Formal verification (security models)

This page tracks OpenClaw’s formal security models (TLA+/TLC today; more as needed).

Goal (north star): provide a machine-checked argument that OpenClaw enforces its intended security policy (authorization, session isolation, tool gating, and misconfiguration safety), under explicit assumptions.

What this is (today): an executable, attacker-driven security regression suite:

• Each claim has a runnable model-check over a finite state space.
• Many claims have a paired negative model that produces a counterexample trace for a realistic bug class.

What this is not (yet): a proof that “OpenClaw is secure in all respects” or that the full TypeScript implementation is correct.

Where the models live

Models are maintained in a separate repo: vignesh07/openclaw-formal-models.

Important caveats

• These are models, not the full TypeScript implementation. Drift between model and code is possible.
• Results are bounded by the state space explored by TLC; “green” does not imply security beyond the modeled assumptions and bounds.
• Some claims rely on explicit environmental assumptions (e.g., correct deployment, correct configuration inputs).

Reproducing results

Today, results are reproduced by cloning the models repo locally and running TLC (see below). A future iteration could offer:

• CI-run models with public artifacts (counterexample traces, run logs)
• a hosted “run this model” workflow for small, bounded checks

Getting started:

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git clone https://github.com/vignesh07/openclaw-formal-models
cd openclaw-formal-models

# Java 11+ required (TLC runs on the JVM).
# The repo vendors a pinned `tla2tools.jar` (TLA+ tools) and provides `bin/tlc` + Make targets.

make <target>

Gateway exposure and open gateway misconfiguration

Claim: binding beyond loopback without auth can make remote compromise possible / increases exposure; token/password blocks unauth attackers (per the model assumptions).

• Green runs:
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    make gateway-exposure-v2
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    make gateway-exposure-v2-protected
• Red (expected):
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    make gateway-exposure-v2-negative

See also:

in the models repo.

Node exec pipeline (highest-risk capability)

Claim:

requires (a) node command allowlist plus declared commands and (b) live approval when configured; approvals are tokenized to prevent replay (in the model).

• Green runs:
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    make nodes-pipeline
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    make approvals-token
• Red (expected):
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    make nodes-pipeline-negative
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    make approvals-token-negative

Pairing store (DM gating)

Claim: pairing requests respect TTL and pending-request caps.

• Green runs:
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    make pairing
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    make pairing-cap
• Red (expected):
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    make pairing-negative
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    make pairing-cap-negative

Ingress gating (mentions + control-command bypass)

Claim: in group contexts requiring mention, an unauthorized “control command” cannot bypass mention gating.

• Green:
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    make ingress-gating
• Red (expected):
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    make ingress-gating-negative

Routing/session-key isolation

Claim: DMs from distinct peers do not collapse into the same session unless explicitly linked/configured.

• Green:
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    make routing-isolation
• Red (expected):
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    make routing-isolation-negative

v1++: additional bounded models (concurrency, retries, trace correctness)

These are follow-on models that tighten fidelity around real-world failure modes (non-atomic updates, retries, and message fan-out).

Pairing store concurrency / idempotency

Claim: a pairing store should enforce

and idempotency even under interleavings (i.e., “check-then-write” must be atomic / locked; refresh shouldn’t create duplicates).

What it means:

• Under concurrent requests, you can’t exceed

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  MaxPending
  for a channel.

• Repeated requests/refreshes for the same

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  (channel, sender)
  should not create duplicate live pending rows.

• Green runs:

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    make pairing-race
    (atomic/locked cap check)
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    make pairing-idempotency
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    make pairing-refresh
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    make pairing-refresh-race

• Red (expected):

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    make pairing-race-negative
    (non-atomic begin/commit cap race)
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    make pairing-idempotency-negative
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    make pairing-refresh-negative
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    make pairing-refresh-race-negative

Ingress trace correlation / idempotency

Claim: ingestion should preserve trace correlation across fan-out and be idempotent under provider retries.

What it means:

• When one external event becomes multiple internal messages, every part keeps the same trace/event identity.

• Retries do not result in double-processing.

• If provider event IDs are missing, dedupe falls back to a safe key (e.g., trace ID) to avoid dropping distinct events.

• Green:

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    make ingress-trace
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    make ingress-trace2
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    make ingress-idempotency
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    make ingress-dedupe-fallback

• Red (expected):

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    make ingress-trace-negative
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    make ingress-trace2-negative
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    make ingress-idempotency-negative
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    make ingress-dedupe-fallback-negative

Routing dmScope precedence + identityLinks

Claim: routing must keep DM sessions isolated by default, and only collapse sessions when explicitly configured (channel precedence + identity links).

What it means:

• Channel-specific dmScope overrides must win over global defaults.

• identityLinks should collapse only within explicit linked groups, not across unrelated peers.

• Green:

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    make routing-precedence
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    make routing-identitylinks

• Red (expected):

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    make routing-precedence-negative
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    make routing-identitylinks-negative

Related

• Threat model
• Contributing to the threat model