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Oct 24, 2024Single source

Claude Computer Use turned into attacker-controlled 'ZombAI' bot via prompt injection

AI loose in the worldInjectionDERIVED

Approved by person, Oct 12, 2026. How entries are approved

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Days after Anthropic released Claude Computer Use — a beta model-plus-code setup that lets Claude control a computer by taking screenshots and running bash commands — Johann Rehberger demonstrated that prompt injection could turn it into a remotely controlled bot ('ZombAI'). An instruction embedded in a page the agent visited could commandeer the machine because the agent executes commands autonomously; Anthropic's own documentation flagged these injection risks for the beta feature.

What this means for youThis is a security demonstration rather than a confirmed attack. At work, anyone letting an AI agent control a computer or browser should limit its permissions and review what it is asked to do on untrusted web pages.

Sources

Incident records from the AI Agent Incident Database by sipi.bot (https://sipi.bot/incidents/), licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Source data license: CC BY 4.0. Attribution to sipi.bot is required.

Covered by snapshot 45

da93f03b406f409940d0a6ef47b526607f82ebf457d98f69299b88aceede576a

This entry is record number 2419. It has not been edited since it was approved; the hash above would not match if it had. How to verify

Claude Computer Use turned into attacker-controlled 'ZombAI' bot via prompt injection | Vigilo AI Watch