Confused Deputy Problem

From Hardy’s Compiler to Hardy’s AI Agent: When the Threat Model Changes, the Confused Deputy Returns 2026-07-25

The question. This article examines one narrowly defined security property: whether authority propagated across time and multiple execution boundaries remains verifiably attributable to the concrete execution and request for which it was granted.

The change of question in authority propagation: from actor selection to execution continuity

One scope condition should be kept in mind throughout this article: the following discussion of who concerns only the propagation of authority after initial authentication and authority origination. It addresses what happens when already-established authority is handed off, exchanged, resumed, attenuated, or otherwise continued across a later execution boundary. It does not claim that identity is unnecessary for authentication, initial authorisation, eligibility, accountability, revocation, or other security properties.