By The Chronicle Staff

A security researcher has uncovered a serious security vulnerability affecting one of the nation's largest music festival ticketing platforms — and artificial intelligence played a key role in finding it.

According to a recent report from WIRED, cybersecurity researcher Ian Carroll used Anthropic's AI assistant, Claude Opus 4.7, while investigating the online infrastructure of Front Gate Tickets, a ticketing company that serves many of the country's biggest music festivals, including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, South by Southwest and Austin City Limits.

Front Gate is a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment.

During his research, Carroll discovered a flaw that ultimately allowed him to gain super-administrator access to the company's internal systems.

With that level of access, he found he could have issued virtually unlimited tickets —including premium VIP passes worth thousands of dollars — to nearly any event managed by the platform.

He chose not to exploit the vulnerability and instead reported it to the company through responsible disclosure channels. The issue was reportedly fixed within 24 hours.

AI Did More Than Answer Questions

What makes this incident particularly noteworthy is the role AI played during the investigation.

Carroll had identified what appeared to be a common web security weakness known as a SQL injection vulnerability. However, Front Gate's web application firewall initially prevented him from exploiting it. When he asked Claude for assistance, the AI generated a technique using nested SQL queries that bypassed the firewall—something Carroll said he did not initially understand himself.

The AI also produced code that helped automate parts of the investigation, accelerating the discovery process. Carroll later remarked that he believes there's a good chance the AI could have found the entire exploit chain with minimal human guidance.

Millions of Records Potentially Accessible

According to the report, the vulnerability could have exposed millions of customer records, including names, email addresses and mailing addresses, along with internal employee information. Payment card information was not believed to be accessible through the flaw.

Using administrative access, Carroll demonstrated that he could reset administrator passwords, browse internal systems and prepare complimentary tickets for major events. He intentionally stopped short of actually issuing any tickets or accessing more information than necessary to prove the vulnerability.

Front Gate has stated that it found no evidence the vulnerability had been abused by malicious actors before it was patched and said there was no impact on customers or ticket holders.

Carroll has questioned whether that conclusion can be stated with certainty, noting that the company cannot definitively prove the flaw had never been exploited previously.

A New Reality for Cybersecurity

The incident highlights a rapidly evolving challenge facing businesses of all sizes: AI is becoming an increasingly capable tool for both cybersecurity professionals and cybercriminals.

Companies have long relied on skilled security researchers to uncover vulnerabilities before attackers do. Today's advanced AI systems can dramatically speed up that process by identifying weaknesses, writing code, explaining exploits and suggesting alternative attack methods within minutes.

Anthropic said Carroll was participating in its Cyber Verification Program, which gives approved security researchers access to advanced cybersecurity capabilities for defensive purposes.

The company says those safeguards are designed to prevent misuse by unauthorized users while allowing legitimate researchers to improve online security.

A Reminder for Every Organization

While this incident involved a major national ticketing provider, cybersecurity experts say the lesson extends far beyond the entertainment industry.

Organizations that rely on aging web applications or assume their firewalls alone provide adequate protection may need to rethink their security strategies. As AI becomes more powerful, vulnerabilities that once required weeks or months of investigation may be discovered in a matter of hours.

For businesses, governments and nonprofits alike, regular security testing, software updates and independent vulnerability assessments are becoming increasingly important— not just to defend against human hackers, but against hackers equipped with AI. ■