OpenClaw Security Alert: Your Credentials May Be Leaking — Here's How to Fix It and Host Safely

Security researchers and power users on the OpenClaw GitHub have flagged a significant vulnerability: issue #98633, rated impact:security and given the "diamond lobster" severity marker, reveals that running openclaw status --all can print channel account baseUrl values with embedded credentials, API keys, or auth tokens in the pasteable status report.

In plain terms: if you copy-paste your OpenClaw status output to share with someone — a support thread, a colleague, a GitHub issue — you may be sharing your passwords and API tokens at the same time. Without realizing it.

What Exactly Is Leaking?

The bug affects accounts where a channel's baseUrl contains credentials embedded in the URL itself — a common pattern for services like Mattermost, self-hosted webhooks, and certain API endpoints. Examples of the affected URL shapes:

• https://user:password@mattermost.example.com
• https://hooks.example.com/webhook?token=secret123&api_key=abc456
• Any URL with Authorization-style query parameters

When openclaw status --all generates its pasteable report, it includes these URLs verbatim — credentials and all. The report is designed to be shared. That is the problem.

Am I Affected?

You are at risk if you have configured any of the following in OpenClaw with a credential-bearing URL:

• Mattermost channel accounts
• Custom webhook channel accounts
• Self-hosted API providers with token-in-URL authentication
• Any baseUrl that contains user:pass@ or query params like ?token=

Run this check on your config:

openclaw status --all 2>&1 | grep -E "https?://[^@]+@|[?&](token|key|api_key|secret|password|auth)="

If you see any output, your status report is leaking credentials.

Immediate Steps to Protect Yourself

1. Rotate All Affected Credentials

If you have shared a status report publicly (GitHub issue, Slack, Discord, email) — rotate every credential that appears in it immediately. Assume they are compromised.

2. Avoid Sharing Status Reports Until the Fix Lands

The OpenClaw team has flagged this for security review. Until the patch is released, do not run openclaw status --all in environments where the output will be shared.

3. Move to Non-URL Credential Storage

Where possible, switch to credential storage methods that do not embed secrets in URLs:

• Use environment variables (OPENCLAW_CHANNEL_TOKEN) instead of embedding in baseUrl
• Use OpenClaw's built-in keychain integration where available
• For webhooks, use header-based auth rather than query-param tokens

4. Restrict Who Can Run Status Commands

If you run a shared or multi-user OpenClaw gateway, restrict openclaw status --all to the gateway owner account only.

Why Your Hosting Setup Is Part of the Security Equation

This bug is a software issue — but how you host OpenClaw determines your blast radius if credentials are leaked or the gateway is compromised. Here is what secure OpenClaw self-hosting looks like:

Principle 1: Isolate Your Gateway

Your OpenClaw gateway should run in its own isolated environment — not on a shared server where other users or websites could access its config files. On a dedicated VPS, you control exactly who has SSH access, and the gateway's state directory is not visible to anyone else.

Principle 2: Use a Firewall

The OpenClaw gateway listens on a local port by default. Keep it that way with a firewall rule:

ufw allow ssh
ufw allow 443
ufw deny 9999   # block the gateway port from public internet
ufw enable

Only expose the gateway to authenticated reverse proxy traffic (nginx/Caddy with HTTPS).

Principle 3: Never Store Credentials in URLs

This bug proves why. Use environment variables for all secrets:

# In your .env file (chmod 600 .env)
OPENCLAW_MATTERMOST_TOKEN=your_token_here
OPENCLAW_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your_secret_here

Principle 4: Enable Automatic Backups

If credentials are rotated after a leak, you need to restore from a clean state. Regular backups of your OpenClaw config and state directory mean you can recover to a known-good point.

Principle 5: Keep OpenClaw Updated

Security patches move fast on active projects. Run openclaw upgrade regularly — but responsibly (see our post on the migration bug before upgrading).

Run OpenClaw Securely on SNBD HOST

At SNBD HOST, our VPS plans give you the isolated, controllable environment that secure OpenClaw self-hosting requires:

• 🔒 Dedicated VPS — your server, your files, your credentials. No shared hosting risk.
• 🔒 UFW firewall pre-configured — gateway port is never accidentally exposed
• 🔒 SSH key authentication — no password-based SSH access by default
• 🔒 Free SSL via Let's Encrypt — encrypt all traffic to your gateway
• 🔒 Daily snapshots — roll back if a bad upgrade or credential rotation causes issues
• 🔒 Bangladesh-based support — Bengali-speaking engineers available when you need incident help fast

Security is not just about the software — it's about the environment the software runs in. A hardened VPS is the foundation.

→ Get a Secure SNBD HOST VPS for OpenClaw — from ৳799/month

The Bottom Line

OpenClaw's credential leak bug in status --all is a real, confirmed vulnerability. Rotate any credentials that may have been exposed, avoid sharing status reports until the patch ships, and migrate to environment-variable-based credential storage immediately.

More broadly: self-hosting a powerful AI assistant like OpenClaw carries real security responsibilities. Running it on an isolated VPS with a proper firewall, SSH key auth, and daily backups is not optional — it is the baseline for doing this safely.

SNBD HOST is here to make that baseline easy and affordable for teams in Bangladesh and beyond.