Backdoor Learning in Language Models and Vision-Language Models
On the map: Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models → MLLM jailbreaks and adversarial robustness
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Abstract (arXiv)
Recent advances in deep learning have significantly enhanced the capabilities of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs). However, these advancements come with increased vulnerabilities, notably through backdoor attacks that pose severe security threats. This thesis addresses two critical dimensions of Trustworthy AI and Efficient Multimodal Representation Learning: (1) security through analyzing, detecting, and designing backdoor attacks in NLP and VLMs, and (2) efficiency through advanced multimodal representation methods tailored for clinical and medical imaging applications.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in MLLM jailbreaks and adversarial robustness, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models. Builds on 61 of its 262 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Jun 2026.
Builds on
61 of 262 references.
Closest ancestors · 3
Same direction, newest first
- 2024VL-Trojan: Multimodal Instruction Backdoor Attacks against Autoregressive Visual Language Models21 Feb
- 2024Test-Time Backdoor Attacks on Multimodal Large Language Models13 Feb
- 2024Shadowcast: Stealthy Data Poisoning Attacks Against Vision-Language Models5 Feb
Other references · 58
- 2019RoBERTa: A Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approachcited by 13,372
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- 2019DistilBERT, a distilled version of BERT: smaller, faster, cheaper and lightercited by 4,307
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- 2020Don't Stop Pretraining: Adapt Language Models to Domains and Taskscited by 1,565
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- 2017Targeted Backdoor Attacks on Deep Learning Systems Using Data Poisoningcited by 1,055
- 2019Publicly Available Clinical BERT Embeddingscited by 1,002
38 more
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- 2020ONION: A Simple and Effective Defense Against Textual Backdoor Attackscited by 263
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- 2022Narcissus: A Practical Clean-Label Backdoor Attack with Limited Informationcited by 103
- 2021Triggerless Backdoor Attack for NLP Tasks with Clean Labelscited by 66
- 2022The "Beatrix'' Resurrections: Robust Backdoor Detection via Gram Matricescited by 63
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- 2021Red Alarm for Pre-trained Models: Universal Vulnerability to Neuron-Level Backdoor Attackscited by 49
- 2021An Overview of Backdoor Attacks Against Deep Neural Networks and Possible Defencescited by 42
- 2019Using Clinical Notes with Time Series Data for ICU Managementcited by 38
- 2023Knowledge Distillation on Graphs: A Surveycited by 38
- 2024Physical Backdoor Attack can Jeopardize Driving with Vision-Large-Language Modelscited by 33
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- 2024Task-Agnostic Detector for Insertion-Based Backdoor Attackscited by 23
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- 2024Recent Advances in Multimodal Affective Computing: An NLP Perspectivecited by 13
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- 2023Instances Need More Care: Rewriting Prompts for Instances with LLMs in the Loop Yields Better Zero-Shot Performancecited by 9
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- 2025BackdoorVLM: A Benchmark for Backdoor Attacks and Defenses on Vision-Language Models
- 2024Backdooring Vision-Language Models with Out-Of-Distribution Data
- 2024TrojVLM: Backdoor Attack Against Vision Language Models
- 2025Concept-Guided Backdoor Attack on Vision Language Models
- 2026Phantasia: Context-Adaptive Backdoors in Vision Language Models
- 2024Unbridled Icarus: A Survey of the Potential Perils of Image Inputs in Multimodal Large Language Model Security
- 2026Breaking the weakest link to evade vision language models
- 2026VLMShield: Efficient and Robust Defense of Vision-Language Models against Malicious Prompts