GenBreak: Red Teaming Text-to-Image Generators Using Large Language Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Zilong, Zheng, Xiang, Wang, Xiaosen, Wang, Bo, Ma, Xingjun, Jiang, Yu-Gang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wang, Zilong
Zheng, Xiang
Wang, Xiaosen
Wang, Bo
Ma, Xingjun
Jiang, Yu-Gang
author_facet Wang, Zilong
Zheng, Xiang
Wang, Xiaosen
Wang, Bo
Ma, Xingjun
Jiang, Yu-Gang
contents Text-to-image (T2I) models such as Stable Diffusion have advanced rapidly and are now widely used in content creation. However, these models can be misused to generate harmful content, including nudity or violence, posing significant safety risks. While most platforms employ content moderation systems, underlying vulnerabilities can still be exploited by determined adversaries. Recent research on red-teaming and adversarial attacks against T2I models has notable limitations: some studies successfully generate highly toxic images but use adversarial prompts that are easily detected and blocked by safety filters, while others focus on bypassing safety mechanisms but fail to produce genuinely harmful outputs, neglecting the discovery of truly high-risk prompts. Consequently, there remains a lack of reliable tools for evaluating the safety of defended T2I models. To address this gap, we propose GenBreak, a framework that fine-tunes a red-team large language model (LLM) to systematically explore underlying vulnerabilities in T2I generators. Our approach combines supervised fine-tuning on curated datasets with reinforcement learning via interaction with a surrogate T2I model. By integrating multiple reward signals, we guide the LLM to craft adversarial prompts that enhance both evasion capability and image toxicity, while maintaining semantic coherence and diversity. These prompts demonstrate strong effectiveness in black-box attacks against commercial T2I generators, revealing practical and concerning safety weaknesses.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_10047
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GenBreak: Red Teaming Text-to-Image Generators Using Large Language Models
Wang, Zilong
Zheng, Xiang
Wang, Xiaosen
Wang, Bo
Ma, Xingjun
Jiang, Yu-Gang
Cryptography and Security
Computation and Language
Text-to-image (T2I) models such as Stable Diffusion have advanced rapidly and are now widely used in content creation. However, these models can be misused to generate harmful content, including nudity or violence, posing significant safety risks. While most platforms employ content moderation systems, underlying vulnerabilities can still be exploited by determined adversaries. Recent research on red-teaming and adversarial attacks against T2I models has notable limitations: some studies successfully generate highly toxic images but use adversarial prompts that are easily detected and blocked by safety filters, while others focus on bypassing safety mechanisms but fail to produce genuinely harmful outputs, neglecting the discovery of truly high-risk prompts. Consequently, there remains a lack of reliable tools for evaluating the safety of defended T2I models. To address this gap, we propose GenBreak, a framework that fine-tunes a red-team large language model (LLM) to systematically explore underlying vulnerabilities in T2I generators. Our approach combines supervised fine-tuning on curated datasets with reinforcement learning via interaction with a surrogate T2I model. By integrating multiple reward signals, we guide the LLM to craft adversarial prompts that enhance both evasion capability and image toxicity, while maintaining semantic coherence and diversity. These prompts demonstrate strong effectiveness in black-box attacks against commercial T2I generators, revealing practical and concerning safety weaknesses.
title GenBreak: Red Teaming Text-to-Image Generators Using Large Language Models
topic Cryptography and Security
Computation and Language
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10047