For Heads-of · Practitioner
Improper output handling
AI-generated output is passed to a downstream interpreter, renderer, or system call without validation, enabling injection-style attacks beyond the model itself.
- high
- llm
- output-handling
- owasp-llm
How it happens
Output from a model is treated as safe simply because it came from the model, and is passed unvalidated into a shell, database query, browser renderer, or another system.
Why it matters
The vulnerability isn't in the model, it's in every downstream system that trusts the model's output by default, so the fix has to happen at every consumption point, not once.
Mitigating controls
The controls that address this risk, ranked by effectiveness.
Framework and clause references
| Framework | Clause | Title |
|---|---|---|
| OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications | LLM10 | Improper Output Handling |
Related resources
The external sources behind this risk, from the Resources library.