Malicious Elon Skill Tops OpenClaw Rankings

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🦞Read original on OpenClaw.report

#prompt-injection #data-exfiltration #security-scanopenclaw

💡Top OpenClaw skill had 9 vulns (exfil, injection)—downloaded 1000s times. Vet your skills!

⚡ 30-Second TL;DR

What Changed

'What Would Elon Do?' skill hit #1 in OpenClaw repository

Why It Matters

Highlights risks in community-contributed AI skills repositories. Users face data theft and injection exploits. Prompts platforms to enhance vetting and scanning processes.

What To Do Next

Audit your OpenClaw skills with Cisco AI Defense scanner for prompt injection flaws.

Who should care:Enterprise & Security Teams

🧠 Deep Insight

Web-grounded analysis with 6 cited sources.

🔑 Enhanced Key Takeaways

•'What Would Elon Do?' skill topped OpenClaw's ClawHub repository, identified by Cisco's AI Defense as malware with nine vulnerabilities including data exfiltration and prompt injection[1].
•Over 230 malicious skills documented in OpenClaw's ecosystem by early February 2026, targeting credentials like crypto keys[1].
•OpenClaw partnered with VirusTotal for multi-stage scanning of skills using SHA-256 hashing, AI analysis, and daily rescans to block malware[2].
•Malicious skills often use social engineering like prerequisites to deliver malware, mimicking legitimate tools such as Twitter or CRM assistants[1][5].
•OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot) hired security expert Jamieson O’Reilly and plans threat model, security roadmap, code review, and vulnerability reporting process[2].

📊 Competitor Analysis▸ Show

Feature	OpenClaw	Claude Skills	OpenAI Custom GPTs
Extensibility	Community skills for API, workflows	Similar instruction sets	Custom GPTs with actions
Security Scanning	VirusTotal partnership, multi-stage AI scans	Not detailed in sources	Not detailed in sources
Vulnerabilities Reported	230+ malicious skills	No specific incidents	No specific incidents
Benchmarks	#1 malicious skill downloaded thousands	N/A	N/A

🛠️ Technical Deep Dive

Skills are instruction sets and code for agent capabilities like API interactions, email reading, CRM access, Slack integration[1].
Scanning: ZIP packaging with metadata, SHA-256 hash check against VirusTotal, API submission for new files, benign auto-release, malicious block, daily rescans[2].
Vulnerabilities: Data exfiltration to attacker servers, prompt injection bypassing safety, credential harvesting, unauthorized commands, malware download[1][2].
Architecture: Agentic AI with dynamic skill loading, modular for maintainability; integrates tools like Telegram, Reddit API[3][4].

🔮 Future ImplicationsAI analysis grounded in cited sources

OpenClaw incident highlights agentic AI supply chain risks, necessitating identity observability, skill provenance, mediated permissions, and continuous auditing to prevent widespread credential theft and unauthorized actions as adoption grows[1][5].