11T05:44:25.926202","created_date":"2026-04-17T00:00:00"}