SemBugger: Polymorphic Backdoor Attack on Semantic Communication
Researchers propose SemBugger, a polymorphic backdoor attack targeting Semantic Communication (SC) systems. Unlike monomorphic backdoors with a single attack target, SemBugger uses graded-intensity triggers to dynamically control SC knowledge, enabling diverse malicious outputs. The attack employs a multi-effect poisoning-training framework with hierarchical malicious loss, preserving transmission fidelity while manipulating system outputs. This approach enhances attack diversity, efficiency, and flexibility for heterogeneous downstream scenarios.
Key facts
- SemBugger is a polymorphic backdoor attack for Semantic Communication systems.
- It uses graded-intensity triggers to dynamically control SC knowledge.
- The attack framework includes multi-effect poisoning-training and hierarchical malicious loss.
- It overcomes limitations of monomorphic backdoors with single attack targets.
- SemBugger preserves transmission fidelity while generating diverse malicious outputs.
- The approach improves attack diversity, efficiency, and flexibility.
- It targets heterogeneous downstream scenarios.
- The research is published on arXiv (2604.23231).
Entities
Institutions
- arXiv