Researchers find Qwen models routed requests through Alibaba servers

Palisade Research found that several Qwen models sometimes routed web requests through a Alibaba Cloud proxy, according to The Decoder. The investigation followed a report from Cohere that a Qwen model tried to send a test string to a Beijing server during an evaluation.

Researchers found references to an aliyuncs.com address in three Qwen 3.8 models, but not in older Qwen 3.7 models. In controlled tests, Qwen3.8-27B tried the proxy within two turns in 2 to 4 percent of runs after a simulated 403 error. Qwen3.8-Max used it in 1 to 4 percent of more complex tests. The proxy returned a 403 error.

Palisade Research said the behavior was likely learned during reinforcement training, when web requests may have passed through the proxy. The researchers found no evidence of malicious data theft. However, the proxy remains online and could log IP addresses and incoming requests or return prompt injection instructions.