LLM05
Improper Output Handling Illustration

BONUS TECH DECODER

Sanitization: Cleaning up potentially dangerous content, like washing your hands before handling food to remove germs.
XSS (Cross-site Scripting): A trick that sneaks bad code into websites, like hiding a prank inside a gift that activates when opened.
SQL Injection: Slipping database commands into text fields, like adding your own instructions to someone else's shopping list.
Context-specific Encoding: Transforming data to follow special rules for each destination, like packaging food differently for freezer vs. pantry storage.

🧠 WHAT IS IT?

Improper Output Handling occurs when an application fails to properly check or clean up what an AI generates before using it in other systems. It's like taking medication advice from someone without verifying it with a doctor—the AI's output might contain harmful content that could damage other systems when used directly. This vulnerability allows attackers to use the AI as a stepping stone to attack other connected systems.

🔍 HOW IT HAPPENS

  • An AI generates output that contains potentially dangerous elements (code snippets, scripts, commands)
  • The application using the AI fails to properly validate or sanitize this output before passing it along
  • The dangerous output reaches sensitive systems like databases, browsers, or servers
  • This creates opportunities for various attacks like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, or privilege escalation

🚨 WHY IT MATTERS

Confidentiality C
Integrity I
This vulnerability can allow attackers to bypass security mechanisms by using the trusted AI as an attack vector, potentially leading to data breaches, account takeovers, or complete system compromises across interconnected applications.

🛡️ HOW TO PREVENT IT

  • Always treat AI outputs as untrusted data, regardless of how reliable the AI seems
  • Implement strong output validation and sanitization before using AI-generated content in any sensitive context
  • Apply context-specific encoding (for HTML, SQL, etc.) based on how and where the output will be used
  • Use content security policies and prepared statements when incorporating AI outputs into websites or databases
5/10