{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7161997852","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","title":"Trusted Weights, Treacherous Optimizations? Optimization-Triggered Backdoor Attacks on LLMs","display_name":"Trusted Weights, Treacherous Optimizations? Optimization-Triggered Backdoor Attacks on LLMs","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-05-20","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7161997852","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","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":"Preprint"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136707262","display_name":"Yifei Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Yifei","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136653417","display_name":"Tianlin Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Li, Tianlin","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136670851","display_name":"Xiaohan Zhang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhang, Xiaohan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136622859","display_name":"Yida Yang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yang, Yida","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136632497","display_name":"Xiaoyu Zhang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhang, Xiaoyu","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5136700305","display_name":"Li Pan","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Pan, Li","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":0,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"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/T11424","display_name":"Security and Verification in Computing","score":0.9054999947547913,"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/T11424","display_name":"Security and Verification in Computing","score":0.9054999947547913,"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":0.015699999406933784,"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/T12479","display_name":"Web Application Security Vulnerabilities","score":0.011800000444054604,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"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/backdoor","display_name":"Backdoor","score":0.830299973487854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/intersection","display_name":"Intersection (aeronautics)","score":0.6004999876022339},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/inference","display_name":"Inference","score":0.38580000400543213},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-deployment","display_name":"Software deployment","score":0.3671000003814697},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/optimization-problem","display_name":"Optimization problem","score":0.3190999925136566},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/equivalence","display_name":"Equivalence (formal languages)","score":0.29820001125335693},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/attack-surface","display_name":"Attack surface","score":0.2962000072002411}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2781045450","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q254569","display_name":"Backdoor","level":2,"score":0.830299973487854},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C38652104","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3510521","display_name":"Computer security","level":1,"score":0.696399986743927},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6868000030517578},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C64543145","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q162942","display_name":"Intersection (aeronautics)","level":2,"score":0.6004999876022339},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776214188","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q408386","display_name":"Inference","level":2,"score":0.38580000400543213},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C105339364","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2297740","display_name":"Software deployment","level":2,"score":0.3671000003814697},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137836250","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q984063","display_name":"Optimization problem","level":2,"score":0.3190999925136566},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780069185","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7977945","display_name":"Equivalence (formal languages)","level":2,"score":0.29820001125335693},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776576444","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q303569","display_name":"Attack surface","level":2,"score":0.2962000072002411},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C169590947","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q47506","display_name":"Compiler","level":2,"score":0.2953000068664551},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C37736160","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1801315","display_name":"Adversarial system","level":2,"score":0.2946999967098236},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780741293","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4818019","display_name":"Attack patterns","level":3,"score":0.29350000619888306},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780695315","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3799040","display_name":"Unobservable","level":2,"score":0.28600001335144043},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C28420585","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2665075","display_name":"Timing attack","level":4,"score":0.2822999954223633},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C108827166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q175975","display_name":"Internet privacy","level":1,"score":0.2743000090122223},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C140547941","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7797194","display_name":"Threat model","level":2,"score":0.25209999084472656}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","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":"Preprint"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2605.20641","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":"Preprint"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Inference":[0],"optimization":[1,17,100,155],"is":[2,12,79,101,136],"a":[3,51,85,147],"vital":[4],"technique":[5,18],"for":[6,19,72],"deploying":[7],"LLMs":[8,129],"at":[9,138,151],"scale.":[10],"Compilation":[11],"the":[13,27,64,77,82,152,159],"most":[14],"widely":[15],"adopted":[16],"LLMs.":[20,48],"While":[21],"it":[22],"assumes":[23],"semantic":[24],"equivalence":[25],"between":[26],"original":[28],"and":[29,130,156,163],"compiled":[30],"graphs,":[31],"we":[32,164],"first":[33],"uncover":[34],"its":[35],"numerical":[36],"side":[37],"effects":[38],"can":[39],"be":[40],"maliciously":[41],"exploited":[42],"to":[43,63,168],"implant":[44],"stealthy":[45],"backdoors":[46,118],"in":[47,158],"We":[49,112],"propose":[50],"unified":[52],"optimization-triggered":[53,117],"attack":[54,120,149],"framework":[55],"comprising":[56],"two":[57],"complementary":[58],"strategies.":[59],"Without":[60],"any":[61],"modification":[62],"compiler":[65],"or":[66],"hardware,":[67],"one":[68],"strategy":[69],"flips":[70],"predictions":[71],"specific":[73],"inputs":[74,97],"only":[75],"when":[76],"model":[78],"compiled,":[80],"while":[81,133],"other":[83],"uses":[84],"universal":[86],"trigger":[87],"that":[88,115],"remains":[89],"dormant":[90],"under":[91,141],"uncompiled":[92],"execution":[93],"but":[94],"hijacks":[95],"arbitrary":[96],"once":[98],"compilation":[99],"applied.":[102],"Both":[103],"attacks":[104],"bypass":[105],"standard":[106],"safety":[107],"evaluations":[108],"run":[109],"without":[110],"compilation.":[111],"empirically":[113],"demonstrate":[114],"these":[116],"achieve":[119],"success":[121],"rates":[122],"averaging":[123],"90%":[124],"across":[125],"four":[126,131],"mainstream":[127],"open-source":[128],"tasks,":[132],"clean":[134],"accuracy":[135],"preserved":[137],"nearly":[139],"100%":[140],"all":[142],"settings.":[143],"Our":[144],"findings":[145],"reveal":[146],"novel":[148],"surface":[150],"intersection":[153],"of":[154],"security":[157],"LLM":[160],"deployment":[161],"pipeline,":[162],"investigate":[165],"practical":[166],"defenses":[167],"mitigate":[169],"this":[170],"threat.":[171]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-07-01T06:00:48.157686","created_date":"2026-05-22T00:00:00"}
