OpenClaw allows unauthenticated discovery TXT records to steer routing and TLS pinning

Summary

Discovery beacons (Bonjour/mDNS and DNS-SD) include TXT records such as lanHost, tailnetDns, gatewayPort, and gatewayTlsSha256. TXT records are unauthenticated.

Prior to the fix, some clients treated TXT values as authoritative routing/pinning inputs:

• iOS and macOS: used TXT-provided host hints (lanHost/tailnetDns) and ports (gatewayPort) to build the connection URL.
• iOS and Android: allowed the discovery-provided TLS fingerprint (gatewayTlsSha256) to override a previously stored TLS pin.

On a shared/untrusted LAN, an attacker could advertise a rogue _openclaw-gw._tcp service. This could cause a client to connect to an attacker-controlled endpoint and/or accept an attacker certificate, potentially exfiltrating Gateway credentials (auth.token / auth.password) during connection.

Distribution / Exposure

The iOS and Android apps are currently alpha/not broadly shipped (no public App Store / Play Store release). Practical impact is primarily limited to developers/testers running those builds, plus any other shipped clients relying on discovery on a shared/untrusted LAN.

CVSS can still be used for the technical (base) severity of the bug; limited distribution primarily affects environmental risk.

Affected Packages / Versions

• Package: openclaw (npm)
• Affected: <= 2026.2.13 (latest published on npm as of 2026-02-14)
• Patched: planned for >= 2026.2.14 (not yet published at time of writing)

Fix

• Clients now prefer the resolved service endpoint (SRV + A/AAAA) over TXT-provided routing hints.
• Discovery-provided fingerprints no longer override stored TLS pins.
• iOS/Android: first-time TLS pins require explicit user confirmation (fingerprint shown; no silent TOFU).
• iOS/Android: discovery-based direct connects are TLS-only.
• Android: hostname verification is no longer globally disabled (only bypassed when pinning).

Fix Commit(s)

• d583782ee322a6faa1fe87ae52455e0d349de586

Credits

Thanks @simecek for reporting.