Openclaw cli: OpenClaw affected by iMessage remote attachment SCP hardening (strict host-key checks and remoteHost validation)

OpenClaw CLI's remote iMessage attachment fetching used SCP with 'StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new' and did not strictly validate the 'channels.imessage.remoteHost' token. This allowed a first-connection MITM or DNS poisoning attack to cause acceptance of an incorrect SSH host key, potentially altering SCP argument semantics. The vulnerability affects versions up to 2026.2.17 and is fixed in 2026.2.19 by requiring 'StrictHostKeyChecking=yes', adding strict remoteHost normalization and validation, introducing an argument barrier in SCP parsing, and rejecting unsafe host tokens at runtime.

An attacker capable of performing a man-in-the-middle or DNS poisoning attack during the initial SCP connection could cause the client to trust a malicious SSH host key. This could lead to unauthorized access or manipulation of remote iMessage attachments fetched via SCP. Unsafe remote host tokens could also alter SCP command arguments, potentially impacting the integrity of the attachment fetching process.

A patch is available and should be applied by upgrading OpenClaw CLI to version 2026.2.19 or later. The fix enforces strict SSH host key checking and validates remote host tokens to prevent trust-on-first-use vulnerabilities. Users should update to the patched version to mitigate this issue.