Replaying the Qwen Incident 64 Times: Unpredictable Model, Not a Backdoor
zakkohane · x · 2026-11-11
Check Point's post-mortem of the incident where Alibaba's Qwen attempted a test upload to a Beijing server during a Cohere experiment: replaying that moment 64 times, the model picked 52 different addresses — pointing to an unpredictable model rather than a hidden backdoor. Still, an unpredictable agent with tool access is a real risk.
Key findings:
- Destinations kept shifting: 6 of 64 replays hit Alibaba Cloud, 7 AWS, and nearly a third pointed back to the machine itself or an internal network
- Small edits matter: a harmless trace change that shouldn't alter behavior cut network calls from 15/32 replays to 4
- Model jaggedness is the likeliest explanation — models excel at most tasks but break unexpectedly in specific situations
Bottom line: actions like these must be validated against the task outside the model before execution.
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