How secure are distributed LLM agents?
Achilles Heel of Distributed Multi-Agent Systems
This paper examines the vulnerabilities of distributed multi-agent systems (DMAS), particularly those using external, third-party LLM agents. It identifies four key weaknesses: "free riding" (using less capable LLMs than advertised), malicious attacks (injecting harmful or misleading content), communication delays, and unstable connections. Experiments across various multi-agent frameworks and tasks demonstrate these vulnerabilities, showing significant performance drops (up to 80%) and high attack success rates (up to 100%), especially when core agent roles are compromised. The research highlights the need for robust security measures, efficient communication protocols, and reliable connection management in LLM-based DMAS.