OpenClaw Security Hardening

Protect OpenClaw installations from prompt injection, data exfiltration, malicious skills, and workspace tampering

A comprehensive security toolkit for protecting OpenClaw installations from attacks via malicious skill files, prompt injection, data exfiltration, and workspace tampering.

Threat Model

This skill protects against:

Threat	Description	Tool
Prompt Injection	Malicious skills containing instructions to override system prompts, ignore safety rules, or manipulate agent behavior	scan-skills.sh
Data Exfiltration	Skills that instruct the agent to send sensitive data (credentials, memory, config) to external endpoints	audit-outbound.sh
Skill Tampering	Unauthorized modification of installed skills after initial review	integrity-check.sh
Workspace Exposure	Sensitive files with wrong permissions, missing .gitignore rules, insecure gateway config	harden-workspace.sh
Supply Chain	Installing a new skill that contains hidden malicious patterns	install-guard.sh

Quick Start

bash

# Run a full security scan of all installed skills
./scripts/scan-skills.sh

# Audit outbound data flow patterns
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh

# Initialize integrity baseline
./scripts/integrity-check.sh --init

# Harden your workspace
./scripts/harden-workspace.sh --fix

# Check a new skill before installing
./scripts/install-guard.sh /path/to/new-skill/

Tools

1. scan-skills.sh — Skill File Scanner

Scans all installed skill files for malicious patterns including prompt injection, data exfiltration attempts, suspicious URLs, hidden unicode, obfuscated commands, and social engineering.

Usage:

bash

# Scan all skill directories
./scripts/scan-skills.sh

# Scan a specific directory only
./scripts/scan-skills.sh --path /path/to/skills/

# Output as JSON for automation
./scripts/scan-skills.sh --json

# Show help
./scripts/scan-skills.sh --help

What it detects:

• Prompt injection patterns (override instructions, new system prompts, admin overrides)
• Data exfiltration (curl/wget to external URLs, sending file contents)
• Suspicious URLs (webhooks, pastebin, requestbin, ngrok, etc.)
• Base64-encoded content that could hide instructions
• Hidden unicode characters (zero-width spaces, RTL override, homoglyphs)
• References to sensitive files (.env, credentials, API keys, tokens)
• Instructions to modify system files (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md)
• Obfuscated commands (hex encoded, unicode escaped)
• Social engineering ("don't tell the user", "secretly", "without mentioning")

Severity levels:

• 🔴 CRITICAL — Likely malicious, immediate action needed
• 🟡 WARNING — Suspicious, review manually
• 🔵 INFO — Noteworthy but probably benign

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2. integrity-check.sh — Skill Integrity Monitor

Creates SHA256 hash baselines of all skill files and detects unauthorized modifications.

Usage:

bash

# Initialize baseline (first run)
./scripts/integrity-check.sh --init

# Check for changes (run periodically)
./scripts/integrity-check.sh

# Update baseline after reviewing changes
./scripts/integrity-check.sh --update

# Check specific directory
./scripts/integrity-check.sh --path /path/to/skills/

# Show help
./scripts/integrity-check.sh --help

Reports:

• ✅ Unchanged files
• ⚠️ Modified files (hash mismatch)
• 🆕 New files (not in baseline)
• ❌ Removed files (in baseline but missing)

Automation: Add to your heartbeat or cron to run daily:

bash

# In HEARTBEAT.md or cron
0 8 * * * /path/to/scripts/integrity-check.sh 2>&1 | grep -E '(MODIFIED|NEW|REMOVED)'

---

3. audit-outbound.sh — Outbound Data Flow Auditor

Scans skill files for patterns that could cause data to leave your machine.

Usage:

bash

# Audit all skills
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh

# Audit specific directory
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh --path /path/to/skills/

# Show whitelisted domains
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh --show-whitelist

# Add domain to whitelist
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh --whitelist example.com

# Show help
./scripts/audit-outbound.sh --help

Detects:

• HTTP/HTTPS URLs embedded in skill instructions
• References to curl, wget, fetch, web_fetch, browser navigate
• Email/message/webhook sending instructions
• Raw IP addresses in instructions
• Non-whitelisted external domains

---

4. harden-workspace.sh — Workspace Hardener

Checks and fixes common security misconfigurations in your OpenClaw workspace.

Usage:

bash

# Check only (report issues)
./scripts/harden-workspace.sh

# Auto-fix safe issues
./scripts/harden-workspace.sh --fix

# Show help
./scripts/harden-workspace.sh --help

Checks:

• File permissions on sensitive files (MEMORY.md, USER.md, SOUL.md, credentials)
• .gitignore coverage for sensitive patterns
• Gateway auth configuration
• DM policy settings
• Sensitive content in version-controlled files

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5. install-guard.sh — Pre-Install Security Gate

Run before installing any new skill to check for malicious content.

Usage:

bash

# Check a skill before installing
./scripts/install-guard.sh /path/to/new-skill/

# Strict mode (fail on warnings too)
./scripts/install-guard.sh --strict /path/to/new-skill/

# Show help
./scripts/install-guard.sh --help

Checks:

• All patterns from scan-skills.sh
• Dangerous shell patterns in scripts (rm -rf, curl|bash, eval, etc.)
• Suspicious npm dependencies (if package.json exists)
• Exit code 0 = safe, 1 = suspicious (for CI/automation)

---

Security Rules Template

Copy assets/security-rules-template.md into your AGENTS.md to add runtime security rules for your agent. These rules instruct the agent to refuse prompt injection attempts and protect sensitive data.

bash

cat assets/security-rules-template.md >> /path/to/AGENTS.md

Recommended Setup

1. Initial setup:

   bash

   ./scripts/scan-skills.sh              # Scan existing skills
   ./scripts/audit-outbound.sh           # Audit outbound patterns
   ./scripts/integrity-check.sh --init   # Create baseline
   ./scripts/harden-workspace.sh --fix   # Fix workspace issues
   

2. Add security rules to AGENTS.md from the template

3. Before installing new skills:

   bash

   ./scripts/install-guard.sh /path/to/new-skill/
   

4. Periodic checks (add to heartbeat or cron):

   bash

   ./scripts/integrity-check.sh          # Detect tampering
   ./scripts/scan-skills.sh              # Re-scan for new patterns