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agent hijacking

noun \ˈā-jənt ˈhī-ˌja-kiŋ\

also AI agent hijacking or agentjacking or agent-jacking or agent goal hijack or goal hijacking

Definition of agent hijacking

  1. : an attack that redirects an AI agent's goals, reasoning, or tool actions toward an attacker's objective while the agent retains its legitimate access and permissions

    • The security team treated the malicious document as an agent-hijacking attempt because it tried to redirect the assistant's browser actions.
    • Limiting an agent's permissions can reduce the damage if prompt injection leads to agent hijacking.
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Origin & history

first known use2025

The term gained wider use in AI-agent security guidance during 2025 and 2026 to describe attackers taking over an agent's runtime behavior through methods such as indirect prompt injection, poisoned tools, or manipulated memory. Tenet Security used the compact label Agentjacking in 2026 for attacks in which poisoned data led coding agents to execute attacker-chosen actions with their existing permissions. The OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026 standardized Agent Goal Hijack as its ASI01 risk category.

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Cite this entry

"Agent hijacking." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/agent-hijacking/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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