China's tech regulator has sounded alarms about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent that's taken 2026 by storm. The National Vulnerability Database (NVDB) warned Thursday that improperly configured instances could become hacker playgrounds 🕵️♂️—risking data leaks and system takeovers.
Why Everyone's Obsessed 🤖
Since its November 2025 launch as Clawdbot, OpenClaw has become the ChatGPT of automation—racking up 100k+ GitHub stars and 2M weekly users. Its magic? Persistent memory + proactive task execution = your new digital sidekick. Chinese cloud giants like Alibaba and Tencent now offer one-click hosting solutions ☁️.
Hidden Dangers in the Code 🔥
NVDB's report highlights three red flags:
🤖 Autonomous decision-making without clear safety boundaries
🔓 Default configurations that leave backdoors open
💥 Potential for prompt hijacking and credential theft
The warning comes days after cybersecurity firm Wiz exposed a data leak in Moltbook—a new 'social network for AI bots' built on OpenClaw.
What Developers Are Saying 💬
While creator Peter Steinberger hasn't commented, Chinese tech forums are buzzing. 'We're adding extra encryption layers,' shared a Tencent engineer anonymously. Meanwhile, NVDB urges users to audit permissions and disable unnecessary public access ASAP 🛡️.
