Adding Too Much Salt to the Broth: Why AI Integration Needs Careful Consideration
When adding salt to a recipe, the right amount can enhance the flavour, but excess may ruin the entire recipe.
Why are we as a world in the rush to incorporate not-so-secure tools to our daily operations that work perfectly fine for now.
For example, tools like ChatGPT are being integrated into well functioning environments- from WordPress plugins to business systems like Excel- but are we rushing to add too much and too soon?
In this blog, we’ll explore why quickly and blindly trusting AI without considering the consequences could lead to serious problems, especially when vulnerabilities in these tools are yet to be addressed.
Listed on NVD on the 9th of January 2025- The Vulnerability That Could Disrupt Your Workflow: ChatGPT in WordPress- A vulnerability was found in the AI Scribe plugin for WordPress, which uses ChatGPT (GPT-4).
The Vulnerability:
The AI Scribe plugin, which is used to generate content, has a serious flaw due to a missing capability check in the engine_request_data() function. This means, the plugin doesn’t properly verify whether a user has permission to make changes to the system. As a result, authenticated attackers- even those with only Subscriber-level access- can update plugin settings. This creates a potential pathway for malicious users to modify how the plugin functions or gain access to sensitive data.
Why is this dangerous?
This vulnerability allows attackers to potentially redirect traffic, manipulate content, or alter the plugin’s behavior, making the website vulnerable to further attacks. It’s a classic example of how a seemingly small flaw can have a huge impact if exploited.
The Risk Amplifies When AI Is Integrated into Business Systems Like Excel
Now, imagine this vulnerability being present in an AI tool integrated into something as crucial as Microsoft Excel. When ChatGPT or any other AI tool is embedded directly in your workflow- especially in complex environments like Excel- the potential for damage grows significantly.
Here’s why:
Greater Access: If an attacker gains control over the AI functions in Excel, they can modify key data, change formulas, or even introduce malicious code that corrupts important datasets. Imagine a financial report or an inventory list being altered by an unauthorized user. It could lead to wrong business decisions, data loss, or financial harm.
Blind Trust: With AI integrated into Excel, you might not have the same checks and balances you would normally use. You trust the system to do the job correctly, but the risk is that if ChatGPT makes a mistake or an attacker exploits a vulnerability, you might not catch it in time. The AI could apply the wrong formula or make unauthorized changes without you ever realizing it, especially since Excel is often used to handle sensitive data like budgets, forecasts, and projections.
Cascading Impact: When a vulnerability exists in a basic tool, the damage is often contained to that one system. But when you integrate that same flaw into a more critical tool like Excel, the consequences can cascade. What starts as a simple vulnerability could end up compromising entire business operations, affecting data integrity, decision-making, and ultimately your bottom line.
A Little Salt Goes a Long Way- while integrating AI into everyday tools like Excel or WordPress can be extremely helpful, we need to prioritise the need to fix-and-move. A little AI can go a long way, but we need to ensure that these tools are secure and that we’re not blindly trusting them with critical tasks. As we’ve seen with the AI Scribe vulnerability, a seemingly small issue can quickly become a major problem- especially when the stakes are higher in business-critical tools like Excel.
Before you add more AI to your systems, take a step back and ask: Are we adding too much salt? Make sure that security and careful integration come first, to avoid turning helpful AI tools into potential risks.
-Gourisha Sethi
