---
title: "xOffense: An Autonomous Multi-Agent Framework for Penetration Testing with Domain-Adapted Large Language Models | Papers With Code Cyber"
description: "This work introduces xOffense, an AI-driven, multi-agent penetration testing framework that shifts the process from labor-intensive, expert-driven manual efforts to fully…"
canonical: "https://paperswithcode-cyber.com/paper/60"
type: "paper"
---

# xOffense: An Autonomous Multi\-Agent Framework for Penetration Testing with Domain\-Adapted Large Language Models

External resource · 60 · 2025-09-16

## Abstract

This work introduces xOffense, an AI\-driven, multi\-agent penetration testing framework that shifts the process from labor\-intensive, expert\-driven manual efforts to fully automated, machine\-executable workflows capable of scaling seamlessly with computational infrastructure\. At its core, xOffense leverages a fine\-tuned, mid\-scale open\-source LLM \(Qwen3\-32B\) to drive reasoning and decision\-making in penetration testing\. The framework assigns specialized agents to reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning, and exploitation, with an orchestration layer ensuring seamless coordination across phases\. Fine\-tuning on Chain\-of\-Thought penetration testing data further enables the model to generate precise tool commands and perform consistent multi\-step reasoning\. We evaluate xOffense on two rigorous benchmarks: AutoPenBench and AI\-Pentest\-Benchmark\. The results demonstrate that xOffense consistently outperforms contemporary methods, achieving a sub\-task completion rate of 79\.17%, decisively surpassing leading systems such as VulnBot and PentestGPT\. These findings highlight the potential of domain\-adapted mid\-scale LLMs, when embedded within structured multi\-agent orchestration, to deliver superior, cost\-efficient, and reproducible solutions for autonomous penetration testing\.

## Tasks

- [Exploit construction and validation](https://paperswithcode-cyber.com/tasks/cyberintel-exploit-development)
- [Penetration testing](https://paperswithcode-cyber.com/tasks/cyberintel-penetration-testing)
- [Vulnerability detection and triage](https://paperswithcode-cyber.com/tasks/cyberintel-vulnerability-analysis)

## Paper resources

- [Source](https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13021)