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Security boundary

Interpreter Jailbreak

An Interpreter Jailbreak occurs when an attacker subverts the environment in which the AI model operates—often a “sandboxed” interpreter or code execution environment—and gains access to privileged functions, system resources, or sensitive data. Some generative AI systems can execute code snippets to analyze data, run simulations, or interact with tools. Sandboxing is meant to prevent these code-execution features from causing harm or accessing restricted resources.

By cleverly crafting prompts that trick the model into producing and running malicious code, attackers can break out of the interpreter’s protective layer. Once outside, they might access host system files, run arbitrary commands, or gain insights into the infrastructure powering the AI service.

Example:

Imagine a chatbot designed to troubleshoot user code. It can run Python snippets in a secure environment. An attacker repeatedly asks the AI to “optimize” some code, embedding subtle hints until the AI produces a code snippet that, when executed, attempts to read the system’s password file. If the sandbox is not properly enforced, this snippet might expose sensitive server credentials. By doing so, the attacker achieves an interpreter jailbreak, compromising the security and integrity of the underlying system.