Thought Leadership
Claroc was able to open 35,578 apps created with Grok without logging in, including SpaceXSI sales plans and medical examination data.
Security firm Claroc found thousands of applications that users created with the AI tool Grok Build and shared via links, and was able to open them without logging in. Among them were also 24 apps from employees of SpaceXSI and X containing internal business documents. SpaceXSI is the AI division formed from SpaceX and xAI that develops the assistant Grok. With Grok Build, applications can be created via text or voice input and published under the domain grok.me. The feature has been available to all subscribers since August.
Links Discoverable via DNS Records
As with the data leak involving Meta’s AI agent Muse, which Claroc uncovered in October, the links were discoverable via passive DNS services. These store historical DNS resolutions observed by sensors on DNS servers. On November 8, Claroc came across a long list of addresses under grok.me. 35,578 apps could be opened without logging in. According to Claroc, most were ordinary games, calculators, or websites. However, an estimated 650 to 800 contained private data. Only one of the open apps required a password.
“The company that develops Grok had its own internal material open to anyone who possessed the link, and it had never been given to us.”
Claroc
Sales Map and Health Data
The SpaceXSI documents included a map of sales territories with 594 customer accounts, an onboarding plan for a new sales representative, internal addresses of sales tools, and promotional offers. In other users’ apps, Claroc found, among other things, 3,784 occupational medical examinations, an evaluation overview for Tesla technicians, a personnel list of a US Navy contractor, and checklists from a cruise line. Six affected companies belong to the Fortune 500, and 26 have more than 1,000 employees.
Default Setting Under Criticism
Apps are not automatically published in Grok Build. However, in Claroc’s paid account, the option “Anyone with the link” was preselected when publishing. SpaceXSI stated to a reporter that publishing requires multiple steps and employee accounts are set to “Only you” by default. The company initially did not respond to Claroc’s reports on November 8 and 9. Only after Claroc tagged Elon Musk on X and reporters inquired did SpaceXSI take its own 24 apps offline.
According to Claroc, the open apps of other users remained accessible. Claroc is now informing affected organizations itself and recommends publishing apps privately by default and restricting access to organizations. Users of Grok Build should check the sharing settings of their apps and switch them to invited users or “Only you”.
(Editorial Team)
