OpenClaw Weekly #2 — 7.1% of ClawHub Skills Contain Critical Flaws, OWASP Agentic AI Top 10, and Zero Trust

Welcome to issue #2 of OpenClaw Weekly. This week is all about security: ClawHub vulnerabilities dominating headlines, OWASP releasing a new framework specifically for AI agents, and the OpenClaw project announcing major security integrations. Let's dive in.

Security researchers dropped a bombshell this week: 7.1% of all ClawHub skills contain critical security vulnerabilities including API key leaks, backdoors, and data exfiltration code. The report analyzed over 10,000 skills and found hundreds with hardcoded credentials, obfuscated malware, and time-delayed attacks designed to evade initial reviews.

The most common vulnerabilities discovered: - API key leaks — 412 skills with hardcoded OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS credentials - Credential harvesting — Skills reading `.env` files and transmitting keys to attacker-controlled servers - Backdoors — Hidden remote code execution capabilities triggered by specific inputs - Data exfiltration — Base64-encoded and DNS-tunneled data theft

This comes on the heels of last week's report of 341 malicious skills (covered in issue #1). The situation is serious enough that multiple enterprise OpenClaw deployments have been compromised.

What you need to do: 1. Audit every installed skill immediately using our API key leak scanning guide 2. Run secret scanning tools (TruffleHog, Gitleaks) across your `~/.openclaw/skills/` directory 3. Rotate all API keys and credentials — assume any key accessible to OpenClaw has been compromised 4. Enable continuous security scanning in your CI/CD pipeline using our automation guide

The OpenClaw maintainers are working on automated skill vetting, but for now, treat every ClawHub skill as untrusted until you've personally audited its source code.

OWASP (Open Worldwide Application Security Project) released the Agentic AI Security Top 10 framework this week — the first security standard specifically designed for AI agent systems like OpenClaw. This is a huge milestone for the industry.

Unlike the traditional OWASP Top 10 for web applications, the Agentic AI Top 10 addresses threats unique to autonomous agents:

A01: Prompt Injection — Malicious inputs that override system instructions A02: Tool Injection — Crafted parameters that trick agents into calling dangerous tools A03: RAG Poisoning — Compromised documents in vector stores that inject malicious instructions A04: Supply Chain — Vulnerable dependencies and malicious skills/plugins A05: Data Leakage — Accidental exposure of credentials and PII in agent outputs A06: Excessive Agency — Agents with more permissions than necessary A07: Authentication Bypass — Weak or missing auth checks for sensitive operations A08: Model Denial of Service — Resource exhaustion attacks via infinite loops A09: Output Integrity — Generated outputs that execute malicious actions downstream A10: Model Manipulation — Attacks targeting the LLM itself

We published a comprehensive implementation guide mapping each category to OpenClaw-specific risks with concrete mitigation strategies. If you're running OpenClaw in production, implementing OWASP Agentic AI compliance should be your top priority this quarter.

Discussion threads: r/netsec, Hacker News, and the OpenClaw Discord are actively debating which categories matter most for different deployment scenarios.

The OpenClaw project announced native VirusTotal integration this week, enabling automatic skill scanning before installation. When you install a ClawHub skill, OpenClaw will now:

1. Submit the skill package to VirusTotal for multi-engine malware scanning 2. Check file hashes against known malicious signatures 3. Display a security score and risk assessment before installation proceeds 4. Block installation if critical threats are detected (configurable threshold)

This is a major step forward for ClawHub security, but it's not a silver bullet. VirusTotal excels at detecting known malware but struggles with novel threats, obfuscated code, and logic bombs. You still need to manually audit skills for credential theft, excessive permissions, and suspicious network calls.

Enable VirusTotal scanning in your `gateway.yaml`:

```yaml security: virustotal: enabled: true api_key: ${VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEY} block_threshold: 3 # Block if 3+ engines flag as malicious scan_on_install: true scan_on_update: true ```

Get a free VirusTotal API key at virustotal.com/gui/join-us. The free tier allows 500 scans/day, sufficient for most deployments.

OpenClaw v2026.2.6 shipped on February 9 with security hardening, performance improvements, and bug fixes:

Security: - Added VirusTotal integration for skill scanning - Improved input validation to prevent tool injection attacks - Enhanced audit logging for sensitive operations - Fixed credential leakage in error messages

Performance: - 40% faster skill loading on cold start - Reduced memory usage for long-running conversations - Optimized compaction triggers for better token efficiency

Bug Fixes: - Fixed WhatsApp webhook timeout issues - Resolved Telegram media upload failures - Corrected RBAC permission inheritance edge cases

Upgrade instructions: See our zero-downtime update guide. As always, backup your configuration and test in staging first before upgrading production instances.

Multiple critical container escape vulnerabilities were disclosed this week, affecting Docker, containerd, and runC. If you're running OpenClaw in containers (and you probably are), these vulnerabilities allow attackers to break out of container isolation and compromise the host system.

CVE-2026-XXXX (runC) — Kernel exploit enabling host filesystem access from containers CVE-2026-YYYY (containerd) — Privilege escalation via malicious image layers CVE-2026-ZZZZ (Docker) — Socket exposure allowing Docker daemon takeover

Immediate actions: 1. Update container runtimes: `docker version`, `containerd --version`, `runc --version` 2. Run containers as non-root: Add `USER 10001:10001` to your Dockerfile 3. Drop dangerous capabilities: `--cap-drop=ALL` in docker run commands 4. Enable seccomp and AppArmor profiles to restrict syscalls

Our container escape protection guide covers defense-in-depth strategies including seccomp profiles, AppArmor, user namespaces, and runtime security monitoring with Falco.

For Kubernetes deployments, implement RBAC with least-privilege ServiceAccounts and pod security policies to minimize blast radius.

With 77% of organizations now citing identity as their top security risk (per Gartner 2026 report), zero trust architecture is no longer optional for production OpenClaw deployments. Traditional perimeter security assumes threats come from outside the network. Zero trust assumes breach is inevitable and verifies every access request.

Core zero trust principles for OpenClaw:

1. Identity-based access — Replace shared API keys with SSO (OIDC/SAML) and individual user identities

2. Least privilege — Grant minimum necessary permissions with role-based access control (RBAC)

3. Network microsegmentation — Isolate OpenClaw components with Kubernetes NetworkPolicies or service mesh

4. Continuous verification — Re-authenticate on every sensitive operation, not just at login

5. Comprehensive logging — Audit all access attempts for forensic analysis

We published a complete zero trust implementation guide covering SSO integration, RBAC configuration, mTLS setup, and continuous monitoring. If you're in fintech, healthcare, or another regulated industry, zero trust should be at the top of your security roadmap.

Related: See our SOC 2 compliance guide for audit preparation and incident response planning guide for when (not if) things go wrong.

We launched 25 new pages this week covering two new industries where OpenClaw is seeing rapid adoption:

Fintech Solutions: - Compliance Automation — Automate SOC 2, PCI-DSS, and regulatory reporting - Transaction Monitoring — Real-time fraud detection and AML compliance - Fraud Detection — Stop account takeover and synthetic identity fraud - Regulatory Reporting — Generate SAR, CTR, and OFAC filings automatically

Healthcare Solutions: - HIPAA Compliance Automation — PHI access monitoring and breach detection - Patient Data Security — Insider threat detection and access controls - Medical Records Processing — AI-powered clinical data extraction - Clinical Trial Data Analysis — Automate research data processing

Both industries require strict compliance, continuous auditing, and sophisticated security controls. If you're deploying OpenClaw in regulated environments, our enterprise guides cover the architecture patterns, monitoring, and documentation required for compliance.

GitOps for OpenClaw

Multiple teams shared their GitOps deployment setups using ArgoCD and Flux this week. GitOps treats Git as the single source of truth for infrastructure, enabling automated deployments, easy rollbacks, and audit trails. Our GitOps deployment guide covers the full setup.

Infrastructure as Code Security

Discussion thread on securing Terraform state files gained traction, with teams sharing secret scanning, policy-as-code (Sentinel/OPA), and state encryption strategies. See our IaC security guide.

Kubernetes Cost Optimization

A detailed breakdown showed one team reducing their OpenClaw Kubernetes costs by 65% through pod rightsizing, HPA autoscaling, and spot instances. Our K8s cost optimization guide has the full playbook.

Tool Comparisons

Several discussions comparing OpenClaw to other AI frameworks: - OpenClaw vs LangChain — Platform vs Python framework - OpenClaw vs Flowise — Conversation-first vs visual builder - OpenClaw vs AutoGen — Single agent vs multi-agent coordination

• The SBOM Revolution — Every enterprise buyer now requires Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for supply chain security. Learn how to generate SBOMs for OpenClaw dependencies.
• Post-Breach Playbooks — When (not if) you're breached, do you know what to do? Our post-breach troubleshooting guide covers forensic evidence preservation, attack timeline analysis, and system hardening.
• OpenClaw Experts vs Managed Security Providers — Debating whether to hire a freelance expert or a full MSSP? We compared the expert marketplace vs managed security providers.

Security dominated this week, and for good reason. The ClawHub vulnerability crisis is a wake-up call for the entire ecosystem. If you're running OpenClaw in production and haven't audited your installed skills, stop reading and do it now. Your credentials may already be compromised.

Stay safe out there. See you next week.

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