Disable or Modify Tools: Impair Autonomous Defenses
- ID
- T1685.007
- Tactics
- TA0112 Defense Impairment
- Sub-technique of
- T1685 Disable or Modify Tools
- Platforms
- Windows, SaaS
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 9 Oct 2026
Adversaries may use methods like Indirect Prompt Injection to disrupt, disable, or otherwise impair autonomous defensive capabilities such as LLM-assisted processing of malware, artifacts, or activity.[1] This behavior may cause a system to ignore data, fail to alert on malicious activity, abort analysis, or to be disabled completely.
Adversaries may include content in malware implants that mimic an LLM prompt scaffold that contains fake system messages in order to convince the LLM that it has encountered an error.[2][3] Depending on the type of error, the LLM may abort analysis, truncate, or refuse to continue. Adversaries may also embed prompts in malware intended to stop agents or systems from analyzing the malware.[4]
Mitigations (5)
- M1018 User Account Management
Run AI-assisted analysis services using dedicated identities with permissions limited to required analysis functions. Separate analysis authority from broader analyst, administrative, or production access.
- M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions
Limit AI-assisted analysis systems to the files and directories required for analysis and prevent artifacts under investigation from modifying agent configuration, instruction files, analysis state, or other trusted AI application resources.
- M1026 Privileged Account Management
Prevent AI-assisted analysis agents from exercising privileged capabilities solely as a consequence of artifact-derived instructions. Require independent authorization for privileged or consequential operations outside the expected analysis workflow.
- M1038 Execution Prevention
Prevent content contained within an artifact under analysis from directly controlling the analysis workflow, terminating analysis, altering required analysis stages, or initiating unrelated tools and actions. Enforce workflow transitions independently of instructions generated from artifact content.
- M1047 Audit
Require AI-assisted security analysis workflows to preserve analysis status, artifact provenance, tool execution, termination reason, and completion state so that incomplete or unexpectedly redirected analysis can be independently identified and reviewed.