First Known Infostealer Targets OpenClaw AI Assistant, Stealing Authentication Secrets and Digital Identities

In a groundbreaking cybersecurity development, researchers have discovered the first documented case of information-stealing malware specifically targeting files associated with OpenClaw, the popular open-source AI assistant framework that has rapidly gained global adoption.

The Rise of OpenClaw and Its Growing Security Concerns

OpenClaw (formerly known as ClawdBot and MoltBot) has emerged as a powerful local-running AI agent framework that creates a persistent configuration and memory environment directly on users’ machines. The tool’s capabilities extend far beyond simple task automation—it can access local files, log into email and communication applications on the host system, and interact seamlessly with various online services.

Since its initial release, OpenClaw has experienced explosive growth, with users worldwide integrating it into their daily workflows as a personal AI assistant. The framework’s ability to maintain persistent context and handle complex multi-step tasks has made it particularly attractive for both personal and professional use cases.

However, this rapid adoption has raised significant security concerns among cybersecurity experts. Given the framework’s popularity and the sensitive nature of the data it handles, researchers have long warned that threat actors would inevitably begin targeting OpenClaw’s configuration files, which contain critical authentication secrets used by the AI agent to access cloud-based services and AI platforms.

The First Documented Infostealer Attack

Hudson Rock, a prominent cybersecurity research firm, has now confirmed the first real-world instance of information-stealing malware successfully exfiltrating data from an OpenClaw installation. This discovery marks a significant milestone in the evolution of infostealer capabilities, representing a shift from traditional browser credential theft to the more sophisticated targeting of “the souls and identities of personal AI agents.”

The attack was detected in early February 2026, when an infostealer variant—believed to be a version of the well-known Vidar malware—successfully stole sensitive files from a victim’s OpenClaw configuration directory. The data exfiltration occurred on February 13, 2026, during the initial infection phase.

According to Alon Gal, co-founder and CTO of Hudson Rock, the malware doesn’t specifically target OpenClaw but rather employs a broad file-stealing routine that scans for sensitive files and directories containing keywords like “token” and “private key.” The OpenClaw configuration files happened to contain these keywords, making them attractive targets for the malware’s automated scanning process.

What Was Stolen and Why It Matters

The infostealer successfully exfiltrated three critical types of files from the victim’s “.openclaw” configuration directory:

openclaw.json – This configuration file exposed the victim’s email address, workspace path, and a high-entropy gateway authentication token. This token could potentially enable remote connection to a local OpenClaw instance (if exposed) or allow for client impersonation in authenticated requests.

device.json – This file contained both publicKeyPem and privateKeyPem, which are used for device pairing and message signing. With access to the private key, an attacker could sign messages as the victim’s device, potentially bypass “Safe Device” security checks, and access encrypted logs or cloud services paired with the compromised device.

soul.md and memory files (AGENTS.md, MEMORY.md) – These files define the agent’s behavior and store persistent contextual data, including daily activity logs, private messages, and calendar events. The “soul” file, in particular, contains the core behavioral parameters that define how the AI agent operates.

Hudson Rock’s AI analysis tool concluded that the stolen data is sufficient to potentially enable a complete compromise of the victim’s digital identity. The combination of authentication tokens, private keys, and behavioral data creates a comprehensive profile that could be exploited for various malicious purposes.

Industry Predictions Come True

This attack validates predictions made by Hudson Rock just weeks earlier, when they identified OpenClaw as “the new primary target for infostealers” due to the highly sensitive data these agents handle and their relatively lax security posture. The firm had anticipated that as AI assistants become more integrated into professional workflows, they would become increasingly attractive targets for cybercriminals.

The implications of this attack extend far beyond simple credential theft. By stealing an AI agent’s configuration, authentication tokens, and behavioral data, attackers can potentially:

• Impersonate the victim’s AI assistant across multiple services
• Access sensitive information processed by the agent
• Maintain persistent access to the victim’s digital ecosystem
• Reconstruct the victim’s workflows and habits
• Potentially escalate access to other connected services

Broader Implications for the AI Assistant Ecosystem

The OpenClaw attack is not an isolated incident in the rapidly evolving AI assistant landscape. Just weeks after OpenClaw’s emergence, another AI assistant framework called Nanobot—described as an ultra-lightweight personal AI assistant inspired by OpenClaw—was found to contain a critical security vulnerability.

Tenable researchers discovered a maximum-severity flaw in Nanobot that could potentially allow remote attackers to hijack WhatsApp sessions through exposed instances. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-2577, affected the ultra-lightweight framework that had already gained significant traction, with 20,000 stars and over 3,000 forks on GitHub within just two weeks of its release.

The Nanobot team responded quickly, releasing fixes in version 0.13.post7, but the incident highlights the broader security challenges facing the rapidly evolving AI assistant ecosystem. As these tools become more sophisticated and widely adopted, they create new attack surfaces that traditional security measures may not adequately address.

The Future of AI Assistant Security

Security researchers expect information stealers to continue focusing on AI assistant frameworks like OpenClaw as these tools become increasingly integrated into professional workflows. The combination of persistent authentication tokens, behavioral data, and access to sensitive information makes these frameworks particularly valuable targets for cybercriminals.

The cybersecurity community is now calling for enhanced security measures specifically designed for AI assistant frameworks, including:

• Improved encryption for configuration files and authentication tokens
• More robust access controls and authentication mechanisms
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• Better integration with existing security infrastructure
• User education about the unique risks associated with AI assistants

As AI assistants continue to evolve from simple productivity tools into central hubs for digital identity and workflow management, the security challenges they present will only become more complex. The OpenClaw incident serves as a wake-up call for both developers and users in the AI assistant ecosystem, highlighting the need for security to be a primary consideration in the design and deployment of these increasingly powerful tools.

The emergence of AI-specific malware targeting these frameworks suggests we are entering a new era of cybersecurity threats, where the boundaries between traditional malware categories are blurring, and new attack vectors are emerging faster than defensive measures can be developed. As the AI assistant market continues to grow and mature, the security community will need to adapt quickly to address these evolving threats.

Tags: #OpenClaw #AIAssistant #Infostealer #Cybersecurity #Malware #Vidar #HudsonRock #DigitalIdentity #Authentication #AIsecurity #CVE2026 #Nanobot #WhatsAppHijack #ThreatIntelligence #CyberAttack #SecurityVulnerability #AIThreat #DataBreach #Privacy #TechNews

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