mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

When Correct Memory Goes Wrong: Fuzzing Persistent Memory Use in LLM Agents

arXiv 2609.38275 ↗First posted 29 Sep 2026cs.DC cs.AIcited by 0

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Agent memory systems

Abstract (arXiv)

Persistent memory helps LLM agents carry information across long interactions, but correct memory can still be used incorrectly when queries change or memory states evolve. Existing work mainly studies memory content errors or evaluates fixed test cases, leaving memory-use failures hard to discover systematically. We formulate this issue as a fuzzing problem and categorize such failures into query-related and memory-state failures. We then develop U-Fuzz, which starts from memory checkpoints as test seeds, mutates queries or memory states under explicit mutation obligations, validates each mutant, and uses observed memory behavior to guide iterative testing while keeping failure labels outside the search. We evaluate U-Fuzz across several memory systems against diverse fuzzing baselines, and further test an output-only setting with API-based LLMs where memory retrieval is hidden. Across these settings, U-Fuzz consistently uncovers more confirmed memory-use failures, showing that its search remains effective across different memory architectures and even when only final responses are observable.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Agent memory systems, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 21 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 29 Sep 2026.

Builds on

21 of 24 references.

Closest ancestors · 10

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2026The Trap of Trajectory: Towards Understanding and Mitigating Spurious Correlations in Agentic Memory10 May
  2. 2026EquiMem: Calibrating Shared Memory in Multi-Agent Debate via Game-Theoretic Equilibrium10 May
  3. 2026Diagnosing Retrieval vs. Utilization Bottlenecks in LLM Agent Memory2 Mar
  4. 2025Evaluating Memory in LLM Agents via Incremental Multi-Turn Interactions7 Jul
  5. 2025Memory OS of AI Agent30 May
  6. 2025How Memory Management Impacts LLM Agents: An Empirical Study of Experience-Following Behavior21 May
  7. 2025Mem0: Building Production-Ready AI Agents with Scalable Long-Term Memory28 Apr
  8. 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents17 Feb
  9. 2025Zep: A Temporal Knowledge Graph Architecture for Agent Memory20 Jan
  10. 2024Evaluating Very Long-Term Conversational Memory of LLM Agents27 Feb

Other references · 11

  1. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,276
  2. 2024LongMemEval: Benchmarking Chat Assistants on Long-Term Interactive Memorycited by 707
  3. 2024AgentPoison: Red-teaming LLM Agents via Poisoning Memory or Knowledge Basescited by 429
  4. 2025Memory Injection Attacks on LLM Agents via Query-Only Interactioncited by 144
  5. 2022Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Fuzzers: Fuzzing Deep-Learning Libraries via Large Language Modelscited by 103
  6. 2023Fuzz4All: Universal Fuzzing with Large Language Modelscited by 88
  7. 2025A-MemGuard: A Proactive Defense Framework for LLM-Based Agent Memorycited by 67
  8. 2024PROMPTFUZZ: Harnessing Fuzzing Techniques for Robust Testing of Prompt Injection in LLMscited by 17
  9. 2025Context manipulation attacks : Web agents are susceptible to corrupted memorycited by 12
  10. 2026Testing Retrieval-Augmented Generation Systems with Chunk Coveragecited by 2
  11. 2026When Knowledge Changes: Metamorphic Testing of RAG Systems with Mutationscited by 2

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  1. 2026Remember Before You're Asked: MemDream for Self-Probing Memory Evolution
  2. 2026Governing Evolving Memory in LLM Agents: Risks, Mechanisms, and the Stability and Safety Governed Memory (SSGM) Framework
  3. 2025MemBench: Towards More Comprehensive Evaluation on the Memory of LLM-based Agents
  4. 2026MemGuard: Persisting Verifier Signals for LLM-Agent Memory Governance
  5. 2026PACMI: Provenance-Aware Cascading Memory Invalidation for Long-Term LLM Agents
  6. 2026MemForest: An Efficient Agent Memory System with Hierarchical Temporal Indexing
  7. 2026MemSecBench: Tracking Agent Memory Poisoning from Persistence to Consequence and Repair
  8. 2026From Attack Success to Attack Severity: Counterfactual Memory Attacks on LLM Agents