'Are You Still the Agent I Authorized?' Formalizes Authorization Continuity for Agents That Evolve After Deployment

arXiv 2607.23586·medium signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

This paper (arXiv 2607.23586) names a gap that existing tool-permission systems do not cover: long-lived agents acquire skills and tools, revise workflows, and delegate work after a grant is issued, so the subject exercising that authority may no longer be what the user evaluated. The authors propose a state-bound model that fixes a transition envelope and an immutable effect ceiling at grant time — the envelope decides whether a grant survives a mutation, and below the ceiling authority may contract freely but expand only under specified evidence conditions. They prove that under complete mediation, sound effect abstraction, attenuating delegation, and monitor integrity, mutation cannot amplify protected effects beyond the user-issued ceiling, and map six mutation classes to their authorization consequences.