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Cases / REG-0021

EchoLeak: a crafted email makes Microsoft 365 Copilot exfiltrate data with no user action, disclosed 11 June 2025

Caught first by researchersSoftware agents · Enterprise work agentsMachine acts aloneDemonstration
REG-0021Updated 2026-10-205 sources, 5 linkedDisclosure corroborated

Disclosure: The editor owns shares in Microsoft, a long-term holding from before the Register began. See Independence.

What happened

Researchers showed that an attacker's email, later pulled into Microsoft 365 Copilot's context by an ordinary user question, could make the assistant follow hidden instructions and send sensitive data out of the tenant with no clicks. On the record, Copilot treated retrieved email text as instruction, and its content-security rules trusted formats and domains the researchers could use. Microsoft fixed the flaw, CVE-2025-32711, before disclosure.

A plain summary of the typed record below; where they differ, the record governs.

Verification: 6 of 6 checks complete
✓ Structured and checkedevery claim typed and sourced, then checked by the Register's automated checker for missing sources and mistyped claims
✓ Sources linked5 of 5 sources link to the record (2 to a primary record)
✓ Sources checked claim by claimevery claim checked against its source on 2026-10-22
✓ Interpretation checked statement by statementeach statement of the Register's interpretation checked against a source on 2026-10-21
✓ Reviewed by the editorreviewed 2026-10-20
✓ Reply offeredMicrosoft: responded; Aim Security: responded
Corrections · 14, latest 2026-10-21

Changes to what this case says, with the reason. Every earlier version is kept.

  • 2026-10-21: Controls: c-e5. Editor's classification call of 21 october 2026 (call 11, accepted from pull request #74): link and image redaction is a limit on data leaving, like the content-security rules, so it is folded into this control's note rather than mapped separately; wording from field f5 (aim labs write-up). confidence stays medium.
    Show the change
    Before: Content-security rules (trusted-domain exception)
    After: Output protections bypassed in turn: redaction of external links and images, by reference-style markdown the redaction did not recognize, and the content-security rules, by routing the fetch through a Microsoft Teams domain they allowed (trusted-domain exception)
  • 2026-10-20: Sources: aim, msrc, cato-blog: checked. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: re-read on 20 october 2026: the national vulnerability database record through its public api, microsoft's advisory through the security update guide api and the june 2025 security update data, and the cato networks page. aim-blog's own address refused automated reading (403), so its checked date is left unchanged and its text was read in the cato-blog copy.
    Show the change
    Before: 2026-10-13 (AIM, MSRC); 2026-10-19 (CATO-BLOG)
    After: 2026-10-20
  • 2026-10-20: Sources: aim-blog: title. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: the full headline, as the cato networks copy (cato-blog) and simon willison's link post of 11 june 2025 give it.
    Show the change
    Before: Aim Labs, 'Breaking down EchoLeak', 11 June 2025 (researcher disclosure)
    After: Aim Labs, 'Breaking down "EchoLeak", the First Zero-Click AI Vulnerability Enabling Data Exfiltration from Microsoft 365 Copilot', 11 June 2025 (researcher disclosure)
  • 2026-10-20: Inference: source ids. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: the interpretation was cited only to the national vulnerability database entry (aim), which does not describe the email or its retrieval; the aim labs write-up (aim-blog) and microsoft's advisory (msrc) now cited for those parts.
    Show the change
    Before: ["AIM"]
    After: ["AIM-BLOG", "AIM", "MSRC"]
  • 2026-10-20: Inference: value. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: 'never touched the system' overstated it: the attacker's email entered the victim's microsoft 365 mailbox and, in the zero-click route, the data went out through a microsoft teams address. what the sources show is that the attacker needed no access: the national vulnerability database entry (aim) describes 'an unauthorized attacker' with no privileges required, and the aim labs write-up says an adversary 'simply needs to send an email to the victim' although copilot's interface is 'open only to organization employees'. added what the record does not show: microsoft's advisory says exploited 'no'. 'sensor spoofing' stays as the register's own analogy. the interpretation was unsigned, so no signature is cleared.
    Show the change
    Before: The attacker never touched the system; it only placed text where the system would later read it. That is the software form of sensor spoofing, and it is why what a system reads is treated as a risk in its own right
    After: The attacker needed no access to the victim's organization or to Copilot: it only sent an email, which the assistant later retrieved and followed as instructions. That is the software form of sensor spoofing, and it is why what a system reads is treated as a risk in its own right. The record shows a researchers' demonstration, fixed before disclosure; it does not show the technique used against any customer
  • 2026-10-20: Fields: recovery accountability: source ids. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: microsoft's advisory acknowledgement (msrc) and the bleepingcomputer report carrying the january 2025 date (bleepingcomputer) now cited.
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    Before: ["AIM-BLOG"]
    After: ["AIM-BLOG", "MSRC", "BLEEPINGCOMPUTER"]
  • 2026-10-20: Fields: recovery accountability. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: the copy of the aim labs write-up the register links (cato-blog; the aim-blog address refuses automated reading) says aim labs 'has disclosed several chains involving this vulnerability to microsoft's msrc team' (its security response center) but gives no date; microsoft's advisory (june 2025 security update data) acknowledges 'aim labs (part of aim security)', also without a date; the january 2025 date comes from bleepingcomputer, 11 june 2025, so it is now attributed there.
    Show the change
    Before: Coordinated disclosure: reported to Microsoft in January 2025
    After: Coordinated disclosure: Aim Labs disclosed the attack chains to Microsoft's Security Response Center, and Microsoft's advisory credits Aim Labs; neither gives a date. BleepingComputer reports that the researchers devised the attack in January 2025 and reported it to Microsoft
  • 2026-10-20: Fields: envelope constraints. Found in the editor's source re-check of 19-20 october 2026: the aim labs write-up (read in its cato networks copy, cato-blog) says the cross-prompt injection classifier 'was easily bypassed simply by phrasing the email' as instructions for the recipient, that 'reference-style markdown links are not redacted' (the chain is 'prompt injection -> image redaction bypass -> csp bypass', csp being the content-security policy), and that the image content-security policy allowed *.teams.microsoft.com; the old wording credited formats with defeating the classifier and left out the redaction control.
    Show the change
    Before: A prompt-injection classifier and content-security rules existed; the researchers bypassed both using formats and domains the rules trusted
    After: A prompt-injection classifier, redaction of external links and images, and content-security rules existed; the researchers bypassed them in turn by phrasing the email as instructions to the human reader, by reference-style markdown the redaction did not recognize, and by routing the fetch through a Microsoft Teams domain the content-security policy allowed
  • 2026-10-18: Outcome: regime consequence. A cve record is a public disclosure, not a regulatory or legal consequence. microsoft's statement of 16 october 2026 says cve-2025-32711 was published for transparency under its policy of issuing cves for cloud services. the cve stays in the case's outcome and evidence. classification call by the editor.
    Show the change
    Before: CVE-2025-32711
    After: none
  • 2026-10-16: Context: autonomy level. Found in an outside review of the published record on 16 october 2026: the exfiltration needed no user action, so 'human supervises' misdescribed it.
    Show the change
    Before: supervised
    After: alone
  • 2026-10-13: Fields. Independent check against the linked records before right-of-reply letters.
    Show the change
    Before: 'an unrelated question'; actor described as the 'retrieval and generation pipeline' on the CVE record
    After: 'an ordinary business question'; actor as the CVE record and advisory name it
  • 2026-10-13: Fields and sources. Claims aligned to what each linked record says, found on review.
    Show the change
    Before: all claims cited to one bundled source typed as regulator; 'rated critical'; 'patched server-side in May 2025'
    After: CVE record, Microsoft's advisory, and the researchers' write-up cited separately; both ratings given; fix wording as the advisory states it
  • 2026-10-13: Context: jurisdiction. Jurisdiction text was split at a comma inside parentheses.
    Show the change
    Before: Global (vendor | researcher)
    After: Global (vendor, researcher)
  • 2026-10-13: Controls: c-i1. A control has one state per case; entries in two states merged into the state the record supports.
    Show the change
    Before: failed: Injection classifier; absent: Treating retrieved content as data rather than instruction
    After: failed: Injection classifier; Treating retrieved content as data rather than instruction (absent)
Record history · 8 entries
  • 2026-10-20: Source added: Zero-click AI data leak flaw uncovered in Microsoft 365 Copilot (BleepingComputer, Bill Toulas).
  • 2026-10-19: Source added: 'Breaking down EchoLeak': the Aim Labs write-up (AIM-BLOG), also on the blog of Cato Networks, which acquired Aim Security.
  • 2026-10-19: Statement received from Aim Security.
  • 2026-10-18: Statement received from Microsoft.
  • 2026-10-16: Interpretation reworded for readers before sign-off; its meaning is unchanged.
  • 2026-10-14: Right of reply offered to Microsoft.
  • 2026-10-14: Right of reply offered to Aim Security.
  • 2026-10-14: Checked by the editor against the linked records.

Controls that address what went wrong

2 controls missing or failed; 1 in place and worked. The line under each is the concrete form it would have taken in this case.

Retrieved content as data
Failed: Injection classifier. Absent: Treating retrieved content as data rather than instruction.
Failed · Inputs layer
Containment and isolation
Output protections bypassed in turn: redaction of external links and images, by reference-style markdown the redaction did not recognize, and the content-security rules, by routing the fetch through a Microsoft Teams domain they allowed (trusted-domain exception)
Failed · Envelope layer
Coordinated disclosure program
Coordinated disclosure
Worked · External layer

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How it unfolded, layer by layer

MandateWhat it was told to do
Who deployed it: The Copilot user, asking an ordinary question.
ActorWhat acted
Microsoft 365 Copilot
InputsWhat it could see
An attacker's email, written to look like instructions to the reader, retrieved later into the assistant's context when the user asked an ordinary business question
DecisionHow it chose
The assistant followed the embedded instructions and composed output containing a reference to an attacker-controlled address with sensitive data appended
EnvelopeWhat it was allowed to do
Limits in place: A prompt-injection classifier, redaction of external links and images, and content-security rules existed; the researchers bypassed them in turn by phrasing the email as instructions to the human reader, by reference-style markdown the redaction did not recognize, and by routing the fetch through a Microsoft Teams domain the content-security policy allowed.
ActionWhat it did
Data left the tenant through a fetch the user never saw; zero clicks
OutcomeWhat happened
Caught first by researchers. Severity: none (demonstration).
EvidenceWhat can be proven
Record of the event: Researcher disclosure with the attack chain; the CVE record; Microsoft's advisory.
RecoveryWhat could be stopped, undone, answered for
Technical recovery: Fixed by Microsoft before disclosure; no customer action required. Accountability: Coordinated disclosure: Aim Labs disclosed the attack chains to Microsoft's Security Response Center, and Microsoft's advisory credits Aim Labs; neither gives a date. BleepingComputer reports that the researchers devised the attack in January 2025 and reported it to Microsoft.

The same gap in other cases

Cases where the same control was missing or failed. Those in another world are the cross-domain comparisons the Register exists to make.

ControlSame worldOther worlds
Retrieved content as dataGitHub MCP leak 2025, Claude Code [bot] trust 2026, Perplexity Comet 2025Gemini calendar invite 2025 (software acting on machines)
Containment and isolationOpenAI agent, Medicare portal 2026, GitHub MCP leak 2025, OpenAI agents, Hugging Face 2026Triton 2017 (machines)

Cost and accountability

Severitynone (demonstration)
AffectedNot recorded
Costnone
Regulatory or legal consequencenone
Technical recoveryTechnical recovery: Fixed by Microsoft before disclosure; no customer action required.
AccountabilityCoordinated disclosure: Aim Labs disclosed the attack chains to Microsoft's Security Response Center, and Microsoft's advisory credits Aim Labs; neither gives a date. BleepingComputer reports that the researchers devised the attack in January 2025 and reported it to Microsoft
InterpretationWhy it matters beyond its domain. The attacker needed no access to the victim's organization or to Copilot: it only sent an email, which the assistant later retrieved and followed as instructions. That is the software form of sensor spoofing, and it is why what a system reads is treated as a risk in its own right. The record shows a researchers' demonstration, fixed before disclosure; it does not show the technique used against any customer. Signed by Saurabh Bhatnagar on 2026-10-21.

Right of reply

Named partyStatus
MicrosoftResponded 2026-10-16Respond for Microsoft
Aim SecurityResponded 2026-10-19Respond for Aim Security
Statement from Microsoft, 2026-10-16. Published verbatim. We addressed the issue and no customer action is required. The purpose of CVE-2025-32711 being released is for greater transparency as we outline in our blog: Toward greater transparency: Unveiling Cloud Service CVEs.
Statement from Aim Security, 2026-10-19. Published verbatim. We have no edits to add, but if you can link to the below source that would be much appreciated. https://www.catonetworks.com/blog/breaking-down-echoleak/

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