ClawHub

Gateway Self-Heal Watchdog

Security checks across malware telemetry and agentic risk

Overview

This skill installs a disclosed local watchdog that can restart OpenClaw and roll back its config, so it is high-impact but coherent with its stated purpose.

Install only if you want an always-on local watchdog that can restart the OpenClaw gateway and replace ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json from backup. Review the script first, keep an independent config backup, check your crontab or launchd/systemd entry after setup, and avoid the root systemd example unless that privilege is truly required.

SkillSpector

By NVIDIA
Vulnerability Patterns
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Rogue AgentSelf-Modification, Session Persistence
  • Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
  • MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
  • MCP Tool PoisoningHidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection
Findings (9)

Lp3

Medium
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
89% confidence
Finding
The skill clearly instructs the user to run shell commands and install scripts, yet it declares no permissions or equivalent warning about shell execution capability. This creates a transparency and consent problem because users may invoke a skill that can modify local files, install persistence, and alter system behavior without an explicit capability declaration.

Intent-Code Divergence

Medium
Confidence
98% confidence
Finding
The container startup command is intended to restore the live configuration from a backup, but it copies the backup file onto itself instead. In a self-healing/watchdog skill, this defeats the advertised rollback mechanism, so a bad or corrupted active config will persist and the gateway may repeatedly fail to start or recover, creating a reliability and availability issue.

Vague Triggers

Medium
Confidence
83% confidence
Finding
The description contains broad trigger phrases such as 'gateway down' and 'config recovery,' which can match common troubleshooting requests and cause the skill to activate in situations where the user did not intend persistent automation to be installed. In this context, over-broad routing is risky because the skill's documented behavior includes cron persistence, script installation, and configuration rollback.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding
The setup section says to run an installation script but does not clearly warn that it creates a watchdog script, registers a cron job every minute, and changes persistent system scheduling. Omitting that warning undermines informed consent and increases the chance a user will install long-lived automation with rollback behavior they did not fully understand.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
87% confidence
Finding
The document instructs users to install and enable a root-run systemd watchdog that executes every minute, but it provides no warning about the privilege level, persistence, or the risk of repeatedly running a script from /root. In a security-sensitive gateway context, this increases the chance of unsafe deployment, accidental persistence, or privileged misuse if the referenced script is modified or compromised.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding
The script performs impactful state changes without confirmation: it overwrites backups, creates and executes a new watchdog script, and rewrites the user's crontab. Even if intended for resilience, these actions can unexpectedly alter system behavior, remove existing watchdog-related cron lines via broad grep matching, and make rollback difficult if the user did not explicitly approve installation.

Session Persistence

Medium
Category
Rogue Agent
Content
```

This will:
- Create the watchdog script at `~/.openclaw/watchdog.sh`
- Register it as a cron job (every minute)
- Take an initial config backup
Confidence
97% confidence
Finding
Create the watchdog script at `~/.openclaw/watchdog.sh` - Register it as a cron job (every minute) - Take an initial config backup ## Manual Commands ```bash # Check watchdog status bash scripts/wat

Session Persistence

Medium
Category
Rogue Agent
Content
# Replace USERNAME in the plist first
sed -i '' "s/USERNAME/$(whoami)/g" ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.watchdog.plist

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.watchdog.plist
```
Confidence
78% confidence
Finding
launchctl load

Session Persistence

Medium
Category
Rogue Agent
Content
# Replace USERNAME in the plist first
sed -i '' "s/USERNAME/$(whoami)/g" ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.watchdog.plist

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.watchdog.plist
```
Confidence
78% confidence
Finding
plist

VirusTotal

53/53 vendors flagged this skill as clean.

View on VirusTotal