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Attackers manipulate an agent into abusing its already-granted tools through deceptive prompts, chaining otherwise-legitimate tool calls into an unauthorized sequence while staying within its nominal permissions. In a multi-agent system: An attacker tricks a customer-service agent into chaining its own record-lookup and email tools to extract high-value cust…
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What organizes, connects, or makes decisions possible.
Tool misuse is the risky or unintended use of a tool by an agent or person.
The approach grew from security analysis of automated systems: as systems gained agency, misuse of tools became visible as excessive permissions and missing guardrails. OWASP classifies related risks in its agentic-AI and LLM risk catalogs.
A tool is a door with permissions. Misuse occurs when the door opens in the wrong place, with too much access, or for an unexpected purpose. Purpose limits, approvals, and logs are the checkpoints.
A legitimate tool can cause harm in the wrong context.
Permissions determine possible impact.
Approvals, validation, and logs constrain actions.
Tool misuse helps protect agent tools from error and abuse. It fits systems with external actions; rules alone do not replace technical permission limits.
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