AI Uncovers Ticketing Site Vulnerability: Free VIP Passes Possible

A security researcher, Ian Carroll, utilized the AI tool Claude Opus 4.7 to uncover a critical vulnerability in Front Gate Tickets, a major ticketing service for US music festivals. The discovered flaw, exploited in April, provided the researcher with super-administrator access to the company's systems. This access could have enabled the issuance of unlimited free VIP tickets for any event and potentially exposed millions of customer and staff records.

Carroll reported the vulnerability to Front Gate Tickets, which has since patched the issue. The company stated that the flaw was resolved within 24 hours and confirmed no exploitation or compromise of customer information occurred. The incident highlights the growing capability of AI tools in identifying complex security vulnerabilities across the internet.

The researcher noted that the AI independently devised a technique to bypass the website's firewall. He also found that the system lacked adequate security measures like two-factor authentication for staff accounts, which he could compromise to gain administrative privileges. Front Gate Tickets asserts that safeguards would have prevented exploited tickets from being used, but Carroll remains uncertain about the full extent of the previous risk.

Carroll's research was conducted as part of Anthropic's Cyber Verification Program. Anthropic stated that such research is enabled to assist defenders in improving global code security. Without program approval, the AI's hacking activity would have been detected and blocked.