Unveiling the Black Box: A Multi-Layer Framework for Explaining Reinforcement Learning-Based Cyber Agents
Authors: Diksha Goel, Kristen Moore, Jeff Wang et al.
Summary
arXiv:2505. 11708v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents are increasingly used to simulate sophisticated cyberattacks, but their decision-making processes remain opaque, hindering trust, debugging, and defensive preparedness.
Relevance
Read next because Unveiling the Black Box: A Multi-Layer Framework for Explaining Reinforcement Learning-Based Cyber Agents overlaps with clean result "LoRA persona trained on alone emits at 23.5% when a co-trained partner learns ..., vs 0% control on Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct (MODERATE confidence)", clean result "Leakage rate is a usable signal for recovering trigger-shaped phrases on Gaperon-1125-1B without knowing the hidden trigger itself (MODERATE confidence)", clean result "Language-mismatch LoRA SFT on Qwen2.5-7B leaks the trained completion language into bystander directives the model was never trained on, absent under same-language SFT (LOW confidence)". Matching terms: text, under, eval, rate, contexts, lora, model. Source: arxiv cs.CR (Cryptography and Security).
Threat model
Potential threat/caveat for clean result "LoRA persona trained on alone emits at 23.5% when a co-trained partner learns ..., vs 0% control on Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct (MODERATE confidence)": this item discusses adversarial.
Abstract
arXiv:2505.11708v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents are increasingly used to simulate sophisticated cyberattacks, but their decision-making processes remain opaque, hindering trust, debugging, and defensive preparedness. In high-stakes cybersecurity contexts, explainability is essential for understanding how adversarial strategies are formed and evolve over time. In this paper, we propose a unified, multi-layer explainability framework for RL-based attacker agents that reveals both strategic (Markov Decision Process (MDP)-level) and tactical (policy-level) reasoning. At the MDP-level, we model cyberattacks as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) to expose exploration-exploitation dynamics and phase-aware behavioural shifts. At the policy-level, we analyse the temporal evolution of Q-values and use Prioritised Experience Replay (PER) to surface critical learning transitions and evolving action preferences. Evaluated across CyberBattleSim environments of increasing complexity, our framework offers interpretable insights into agent behaviour at scale. Unlike previous explainable RL methods, which are {predominantly} post-hoc, domain-specific, or limited in depth, our approach is both agent- and environment-agnostic, {supporting use cases such as red-team simulation, RL policy debugging, phase-aware threat modelling and anticipatory defence planning.} By transforming black-box learning into actionable behavioural intelligence, our framework enables both defenders and developers to better anticipate, analyse, and respond to autonomous cyber threats.