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Auteurs principaux: Do, Tue, Chandrasekaran, Varun, Alabi, Daniel
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20463
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author Do, Tue
Chandrasekaran, Varun
Alabi, Daniel
author_facet Do, Tue
Chandrasekaran, Varun
Alabi, Daniel
contents Influence estimation tools -- such as memorization scores -- are widely used to understand model behavior, attribute training data, and inform dataset curation. However, recent applications in data valuation and responsible machine learning raise the question: can these scores themselves be adversarially manipulated? In this work, we present a systematic study of the feasibility of attacking memorization-based influence estimators. We characterize attacks for producing highly memorized samples as highly sensitive queries in the regime where a trained algorithm is accurate. Our attack (calculating the pseudoinverse of the input) is practical, requiring only black-box access to model outputs and incur modest computational overhead. We empirically validate our attack across a wide suite of image classification tasks, showing that even state-of-the-art proxies are vulnerable to targeted score manipulations. In addition, we provide a theoretical analysis of the stability of memorization scores under adversarial perturbations, revealing conditions under which influence estimates are inherently fragile. Our findings highlight critical vulnerabilities in influence-based attribution and suggest the need for robust defenses. All code can be found at https://github.com/tuedo2/MemAttack
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_20463
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Efficiently Attacking Memorization Scores
Do, Tue
Chandrasekaran, Varun
Alabi, Daniel
Machine Learning
Influence estimation tools -- such as memorization scores -- are widely used to understand model behavior, attribute training data, and inform dataset curation. However, recent applications in data valuation and responsible machine learning raise the question: can these scores themselves be adversarially manipulated? In this work, we present a systematic study of the feasibility of attacking memorization-based influence estimators. We characterize attacks for producing highly memorized samples as highly sensitive queries in the regime where a trained algorithm is accurate. Our attack (calculating the pseudoinverse of the input) is practical, requiring only black-box access to model outputs and incur modest computational overhead. We empirically validate our attack across a wide suite of image classification tasks, showing that even state-of-the-art proxies are vulnerable to targeted score manipulations. In addition, we provide a theoretical analysis of the stability of memorization scores under adversarial perturbations, revealing conditions under which influence estimates are inherently fragile. Our findings highlight critical vulnerabilities in influence-based attribution and suggest the need for robust defenses. All code can be found at https://github.com/tuedo2/MemAttack
title Efficiently Attacking Memorization Scores
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.20463