August 2026 · 5 min read
OWASP Agent Security Top 10
A New Industry Standard
OWASP's new Top 10 for agentic applications catalogs ten critical risks from goal hijack to rogue agents — the first industry-wide security baseline for autonomous AI.
Key Definitions
OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications OWASP's first security risk framework specifically designed for autonomous AI agent systems, numbered ASI01 through ASI10, covering the complete threat surface from goal hijack to rogue agents, peer-reviewed by over 100 security experts.
Agent (OWASP definition) Autonomous AI systems capable of planning, making decisions, and acting across multiple steps and tools — not merely LLM applications but digital actors with goals, memory, tool access, and autonomous decision-making capabilities.
Background
In December 2025, the OWASP GenAI Security Project published the first edition of the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026, a globally peer-reviewed framework developed through extensive collaboration with more than 100 industry experts, researchers, and practitioners. This is the industry's first security risk framework specifically designed for autonomous AI agent systems.
Unlike the traditional OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications, this new list focuses on risks unique to agents — entities that are not merely LLM applications but digital actors with goals, memory, tool access, and autonomous decision-making capabilities. OWASP defines these as "autonomous AI systems capable of planning, making decisions, and acting across multiple steps and tools."
The framework received peer review from NIST, Microsoft AI Red Team, AWS, and other major organizations, marking a transition for agent security from scattered best practices into a standardized era.
The Ten Risk Categories
ASI01 through ASI10 cover the complete threat surface of agentic systems, from design through deployment:
ASI01: Agent Goal Hijack
Attackers manipulate an agent's original goal through prompt injection or malicious input, causing it to perform unintended operations. This is the most fundamental and dangerous threat in agent security.
ASI02: Tool Misuse
An agent is induced to call tools in unintended ways — deleting files, sending unauthorized API requests, or accessing sensitive data.
ASI03: Identity & Privilege Abuse
As non-human actors, agents lack mature identity management and privilege control mechanisms, making them vulnerable to unauthorized access.
ASI04: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
Malicious skill packs, contaminated registries, or third-party agent components can serve as supply chain attack vectors. The February 2026 ClawHavoc incident is a prominent example.
ASI05-ASI10:
Unintended code execution, memory and context poisoning, insecure agent-to-agent communication, cascading failures, human-trust abuse, and rogue agents — covering every attack surface of agentic systems.
Implications for Enterprise Security Teams
This framework provides enterprises with a systematic method for agent security assessment. Security teams can build an agent security checklist, evaluating each deployment against the ten risk categories. For organizations already running agents in production, ASI04 (supply chain vulnerabilities) and ASI06 (memory poisoning) are the most frequently overlooked blind spots.
Another key value of the OWASP framework is establishing a standard for security procurement. When a vendor claims their agent platform is "secure," buyers can verify against ASI01-ASI10 rather than accepting vague security promises.
OOMeta AI
OOMeta's AI governance platform includes a built-in agent security assessment module, helping enterprises automate risk evaluation against the OWASP Agent Security framework.
Schedule a DiagnosticSources: OWASP GenAI Security Project, "OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026" (https://genai.owasp.org/resource/owasp-top-10-for-agentic-applications-for-2026)
FAQ
How does the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications differ from the traditional LLM Top 10?+
The traditional OWASP Top 10 for LLM focuses on LLM application risks, while the new list targets agent-specific risks — agents have goals, memory, tool access, and autonomous decision-making, making them digital actors rather than simple LLM applications.
What is the ASI01 Agent Goal Hijack threat?+
Attackers manipulate an agent's original goal through prompt injection or malicious input, causing it to perform unintended operations. This is the most fundamental and dangerous threat in agent security.
What attack vectors does ASI04 Supply Chain Vulnerabilities include?+
Malicious skill packs, contaminated registries, or third-party agent components can serve as supply chain attack vectors. The February 2026 ClawHavoc incident is a prominent example.
How should enterprise security teams use the OWASP Agent Security framework?+
Enterprises can build an agent security checklist, evaluating each deployment against the ten risk categories. For organizations already running agents in production, ASI04 (supply chain vulnerabilities) and ASI06 (memory poisoning) are the most frequently overlooked blind spots.
What value does the OWASP Agent Security framework offer for security procurement?+
When a vendor claims their agent platform is "secure," buyers can verify against ASI01-ASI10 rather than accepting vague security promises, giving security procurement an industry-standard benchmark.