一句话：实证揭示 ChatGPT 旧插件生态迁移后仍大量残留可访问后端 API，形成治理盲区。
本文关注 ChatGPT 从早期插件商店迁移到 GPT Store 后，旧第三方插件生态的后端服务是否仍然可达并构成安全与治理风险。作者通过探测插件域名的可达性、残留配置文件与 API 端点响应，并利用历史 API 记录发现标准探测遗漏的后端服务，对早期 ChatGPT 插件生态进行了实证测量。结果显示，72.9% 的插件域名仍可访问，但仅 6.2% 的插件保留完全可用的后端 API；在可达后端中，许多未声明认证且暴露大量执行有状态操作的 API 端点。历史探测还发现 123 个仍可公开访问但已不出现在当前配置中的隐藏后端服务。研究表明，平台演进降低了后端可见性，却未消除网络可达性，暴露出 LLM 平台扩展机制演进过程中的治理盲点。
As large language model (LLM) platforms evolve rapidly, third-party plugin systems extend model capabilities but also introduce challenges for infrastructure governance and security. When a platform replaces an older third-party plugin ecosystem, backend services from the old ecosystem may remain reachable even after the platform no longer exposes those integrations. In this work, we focus on the early ChatGPT plugin ecosystem, which is in the original plugin store before the transition to the GPT Store. We probe domain reachability, residual configuration files, and API endpoint responses. We also use historical API records to identify backend services that standard probes miss. Our results show that 72.9% of plugin domains remain reachable, while only 6.2% of plugins retain fully functional backend APIs. Among these reachable backends, many do not declare authentication and expose numerous API endpoints that perform stateful operations. Historical probing further reveals 123 hidden backend services that remain publicly reachable but no longer appear in current configurations. These findings show that platform evolution reduces backend visibility but does not eliminate network reachability. This gap reveals a governance blind spot during the evolution of LLM platform extension mechanisms.
@inproceedings{RenYDB26,
title = {Evolution but Still Exposed: An Empirical Study of Residual APIs in the ChatGPT Plugin Ecosystem},
author = {Ruomai Ren and Chuan Yan and Naipeng Dong and Guangdong Bai},
booktitle = {FSE},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1145/3803437.3805537}
}