# Construction and Evaluation of LLM-based agents for Semi-Autonomous penetration testing

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.15506 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15506/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Agent threats, guardrails and governance, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 18 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Feb 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Agent threats, guardrails and governance](https://mlsanity.com/agents/agent-threats-guardrails-and-governance/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11401/) (2020)
- [Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Reasoners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11916/) (2022)
- [Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17651/) (2023)
- [Gemini 1.5: Unlocking multimodal understanding across millions of tokens of context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05530/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16291/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model (LLM) Security and Privacy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02003/) (2023)
- [LLM Agents can Autonomously Exploit One-day Vulnerabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08144/) (2024)
- [LLM Agents can Autonomously Hack Websites](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.06664/) (2024)
- [AutoAttacker: A Large Language Model Guided System to Implement Automatic Cyber-attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.01038/) (2024)
- [Teams of LLM Agents can Exploit Zero-Day Vulnerabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.01637/) (2024)
- [Fuzz4All: Universal Fuzzing with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04748/) (2023)
- [Getting pwn'd by AI: Penetration Testing with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00121/) (2023)
- [PenHeal: A Two-Stage LLM Framework for Automated Pentesting and Optimal Remediation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.17788/) (2024)
- [Can Large Language Models Find And Fix Vulnerable Software?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.10345/) (2023)
- [Detecting Phishing Sites Using ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.05816/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [SAGA: A Security Architecture for Governing AI Agentic Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.21034/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the emergence of high-performance large language models (LLMs) such as GPT, Claude, and Gemini, the autonomous and semi-autonomous execution of tasks has significantly advanced across various domains. However, in highly specialized fields such as cybersecurity, full autonomy remains a challenge. This difficulty primarily stems from the limitations of LLMs in reasoning capabilities and domain-specific knowledge. We propose a system that semi-autonomously executes complex cybersecurity workflows by employing multiple LLMs modules to formulate attack strategies, generate commands, and analyze results, thereby addressing the aforementioned challenges. In our experiments using Hack The Box virtual machines, we confirmed that our system can autonomously construct attack strategies, issue appropriate commands, and automate certain processes, thereby reducing the need for manual intervention.