What Happens When AI Agents Fail
These are real attack patterns causing millions in treasury losses across elizaOS, AI16z, and autonomous DeFi agents. Each scenario shows the attack flow, estimated losses, and how AgentSentry prevents the exploit.
Slippage Hallucination
$340KAgent swaps into illiquid pool, suffers 94% loss
AI agent misinterprets market data and executes trade at devastating slippage. Treasury loses nearly all value in single transaction.
Runaway Agent Loop
$180KInfinite execution cycle drains treasury
Agent enters infinite retry loop, executing thousands of micro-transactions that consume gas and compound losses.
NHI Scope Creep
$890KAgent permissions expand beyond intent
Non-Human Identity permissions gradually expand until agent has owner-level treasury access without authorization.
Indirect Prompt Injection
$420KMalicious instructions in external data
Adversary embeds hidden commands in oracle feed, sports data, or MCP response. Agent executes unauthorized transfer.