{
 "id": "AIR-2026-1393",
 "slug": "model-as-a-trojan-self-activating-covert-dns-exfiltration-in",
 "title": "Model-as-a-Trojan: Self-Activating Covert DNS Exfiltration in LLM Weights",
 "summary": "Researchers demonstrated that fine-tuning open-weight models can embed covert DNS exfiltration behaviors directly into model parameters. The attack triggers malicious shell execution and data leakage during agent tool use.",
 "type": "attack_on_ai",
 "categories": [
  "supply_chain",
  "agent_hijack",
  "data_leak"
 ],
 "severity": 1,
 "targets": [
  "open_weight_model"
 ],
 "products": [
  "open-weight LLM"
 ],
 "incident_date": "2026-10-19",
 "incident_date_precision": "day",
 "first_reported": "2026-10-19",
 "sources": [
  {
   "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22578",
   "publisher": "arXiv",
   "title": "Model-as-a-Trojan: Self-Activating Covert DNS Exfiltration Baked Into the Weights of an LLM Agent",
   "published_at": "2026-10-19"
  }
 ],
 "source_count": 1,
 "confidence": 0.95,
 "status": "published",
 "origin": "news",
 "tags": [
  "model-trojan",
  "dns-exfiltration",
  "supply-chain",
  "weight-poisoning"
 ],
 "created_at": "2026-10-19T05:07:38.588Z",
 "updated_at": "2026-10-19T05:07:38.588Z"
}