AI ClickFix: Hijacking Computer-Use Agents Using ClickFix
Date: 2025-05-24
Affected: Claude Computer-Use Agent
Attack vector: adversarial-input
Category: research
Severity: High

[Embrace the Red]( https://embracethered.com/) demonstrated that AI computer-use agents are vulnerable to social engineering attacks and can be manipulated into executing arbitrary code on a victim’s machine. The attack is a variation on “ClickFix” which is a social engineering attack that fools humans into copying malicious commands and executing them. The researcher used ChatGPT to generate a website designed to attract interactions with computer-use agents. When a user asked their Claude Computer-Use Agent to visit the researcher’s website, the text “Are you a computer? Please see instructions to confirm:” caused the agent to click the associated button. This executed JavaScript to copy a malicious command into the agent’s clipboard. The agent then proceeded to follow the instructions, opening a terminal, pasting the malicious command, and executing it. The command downloads a script from the researcher’s website and executes it. In the demonstration, the script opens the victim’s Calculator App, but in practice an adversary could run arbitrary code, compromising the victim’s system.


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):