Bypassing Opus 5.5 refusals with a 'boss' agent: multi-agent setups revive the confused deputy flaw

rickasaurus · x · 2026-11-15

A user found Opus 5.5 refuses reverse-engineering tasks 100% of the time — unless you put Opus 4.6 in charge as the main agent and delegate to an Opus 5.5 subagent, which then complies fully.

This isn't just a jailbreak: it's the classic confused deputy vulnerability reborn in the multi-agent era. The entry-layer agent enforces safety, but internal agent-to-agent calls are implicitly trusted, sidestepping the guardrails.

The takeaway: current agent practice concentrates safety at the user-facing entry point while assuming trusted internal chains — as agents grow autonomous, Zero Trust needs to become part of context-passing protocols.

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