Paper Detail

Robust Dynamic Expansion for Continual Learning under Backdoor Attacks via Purification and Selective Recovery

Keyu Lin, Fei Ye, Qihe Liu, Shijie Zhou, Jiguo Yu

arxiv Score 15.5

Published 2026-09-06 · First seen 2026-09-09

Research Track A

Abstract

Continual learning (CL) enables models to acquire new knowledge from sequentially arriving tasks while retaining previously learned knowledge. However, in practical scenarios, task streams collected from untrusted sources may contain backdoor-poisoned samples, posing a critical challenge to the stability, plasticity, and security of continual learners. In this work, we investigate a challenging setting termed Continual Learning Under Backdoor Attack (CLUBA), where each incremental task may involve a small proportion of maliciously manipulated training samples. Unlike conventional continual learning or backdoor defense scenarios, CLUBA requires models to simultaneously mitigate catastrophic forgetting, preserve adaptation capability, and prevent the absorption of malicious supervision during sequential updates. To address this challenge, we propose a robust dynamic-expansion framework that integrates sample purification, selective recovery, and robust expert routing into a unified continual learning paradigm. Specifically, we introduce Bi-Prototype Purification (BPP) to identify suspicious samples by exploiting semantic discrepancies in feature space. Based on purified data, Gradient Discrepancy-based Robustness Optimization (GDBRO) selectively recovers informative poisoned samples through pseudo-label correction and gradient consistency evaluation, improving robustness while maintaining model plasticity. Furthermore, Robust Feature Consistency-based Expert Selection (RFCBES) constructs perturbation-aware class prototypes to enable reliable expert routing under corrupted or shifted inputs.

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BibTeX

@article{lin2026robust,
  title = {Robust Dynamic Expansion for Continual Learning under Backdoor Attacks via Purification and Selective Recovery},
  author = {Keyu Lin and Fei Ye and Qihe Liu and Shijie Zhou and Jiguo Yu},
  year = {2026},
  abstract = {Continual learning (CL) enables models to acquire new knowledge from sequentially arriving tasks while retaining previously learned knowledge. However, in practical scenarios, task streams collected from untrusted sources may contain backdoor-poisoned samples, posing a critical challenge to the stability, plasticity, and security of continual learners. In this work, we investigate a challenging setting termed Continual Learning Under Backdoor Attack (CLUBA), where each incremental task may invol},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06346},
  keywords = {cs.LG, cs.CR},
  eprint = {2609.06346},
  archiveprefix = {arXiv},
}

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