What Is OpenClaw: Exploring AI Agent Security Vulnerabilities

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Technology is an ever-evolving industry with innovative concepts coming to life each day. In areas concerning AI, the rapid growth of the sector has spurred several exciting ideas that are still a bit rough around the edges. Today, we’ll be looking at the emergence of OpenClaw, an open-source private AI agent that has gone viral in the last few months on social media due to its remarkable autonomous capabilities. However, it is important to always look at new technologies objectively and with a balanced mindset before barging straight in.

With over 100,000 developers using the platform, OpenClaw has garnered significant clout in the industry, creating a buzz around AI agent technology and its capabilities. However, the platform has also been under significant scrutiny for data security concerns and vulnerabilities. We’ll also be focusing on the benefits and risks of agentic AI, and how you can stay safe when using it. For now, let’s kick things off by getting to know the latest AI agent platform stealing headlines across the globe.

What Is OpenClaw?

First launched in 2025 as Clawdbot and then renamed Moltbot, OpenClaw is the final iteration of an open-source, self-hosted autonomous private AI agent. According to the company’s introductory blog, the open agent platform runs on your machine and can be accessed through the chat apps you already use, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, or Teams. In basic terms, OpenClaw is a more advanced AI assistant, right? Not exactly.

Image Source: OpenClaw Official Website

The difference between OpenClaw and your typical AI assistant or chatbot is that it can run shell commands, browse through local files, and process tasks on your device. Unlike traditional AI bots, which simply provide written responses when prompted, OpenClaw processes and acts upon requests. Being self-hosted, all these processes happen on your device itself, without a separate server involved. So, let’s find out more about how the platform functions.

How Does OpenClaw Work?

OpenClaw functions as a locally running AI agent that connects language models with system-level task execution. Instead of simply generating answers, the platform interprets instructions and performs actions through a combination of system commands, integrations, and automation workflows.

Once installed and its APIs are configured, OpenClaw runs directly on the user’s machine and connects to supported messaging platforms. Users can send instructions through chat interfaces, and the agent interprets those instructions using a language model. Once a request is understood, the agent can execute tasks such as reading files, running scripts, querying APIs, or interacting with other applications on the system.

A key component of OpenClaw is its plugin or “skill” ecosystem. These skills allow the agent to expand its capabilities by integrating with external tools and services. For example, a skill may allow the agent to interact with cloud storage platforms, manage development workflows, or automate tasks across productivity apps.

Because the system runs locally, OpenClaw often requires access to system resources such as files, credentials, and API keys to perform tasks effectively. While this local architecture can provide greater flexibility and control compared to cloud-based AI tools, it also means that the agent operates with potentially high privileges on the host machine.

As a result, the way these integrations, permissions, and execution capabilities are configured plays a critical role in determining the overall security of the system.

Benefits of Using AI Platforms

Generally, agentic AI is meant to solve complex problems and perform tasks across any number of applications. For corporations and developers, the tool can navigate software design, code generation, IT automation, and much more. On a personal level, it can be used as a conversational assistant as well. Here are some of the main benefits of using an AI agent:

• Eliminating Human Error: While AI cannot be relied on fully for accuracy, agentic AI goes above and beyond to solve complex issues wherever it can. It can refer to external datasets, web searches, APIs, and other AI agents to look for answers. They can also self-examine and detect flaws in their own logic and outputs, learn from those mistakes, and do better the next time.
• Boosting Productivity: With agentic AI, you drastically reduce the amount of time spent on tasks in the workplace. This gives your workforce time to focus on more pressing issues and improves efficiency.
• Taking Over Tedious or Repetitive Tasks: One of the main draws for AI usage is that we can entrust repetitive tasks to these tools, alleviating some of the burden on our workforce and giving us time to prioritize tasks effectively.
• Reduced Expenses: Agentic AI tools streamline most workflows with automation, which in turn cuts down on several operational costs.
• Scalability: AI agents offer a flexible and fully scalable toolset that can be expanded to meet growing needs or reduced to focus on particular areas. This also cuts costs and improves efficiency in the long run.
• Streamlined Insights: Agentic AI tools form data-driven conclusions and can recognize patterns in complex datasets. This allows them to analyze and draw up significant insights from your data.

Agentic AI tools allow us to recenter specific tasks, giving us the time to prioritize other aspects along the way. However, like all tools in the trade, it can be used for malicious purposes in the wrong hands.

OpenClaw Security Vulnerabilities

All technologies require refinement, patches, and updates as time goes by. OpenClaw is still a very new platform with a lot of rough edges. Peter Steinberger, the developer of OpenClaw, even admitted himself that the platform isn’t yet as polished as it should be, stating that “most non-techies should not install this,” in a post on X. While you might be thinking that an AI agent that can plan, communicate, and do things without me sounds great, there are several security concerns you’d need to understand before getting involved.

One of the main concerns raised by security experts is the level of access required for the platform to function. Because OpenClaw runs locally and interacts with files, applications, and messaging platforms, it may require access to sensitive information such as credentials, APIs, and personal data.

This level of access has raised concerns that misconfigurations, malicious plugins, or compromised integrations could potentially expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized actions.

Bleeping Computer reported that over 230 malicious packages for OpenClaw were published in less than a week on the tool’s official registry and on GitHub. These were readily deployable plug-ins for OpenClaw, or skills, that allow the platform to do specific tasks or provide instructions for specialized activities. These skills impersonate legitimate utilities such as cryptocurrency trading automation, financial utilities, and social media or content services, but inject information-stealing malware payloads onto users’ systems in the background.

Matvey Kukuy, the CEO of Archestra.AI, took to X to demonstrate how easy it was for him to obtain a private key using Clawdbot. After sending the platform an email with a prompt injection, he asked the AI agent to check his email and promptly received the private key in just 5 minutes.

Sourced from Matvey Kukuy

In early February, Security Week reported that security researchers found that OpenClaw was affected by a vulnerability (CVE-2026-25253) that allowed an attacker to obtain a user’s authentication token, which could then be used to access user data. In the advisory, the developers explained that it was “a token exfiltration vulnerability that leads to full gateway compromise.”

Basically, the threat actor would only have to trick the victim into visiting the malicious website, which would then execute JavaScript in the user's browser to obtain their OpenClaw authentication token and send it back to the attacker. The malicious website also executes code to establish a WebSocket connection to the local host, with authentication enabled using the stolen token. The attacker can then disable sandboxing, along with user confirmation for the execution of dangerous commands.

While the vulnerability was patched in the next few days with the new release at the end of February, the incident fueled fears surrounding the platform’s safety. More recently, Security Affairs reported that a “high-severity vulnerability called ClawJacked in OpenClaw allowed malicious websites to brute-force and take control of local AI agent instances.” After the security team discovered the flaw, which enabled silent data theft, OpenClaw rated the issue as high severity and patched it in under 24 hours with a new version.

Meta AI security and safety researcher, Summer Yue, also posted her interaction with OpenClaw when she asked the AI agent to review her email inbox, but not to take any actions until she approved. Yue also confirmed that she had deleted any “be proactive” instructions beforehand. However, OpenClaw then proceeded to delete large amounts of her emails, which she had to stop by killing the process herself at her Mini Mac host device.

Sourced from summeryue

In January, Jamieson O'Reilly pushed his hacking skills and discovered that he could access Clawbot Control, the web-based admin interface “where you can configure integrations, view conversation histories, manage API keys, and essentially operate the entire system.” This gave him access to every credential the agent used, along with full conversation histories across every integrated platform.

He noted that attackers could “impersonate the operator to their contacts, inject messages into ongoing conversations, and exfiltrate data through the agent's existing integrations in a way that looks like normal traffic.” In the end, however, he states that this incident was barely a sophisticated attack and could be likened to a simple misconfiguration or bug “that any security review should have caught, and most deployments actually did have some protection in place.”

Ultimately, O’Reilly concluded that the vulnerability was “a signal of where we're heading,” and that we need to evolve our thinking to operate safely in this environment. OpenClaw then introduced its partnership with VirusTotal to ensure Skill Security, bringing O’Reilly on board as lead security advisor to guide the program. At the end of the day, the security vulnerabilities we find in every emerging technology need to be dealt with using swift and decisive action that prioritizes user and data safety, a mission that OpenClaw seems ready to accept on its journey.

However, it’s not just the security experts who are showing concerns about OpenClaw’s security vulnerabilities. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has also warned that the OpenClaw open-source AI assistant could pose security risks under default or improper configurations, exposing users to cyberattacks and data breaches. The alert stated that monitoring had found certain OpenClaw deployments, under default or improper configurations, to trigger relatively high security risks, making them highly susceptible to cyberattacks and information leakage.

According to The Korea Times, several major Korean tech companies, including Kakao, Naver, and Karrot Market, are also moving to restrict the use of OpenClaw within corporate networks due to the rising concerns about security and data privacy. Kakao stated that to “protect the company’s information assets,” the use of the open‑source AI agent OpenClaw would be restricted on the corporate network and on work devices. Now that we have a firmer grasp of the vulnerabilities posed by OpenClaw itself, let’s look at the broader picture and look at the security risks associated with using agentic AI as a whole.

Security Risks of Using Agentic AI

According to OpenClaw’s own analysis of the industry, AI agents that can take real-world actions introduce risks that traditional software doesn't have. While having agentic AI can be beneficial, it would be short-sighted to ignore the potential security flaws and vulnerabilities that the technology presents. Some of the main security risks of using AI agents include:

• Prompt Injection Attacks: A prompt injection allows the attackers to manipulate the AI agent with prompts that can override instructions, extract sensitive data, and trigger unauthorized actions.
• Data Leaks: Trusting your personal data to an AI agent always runs the risk of that data being stolen, leaked, or exposed by threat actors.
• Malware Hijacking: Malware found in URLs, attachments, and emails can easily hijack your AI agent and force it to run tasks.
• Identity Theft: The blurry line between agent identity and user identity creates the space for potential identity theft and impersonation. A forged digital ID can grant access to sensitive company and personal information.
• Chain Reaction Attacks: Due to the collaborative nature of AI agents, a vulnerability or intrusion on one end of the network could spread across to other workflows and databases.

While these are all valid security concerns to have when considering agentic AI, it’s also important to realize that you can implement AI agent tools safely with the correct guardrails in place.

Ensuring Data Safety When Using Agentic AI

Throughout the years, technology has evolved to meet newer demands. However, as we expand our capabilities, we must also adhere to strict guidelines to prevent security flaws. Agentic AI has the ability to reform the way we approach complex tasks, effortlessly providing a platform to create, solve, and explore the world around us. With these best practices in place, you can ensure a safer AI agent experience for yourself and your company.

• Use a Dedicated Device: Do not install OpenClaw directly on your primary or work device. Instead, use a spare computer or a VPS for your autonomous AI.
• Define Instructions Clearly: Your autonomous agent will act according to the safeguards you put in place. Use precise and clear prompts that dictate the agent’s boundaries, role, and scope of activity.
• Limited Access: Try to limit the amount of access your AI agent has to your personal data. Only give it access to information relevant to its purpose.
• Continuous Evaluation: Agentic AI tools cannot be left to their own devices without any supervision. It’s important to always review outputs and flag any issues to the developers.
• Prepare Your Team: Working with agentic AI tools requires a certain level of understanding of security risks and awareness. Prepare your team to be able to act in the event of a security risk and teach them how to use agentic AI effectively.
• Stay Updated: Developers are constantly changing and upgrading their AI agent tools. Try to stay updated about the newest features, bugs, and patches in the system.

The most important step when dealing with any new technology is to implement a culture of cyber hygiene. This will ensure that you and your workforce stay prepared and alert at all times, allowing you to respond effectively to cybersecurity threats before they can do more damage.

Conclusion

OpenClaw has been a hot topic for most security experts in these last few months, and not without cause. However, we believe that these discussions are entirely necessary if we want to grow in an age of rapid innovation and AI exploration. Highlighting concerns about security risks opens up the floor to honest, introspective, and insightful discussions about the use of AI. Agentic AI has the potential to reinvent the way we streamline tasks in the future; however, it may take a bit more time, effort, and a considerable amount of trial and error to get there.

While OpenClaw may have its fair share of work cut out for it when it comes to fortifying security vulnerabilities, this is only a small step on the road to secure AI for both companies, developers, and personal use. The onus remains on agentic AI developers to focus on data safety and effective guardrails as a priority. At Sangfor Technologies, we remain optimistic that the agentic AI revolution will focus on data security, not as an afterthought, but as a core principle.

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