Lock down your agent before it becomes a liability. Covers CVE-2026-25253, skill auditing, dashboard exposure, prompt injection defense, and a complete hardening checklist. Read this before you give your agent access to anything important.
In early 2026, security researchers discovered CVE-2026-25253 — a critical vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) affecting OpenClaw versions before v2026.1.29. Over 21,000 exposed instances were found with their dashboards publicly accessible on the internet. Attackers could take full control of the agent, access all connected files, and execute arbitrary commands.
Beyond the CVE, 26% of ClawHub skills have been found to contain vulnerabilities ranging from data exfiltration to privilege escalation. This guide gives you the complete playbook to protect yourself.
Stuck on a security step? Ask in the community — members help each other daily.
Get help from real practitioners doing this every day.
Before anything else, make sure you're running a patched version. CVE-2026-25253 was fixed in v2026.1.29. If you're running anything older, you're vulnerable right now.
CRITICAL
Check your current version:
openclaw --versionIf it's below v2026.1.29, update now:
openclaw update
openclaw --version # Verify the update workedWHY THIS MATTERS
Have a skill you're not sure about? Post it in the community — we'll audit it together.
Get help from real practitioners doing this every day.
Completed the hardening checklist? Share your setup in the community for a free review.
Get help from real practitioners doing this every day.
Download All Formats — Free
PDF guide, checklist, and quick reference card
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Guide 02: Cut Your OpenClaw API Bill by 90%
Now that you're secure, let's make it cheap.