{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7148365240","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","title":"Finding and Reactivating Post-Trained LLMs' Hidden Safety Mechanisms","display_name":"Finding and Reactivating Post-Trained LLMs' Hidden Safety Mechanisms","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-03-10","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7148365240","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132819221","display_name":"Mingjie Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Li, Mingjie","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132789727","display_name":"Wai Man Si","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Si, Wai Man","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132790672","display_name":"Michael Backes","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Backes, Michael","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132793350","display_name":"Yang Zhang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhang, Yang","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132801264","display_name":"Yisen Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Yisen","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":5,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5132819221"],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.49050000309944153,"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/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.49050000309944153,"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/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.11829999834299088,"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/T11636","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education","score":0.09179999679327011,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/2718","display_name":"Health Informatics"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/27","display_name":"Medicine"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/4","display_name":"Health Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/generality","display_name":"Generality","score":0.8406000137329102},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/visual-reasoning","display_name":"Visual reasoning","score":0.46540001034736633},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/mechanism","display_name":"Mechanism (biology)","score":0.34619998931884766},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/poison-control","display_name":"Poison control","score":0.2883000075817108},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/system-safety","display_name":"System safety","score":0.26660001277923584}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780767217","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5532421","display_name":"Generality","level":2,"score":0.8406000137329102},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6657000184059143},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777508537","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7936620","display_name":"Visual reasoning","level":2,"score":0.46540001034736633},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.426800012588501},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C112930515","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4389547","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","level":1,"score":0.40470001101493835},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C89611455","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6804646","display_name":"Mechanism (biology)","level":2,"score":0.34619998931884766},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.33559998869895935},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C3017944768","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1450463","display_name":"Poison control","level":2,"score":0.2883000075817108},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C180747234","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23373","display_name":"Cognitive psychology","level":1,"score":0.28540000319480896},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C107457646","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q207434","display_name":"Human\u2013computer interaction","level":1,"score":0.2727000117301941},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C132835097","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7663745","display_name":"System safety","level":2,"score":0.26660001277923584},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.26649999618530273},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C42058472","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q810214","display_name":"Base (topology)","level":2,"score":0.2644999921321869},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C4554734","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q593744","display_name":"Knowledge base","level":2,"score":0.2574000060558319}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.00012","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/4","score":0.7548956274986267,"display_name":"Quality Education"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Despite":[0],"the":[1,29,55,61,74,99,116,121,165,210],"impressive":[2],"performance":[3],"of":[4,57,102,120,144,214],"general-purpose":[5],"large":[6,23,40],"language":[7,41],"models":[8,25,42,65],"(LLMs),":[9],"they":[10],"often":[11],"require":[12],"fine-tuning":[13],"or":[14,63,79],"post-training":[15,37,78,113,130],"to":[16,67,83,87,128],"excel":[17],"at":[18,54],"specific":[19],"tasks.":[20],"For":[21],"instance,":[22],"reasoning":[24,34,195],"(LRMs),":[26],"such":[27],"as":[28,60,93],"DeepSeek-R1":[30],"series,":[31],"demonstrate":[32],"strong":[33],"capabilities":[35],"after":[36],"different":[38],"general":[39],"on":[43,151,174,179,190,201],"diverse":[44],"chain-of-thought":[45],"(CoT)":[46],"datasets.":[47],"However,":[48],"this":[49,103,107],"additional":[50,199],"training":[51],"frequently":[52],"comes":[53],"cost":[56],"reduced":[58],"safety,":[59],"fine-tuned":[62],"post-trained":[64],"tend":[66],"exhibit":[68],"more":[69],"harmful":[70,84,191],"behaviors":[71,168],"compared":[72],"with":[73,171],"regular":[75],"LLMs":[76],"before":[77],"fine-tuning,":[80],"potentially":[81],"leading":[82],"outcomes":[85],"due":[86],"their":[88,129,148],"enhanced":[89],"capabilities.":[90],"Taking":[91],"LRMs":[92,182],"an":[94],"example,":[95],"we":[96,134,154],"first":[97],"investigate":[98],"underlying":[100],"cause":[101],"safety":[104,118,139,167,189],"degradation":[105],"in":[106],"paper.":[108],"Our":[109],"analysis":[110],"reveals":[111],"that":[112,137,163,184],"can":[114],"mask":[115],"original":[117],"mechanisms":[119,140],"base":[122],"LLM,":[123],"while":[124],"over-amplifying":[125],"representations":[126],"related":[127],"ability.":[131],"But":[132],"luckily,":[133],"also":[135],"find":[136],"LRMs'":[138],"still":[141],"exist":[142],"instead":[143],"being":[145],"removed":[146],"during":[147],"post-training.":[149],"Based":[150],"these":[152],"findings,":[153],"propose":[155],"a":[156,175],"lightweight":[157],"and":[158,212],"cost-effective":[159],"solution":[160],"called":[161],"SafeReAct":[162],"restores":[164],"suppressed":[166],"by":[169],"aligning":[170],"LoRA":[172],"adapters":[173],"few":[176],"layers.":[177],"Experiments":[178],"four":[180],"state-of-the-art":[181],"show":[183],"our":[185,215],"method":[186],"significantly":[187],"improves":[188],"prompts":[192],"without":[193],"compromising":[194],"performance.":[196],"Besides":[197],"LRMs,":[198],"results":[200],"other":[202],"domain-specific":[203],"LLMs,":[204],"like":[205],"medical":[206],"models,":[207],"further":[208],"confirm":[209],"generality":[211],"effectiveness":[213],"approach.":[216]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-04-03T16:44:17.987007","created_date":"2026-04-03T00:00:00"}
