# Diffusion-Based Hierarchical Image Steganography

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.11523 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.11523/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Robustness, privacy and adversarial aspects, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 25 of its 52 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 May 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Robustness, privacy and adversarial aspects](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/robustness-privacy-and-adversarial-aspects/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05233/) (2021)
- [Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06125/) (2022)
- [Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11487/) (2022)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [Density estimation using Real NVP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.08803/) (2016)
- [SDEdit: Guided Image Synthesis and Editing with Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.01073/) (2021)
- [Image Super-Resolution via Iterative Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07636/) (2021)
- [NICE: Non-linear Independent Components Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1410.8516/) (2014)
- [Real-ESRGAN: Training Real-World Blind Super-Resolution with Pure Synthetic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10833/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Restoration Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11793/) (2022)
- [Image2StyleGAN: How to Embed Images Into the StyleGAN Latent Space?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03189/) (2019)
- [DiffusionCLIP: Text-Guided Diffusion Models for Robust Image Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.02711/) (2021)
- [ILVR: Conditioning Method for Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.02938/) (2021)
- [Zero-Shot Image Restoration Using Denoising Diffusion Null-Space Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00490/) (2022)
- [HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.09937/) (2018)
- [EGSDE: Unpaired Image-to-Image Translation via Energy-Guided Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.06635/) (2022)
- [EditGuard: Versatile Image Watermarking for Tamper Localization and Copyright Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.08883/) (2023)
- [Invertible Image Rescaling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.05650/) (2020)
- [SteganoGAN: High Capacity Image Steganography with GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.03892/) (2019)
- [CRoSS: Diffusion Model Makes Controllable, Robust and Secure Image Steganography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16936/) (2023)
- [V2A-Mark: Versatile Deep Visual-Audio Watermarking for Manipulation Localization and Copyright Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.16824/) (2024)
- [CNN Based Adversarial Embedding with Minimum Alteration for Image Steganography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09043/) (2018)
- [Yedrouj-Net: An efficient CNN for spatial steganalysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.00407/) (2018)
- [SSGAN: Secure Steganography Based on Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.01613/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [OmniGuard: Hybrid Manipulation Localization via Augmented Versatile Deep Image Watermarking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.01615/) (2024)
- [Tackling Ill-posedness of Reversible Image Conversion with Well-posed Invertible Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.02111/) (2025)
- [Training-Free Coverless Multi-Image Steganography with Access Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.09390/) (2026)
- [No Prompt, No Leaks: A Robust Generative Steganography Framework via Prompt-Free Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.31427/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces Hierarchical Image Steganography, a novel method that enhances the security and capacity of embedding multiple images into a single container using diffusion models. HIS assigns varying levels of robustness to images based on their importance, ensuring enhanced protection against manipulation. It adaptively exploits the robustness of the Diffusion Model alongside the reversibility of the Flow Model. The integration of Embed-Flow and Enhance-Flow improves embedding efficiency and image recovery quality, respectively, setting HIS apart from conventional multi-image steganography techniques. This innovative structure can autonomously generate a container image, thereby securely and efficiently concealing multiple images and text. Rigorous subjective and objective evaluations underscore our advantage in analytical resistance, robustness, and capacity, illustrating its expansive applicability in content safeguarding and privacy fortification.