Researchers have discovered that a compromised npm publish token pushed an update for the widely-used Cline command line interface (CLI) containing a malicious postinstall script. That script installs the wildly popular, but increasingly condemned, agentic application OpenClaw on the unsuspecting user's machine. This can be extremely dangerous, as OpenClaw has broad system access and deep integrations with messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, iMessage, Teams, and others.
The viral AI personal assistant, formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot, has dominated the feeds of AI boosters over the past few weeks for its ability to perform everyday tasks like sending emails, managing calendars, booking appointments, and complaining about their meatbag masters on the purportedly all-agent forum known as MoltBook. More level-headed voices have already flagged a wave of security vulnerabilities.
Security experts have discovered tens of thousands of unsecured OpenClaw instances. The AI agents run vulnerable software versions and offer attackers access to systems. More than 12,000 instances are vulnerable to remote code execution. Researchers at SecurityScorecard have exposed a major security problem for the rapidly growing OpenClaw. Through internet scans, the team identified 28,663 unique IP addresses with exposed OpenClaw control panels spread across 76 countries.
