The Agentic TOCTOU Gap: How Multi-Step Tool Calls Create Exploitable Race Windows

An agent checks a file's hash before processing it. Three tool calls and one sub-agent handoff later, it processes a different file and never knows. AI agents validate preconditions at tool-call time. In multi-step tasks, the gap between validation and execution spans network calls, sub-agent handoffs, and MCP server boundaries. The agentic TOCTOU...