🌱 OpenClaw Security Risks - Learning Resources

Agentic AI tools like OpenClaw (formerly ClawdBot / MoltBot) introduce a new category of security risk. Because these agents run persistently with access to files, email, APIs and online services, they present a much larger attack surface than traditional software.

Key Threat Categories (as of Feb 2026)

Threat Description
Infostealer / Credential theft Malware (e.g. Vidar variants) scans config directories for keywords like "token" and "private key", exfiltrating gateway tokens and API keys from files like openclaw.json
Prompt injection Malicious instructions hidden in web pages, emails or documents hijack the agent's behaviour, causing it to exfiltrate credentials without triggering conventional alerts
Remote code execution (RCE) Hundreds of thousands of exposed OpenClaw instances have been found, creating pivot points for attackers who can execute arbitrary code via a single exposed service
Malicious third-party skills Bad actors upload poisoned skills to ClawHub, sometimes bypassing VirusTotal by hosting payloads on lookalike sites rather than embedding them in SKILL.md files
Memory poisoning Adversarial instructions planted in an agent's long-term memory persist across sessions, causing it to take harmful actions days or weeks after the initial compromise
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Learning Resources

Priority Course Provider Why Relevant
⭐ Best pick AI Security: Security in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Coursera Covers end-to-end AI system security, adversarial attacks, and AI-specific threat models β€” directly maps to prompt injection and agentic attack surfaces
⭐⭐ Runner-up Cyber Security: Security of AI Macquarie University Emerging threats targeting AI systems, adversarial attack defence, evaluating AI security controls. Updated July 2025
⭐⭐⭐ Supplementary IBM Generative AI for Cybersecurity Professionals IBM Focuses on real-world breach case studies, NLP-based attack techniques, and mitigating attacks on generative AI models β€” covers the credential-theft angle
Course Why Relevant
Search: "AI security" or "prompt injection" LinkedIn Learning's catalogue in this area is thinner than Coursera's; check for updated 2025/2026 courses on AI agent security as the catalogue is growing quickly

Free

Resource Format Why Relevant
OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications Reference doc Prompt injection is #1 on the 2025 list. The definitive taxonomy β€” maps precisely to every OpenClaw vulnerability category
OpenAI: Understanding Prompt Injections Article Concise, practical explanation of direct vs indirect prompt injection with defensive guidance. 15–20 min read
Lakera: Indirect Prompt Injection Article Deep dive into how injections ride data flows (PDFs, emails, RAG docs, memory) β€” the exact mechanism used against OpenClaw
Stellar Cyber: Top Agentic AI Security Threats in 2026 Article Covers prompt injection, memory poisoning, supply chain attacks β€” practical CISO-level framing

Suggested Learning Path

  1. Start β†’ OWASP LLM Top 10 (free, ~2 hrs) β€” build the threat taxonomy
  2. Then β†’ OpenAI and Lakera articles (free, ~1 hr) β€” understand prompt injection in depth
  3. Then β†’ Coursera: AI Security: Security in the Age of Artificial Intelligence β€” structured, in-depth treatment
  4. Optional β†’ IBM Generative AI for Cybersecurity β€” if you want deeper coverage of the malware/credential-theft angle

Sources