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Abstract
Federated learning (FL) is a privacy-preserving machine learning framework
that enables multiple nodes to train models on their local data and
periodically average weight updates to benefit from other nodes' training. Each
node's goal is to collaborate with other nodes to improve the model's
performance while keeping its training data private. However, this framework
does not guarantee data privacy. Prior work has shown that the gradient-sharing
steps in FL can be vulnerable to data reconstruction attacks from an
honest-but-curious central server. In this work, we show that an
honest-but-curious node/client can also launch attacks to reconstruct peers'
image data in a centralized system, presenting a severe privacy risk. We
demonstrate that a single client can silently reconstruct other clients'
private images using diluted information available within consecutive updates.
We leverage state-of-the-art diffusion models to enhance the perceptual quality
and recognizability of the reconstructed images, further demonstrating the risk
of information leakage at a semantic level. This highlights the need for more
robust privacy-preserving mechanisms that protect against silent client-side
attacks during federated training.