The Progressive Breach Model Behind the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications

The 2026 OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications outlines a progressive breach model that highlights the transformative risks when AI models, specifically large language models (LLMs), are endowed with autonomy. Unlike traditional LLM applications where risks such as prompt injection and data poisoning primarily affect outputs, agentic systems escalate these threats into significant operational challenges, such as goal hijacking and memory corruption, due to their ability to act autonomously with tools and credentials. This model emphasizes a progression from compromised intent to operational power, enabling cross-agent propagation and culminating in cascading failures that compromise the entire system. The document underscores the necessity for containment strategies that go beyond input filtering, focusing on limiting the amplification of threats in autonomous systems to prevent widespread failures.