Implementation guide
OWASP AISVS v1.01
Memory, Embeddings & Vector Database Security · Memory Expiry & Revocation
Quarantined content stays out of results
Verify that quarantined content is retained but excluded from all retrieval results.
OWASP AISVS v1.01, requirement 8.3.3
In plain English
When content is quarantined as suspicious, keep it for investigation and make sure it never appears in any search result. Deleting it destroys the evidence. Leaving it retrievable defeats the quarantine. This is a Level 3 control.
What good looks like
- Quarantined items are excluded from every retrieval path, including caches, admin search and agent memory lookups.
- They are retained, with the reason and time of quarantine, for review.
- Releasing an item needs approval from a named role.
- Tests confirm quarantined items cannot be retrieved.
How teams usually do it
- Move quarantined items to a separate store with restricted access. This is safer than a flag, because no query can reach them by accident.
- Where a flag is used, enforce it in the retrieval service that every path goes through.
- Clear caches when an item is quarantined.
Suggested evidence
- Tests showing quarantined items do not appear through any retrieval path.
- Quarantine records with reasons and release approvals.
Common mistakes
- A quarantine flag that one retrieval path ignores.
- Quarantining the vector while a cached answer built from it is still served.
- Deleting quarantined content, so nobody can work out what the attack was.
Not sure which requirements apply to your system? Take the assessment, or browse every guide in this chapter.
Requirement text from the OWASP AI Security Verification Standard, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This guidance is shared under the same licence.