SoK: The Next Frontier in AV Security: Systematizing Perception Attacks and the Emerging Threat of Multi-Sensor Fusion

Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 22 Apr 2026] SoK: The Next Frontier in AV Security: Systematizing Perception Attacks and the Emerging Threat of Multi-Sensor Fusion Shahriar Rahman Khan, Tariqul Islam, Raiful Hasan Autonomous vehicles (AVs) increasingly rely on multi-sensor perception pipelines that combine data from cameras, lidar, radar, and other modalities to interpret the environment. This SoK systematizes 48 peer-reviewed studies on perception-layer attacks against AVs, tracking the field's evolution from single-sensor exploits to complex cross-modal threats that compromise multi-sensor fusion (MSF). We develop a unified taxonomy of 20 attack vectors organized by sensor type, attack stage, medium, and perception module, revealing patterns that expose underexplored vulnerabilities in fusion logic and cross-sensor dependencies. Our analysis identifies key research gaps, including limited real-world testing, short-term evaluation bias, and the absence of defenses that account for inter-sensor consistency. To illustrate one such gap, we validate a fusion-level vulnerability through a proof-of-concept simulation combining infrared and lidar spoofing. The findings highlight a fundamental shift in AV security: as systems fuse more sensors for robustness, attackers exploit the very redundancy meant to ensure safety. We conclude with directions for fusion-aware defense design and a research agenda for trustworthy perception in autonomous systems. Comments: 20 Pages, 3 figures Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) Cite as: arXiv:2604.20621 [cs.CR]   (or arXiv:2604.20621v1 [cs.CR] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.20621 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Raiful Hasan [view email] [v1] Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:37:57 UTC (1,539 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-04 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)