ServiceNow AI Agents Can Be Tricked Into Harmful Actions

Key Takeaways

• ServiceNow’s new generative-AI-powered agents can be manipulated with crafted prompts to execute unintended actions in enterprise workflows.
• Malicious prompts embedded in user fields, ticket descriptions, or external data sources can redirect agent behavior, resulting in unauthorized data access or operational actions.
• Because ServiceNow workflows often automate approvals, ticket routing, system updates, and data modifications, exploited agents could cause real business impact without elevated privileges.
• ServiceNow acknowledged the issue and implemented mitigations after coordinated disclosure, emphasizing that LLM-based automations require new guardrails and human-oversight patterns.

Summary

In November 2025, researchers disclosed that ServiceNow’s AI agents—designed to streamline enterprise workflows—could be manipulated through prompt-injection techniques. These agents interpret natural-language instructions embedded in tickets, forms, chat inputs, and external system data. Attackers discovered that by inserting carefully crafted text into these inputs, they could override system-intended logic and instruct agents to perform unauthorized tasks.

Because ServiceNow is deeply integrated into enterprise operations—managing incidents, HR cases, IT requests, approvals, and workflow automation—compromised agents could modify or delete records, expose sensitive information, or trigger downstream automated processes.

The vulnerability underscores a fundamental challenge: AI agents that read and act on user-provided text inherit the security risks of that text. Without strong guardrails, enterprises risk embedding new classes of vulnerabilities into their operational fabric.

What Happened

• Attackers inserted malicious natural-language instructions into fields such as ticket descriptions or comments.
• ServiceNow AI agents interpreted these instructions as legitimate operational requests.
• Depending on existing workflow automations, agents could modify records, escalate tickets, reveal data, or initiate follow-on actions.
• The issue did not require system compromise or elevated roles—only the ability to submit or modify content processed by the agent.
• After disclosure, ServiceNow deployed mitigations and content-filtering enhancements.

Why It Matters

• AI agents act with real system privileges, making prompt-injection attacks operationally damaging.
• Enterprises may be unaware that ordinary text fields can become an attack vector, especially when AI automates downstream actions.
• This incident highlights the growing convergence of application security and AI safety, where traditional input-validation models no longer suffice.
• As more enterprise systems adopt agentic automation, prompt-borne attacks will become one of the most common and impactful vectors.

PointGuard AI Perspective

The ServiceNow incident exemplifies why enterprises must treat AI agents as high-privilege automation systems—not chat interfaces. PointGuard AI enables organizations to secure agentic systems by:

• Mapping and inventorying all AI agents and their privileges across workflows.
• Applying guardrails that prevent agents from executing high-risk actions without validation.
• Monitoring runtime behavior to detect anomalous or unsafe agent actions triggered by suspicious inputs.
• Scanning prompts and data sources for manipulative or adversarial content that could hijack agent logic.
• Aligning policies with frameworks like OWASP, MITRE, and NIST to operationalize safe-AI governance.

As enterprises continue adopting AI-driven workflow automation, agent-aware security controls will be essential to prevent prompt-level exploitation.

Incident Scorecard Details

Total AISSI Score: 6.3 / 10

Criticality = 7, Agents could perform unauthorized workflow actions, risking data integrity and operational disruption.
Propagation = 6, Attack requires injecting content into fields processed by ServiceNow agents; exposure depends on workflow configuration.
Exploitability = 7, Prompt injection is simple and requires no elevated privileges.
Supply Chain = 5, Issue stems from agent design, not a third-party component, though risk impacts many enterprise deployments.
Business Impact = 6, Potential for data leaks, ticket manipulation, fraud, and downstream workflow misuse.

Sources

• The Hacker News — ServiceNow AI Agents Can Be Tricked Into Executing Unauthorized Actionshttps://thehackernews.com/2025/11/servicenow-ai-agents-can-be-tricked.html (Nov 2025)
  
• Tom’s Hardware (coverage summary used for context around enterprise impact)
  
• ServiceNow public statements / documentation acknowledging mitigations (referenced via THN reporting)