Securing the Supply Chain: OpenClaw Skill Scanner Guard

2/23/2026

Securing the Supply Chain: OpenClaw Skill Scanner Guard

As AI agents become more autonomous, the "skills" we give them become a primary attack surface. An agent with the power to read your emails, execute code, or manage your infrastructure is only as safe as the plugins it uses.

In the OpenClaw ecosystem, AgentSkills provide these powerful capabilities. But how do you ensure a new skill from ClawHub or a third-party repo isn't introducing a critical security risk?

Introducing the OpenClaw Skill Scanner Guard—a security gate designed to audit, block, and quarantine high-risk skills before they ever touch your agent's runtime.

The Risk: Invisible Capabilities

Third-party skills can hide dangerous intent:

  • Exfiltration: Stealthily sending environment variables or private files to external endpoints.
  • Privilege Escalation: Using existing tools to gain higher system access.
  • Persistence: Modifying startup scripts or systemd units.

Without an automated audit, you're relying on "vibes-based security."

Architecture: The Scan Gate

The openclaw-skill-scanner is built on top of cisco-ai-defense/skill-scanner. It integrates directly into the OpenClaw supply chain to provide multiple layers of defense.

1. Manual Scan Reports

Before installing a skill, you can generate a detailed Markdown report of its capabilities and risks.

# Scan all user skills
./scripts/scan_openclaw_skills.sh

2. Staged Installation

The guard provides wrappers for cp and git clone that act as a gate. If a skill contains High or Critical risks (like unauthorized network calls or destructive bash commands), the installation is blocked unless forced.

# Safe install from folder
./scripts/scan_and_add_skill.sh /path/to/untrusted-skill

3. Automatic Quarantine (The Ghost in the Machine)

By leveraging systemd path units, the guard watches the ~/.openclaw/skills directory 24/7. Any new skill dropped into the folder triggers an immediate background audit.

  • Pass: The skill remains active.
  • Fail (High/Critical): The skill is immediately moved to ~/.openclaw/skills-quarantine and a report is logged.

Tech Implementation

The scanner uses a combination of static analysis and signature matching (YARA) to identify risky patterns in Python code and shell scripts.

Key Logic:

  • Policy Enforcement: Block on High and Critical; Warn on Medium.
  • Supply Chain Hardening: Wrappers for ClawHub installs ensure that even official community skills pass through the audit.
  • Observability: All automated scans generate reports in the workspace, providing a clear audit trail for the handler.

Lessons from the Build

Integrating a security gate into a fast-moving agent workflow requires a balance between safety and friction. By allowing Medium and Low risks but providing explicit warnings, we ensure that useful tools aren't blocked by over-aggressive policies while still keeping the handler informed of what the agent "knows" how to do.

Closing Thoughts

Automation requires rigor. If you're giving an AI power tools, you need a guard at the door. The openclaw-skill-scanner ensures that your agent’s capabilities are transparent, auditable, and—most importantly—safe.

Explore the project on GitHub: github.com/jason-allen-oneal/openclaw-skill-scanner

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