Recent Advances in Attack and Defense Approaches of Large Language Models
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Abstract (arXiv)
Large Language Models (LLMs) have revolutionized artificial intelligence and machine learning through their advanced text processing and generating capabilities. However, their widespread deployment has raised significant safety and reliability concerns. Established vulnerabilities in deep neural networks, coupled with emerging threat models, may compromise security evaluations and create a false sense of security. Given the extensive research in the field of LLM security, we believe that summarizing the current state of affairs will help the research community better understand the present landscape and inform future developments. This paper reviews current research on LLM vulnerabilities and threats, and evaluates the effectiveness of contemporary defense mechanisms. We analyze recent studies on attack vectors and model weaknesses, providing insights into attack mechanisms and the evolving threat landscape. We also examine current defense strategies, highlighting their strengths and limitations. By contrasting advancements in attack and defense methodologies, we identify research gaps and propose future directions to enhance LLM security. Our goal is to advance the understanding of LLM safety challenges and guide the development of more robust security measures.
Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 156 of its 190 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 5 Sep 2024.
Builds on
156 of 190 references.
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38 more
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50 most cited of 156 All 156 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 4; 2026: 1.
5 papers.
- 2025MedSentry: Understanding and Mitigating Safety Risks in Medical LLM Multi-Agent Systemscited by 8
- 2025SocialHarmBench: Revealing LLM Vulnerabilities to Socially Harmful Requestscited by 5
- 2026DRAINCODE: Stealthy Energy Consumption Attacks on Retrieval-Augmented Code Generation via Context Poisoningcited by 3
- 2025LLM in the Middle: A Systematic Review of Threats and Mitigations to Real-World LLM-based Systemscited by 1
- 2025TrajSyn: Privacy-Preserving Dataset Distillation from Federated Model Trajectories for Server-Side Adversarial Trainingcited by 0
- 2026DRAINCODE: Stealthy Energy Consumption Attacks on Retrieval-Augmented Code Generation via Context Poisoning28 Jan 2026
- 2025TrajSyn: Privacy-Preserving Dataset Distillation from Federated Model Trajectories for Server-Side Adversarial Training17 Dec 2025
- 2025SocialHarmBench: Revealing LLM Vulnerabilities to Socially Harmful Requests6 Oct 2025
- 2025LLM in the Middle: A Systematic Review of Threats and Mitigations to Real-World LLM-based Systems12 Sep 2025
- 2025MedSentry: Understanding and Mitigating Safety Risks in Medical LLM Multi-Agent Systems27 May 2025