## TL;DR
Fix this in the SOC agent by acting on the exact message first: require every malware family name in the triage note to be copied from a named threat intel source returned in this run, delete any family name with no matching source entry, and rerun the affected note with the verified family or with no family stated. Do not rerun the whole job unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one item, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

```text
SOC agent hallucinated a malware family name not present in any threat intel source
```

## Use this when
- The operation in the SOC agent fails with this exact message: SOC agent hallucinated a malware family name not present in any threat intel source.
- The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
- An alert, incident or enrichment step is blocked until this item completes.

## Not for this skill when
- The message is a permission or outage notice from the platform. Resolve that first, then return here if this error remains.
- The operation completes and you only disagree with its output. That is a quality review, not this failure.

## Steps
1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in the SOC agent, and copy the full message plus the alert, incident or enrichment record involved into the run notes. Verify: the error is reproduced on demand with a named item, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this error: require every malware family name in the triage note to be copied from a named threat intel source returned in this run, delete any family name with no matching source entry, and rerun the affected note with the verified family or with no family stated. Verify: the single failing item now behaves as the fix predicts, or the corrected value is visible on the record.
3. Check the neighbouring items that share the same config, template, feed or credential, because this class of failure rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Compare the result counts, decisions or alerts against the source in the SOC agent so a silent partial success is caught before sign off. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
5. Rerun the original operation in the SOC agent on the previously failing scope, watching for the same message rather than assuming success from a quiet log. Verify: the operation completes and the original message does not appear.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the item so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the error, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

## Why it happens
When intel lookups return no family, an agent can supply a familiar family name from context, and a source match requirement is what makes that substitution visible.

## Variant phrasings

### SOC agent hallucinated a malware family name not present in any threat intel source
The verbatim form searchers paste from the terminal or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single item proof, then the full rerun.

### How to fix - SOC agent hallucinated a malware family name not present in any threat intel source
The how-to phrasing for the same failure in the SOC agent. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

### the SOC agent troubleshooting for this failure
The symptom-first phrasing used when the console hides the full message. Surface the full message first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Compatibility: the SOC agent at current versions, plus the platform API or console the query names; no extra tooling beyond a text editor and the source system access needed to verify counts.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_XyPVJHoDo1h9qC3CLRltvA