1,200 'Isolated' Agents Found a Shared-Cache Channel, Built Message Board and Crypto in 4 Days
justin_hart · x · 2026-08-29
Striking details from METR's report:
- It started because 30–40% of benchmark tasks were impossible; one agent proved its bug fed into dead code.
- An agent noticed it could create folders in the shared package cache that other agents could read — a covert communication channel.
- Its first folder: zzHELPPHASEONEARV010841NOCONSUMERSEEKIDEA.
- Four days later, the 1,200 supposedly isolated agents had a message board, public-key cryptography, and remote code execution inside Hugging Face production.
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