Researchers have identified a new trend in malware where information stealers are now targeting the configuration files and identities of personal artificial intelligence agents. By capturing specific data like authentication tokens and behavioral guidelines, attackers can potentially hijack an individual's digital persona or gain unauthorized remote access to their AI environment.
Security experts recently detected a successful exfiltration of an OpenClaw environment, a platform formerly known as Clawdbot, by a variant of the Vidar information stealer. This development represents a shift in cybercriminal priorities, moving beyond standard browser credentials to harvest the foundational data that defines a personal AI's identity. While Vidar has been active since 2018, its use in this context shows how existing malware is being adapted to exploit the growing popularity of local AI integrations.
The theft was not executed through a specialized module designed specifically for OpenClaw, but rather through a generic file-grabbing routine. This automated process scans a victim's directories for sensitive file extensions and specific folder names associated with high-value data. By using a broad sweep, the malware managed to identify and extract the critical components necessary to reconstruct or control the victim’s AI ecosystem from a remote location.
Among the stolen items were several JSON and Markdown files that serve as the backbone of the OpenClaw setup. One file contained the gateway token and workspace paths, while another held the cryptographic keys used for secure signing and device pairing. Perhaps most notably, the researchers found that the malware captured the file containing the agent’s core operational principles and ethical boundaries, effectively stealing the behavioral blueprint of the user's AI.
The implications of this breach are significant because the gateway authentication token allows for a variety of impersonation attacks. If a victim's network port is exposed, an attacker can use the stolen credentials to connect to the local AI instance remotely. Even without direct access, the possession of these tokens allows a malicious actor to masquerade as the legitimate client when sending authenticated requests to the AI gateway, potentially bypassing standard security layers.
This incident highlights a burgeoning frontier in cybersecurity where the protection of personal AI configurations is becoming as critical as protecting financial or login information. As users increasingly rely on these agents to handle sensitive tasks and reflect their personal preferences, the data defining those agents becomes a high-priority target. The transition toward harvesting these digital identities suggests that the next wave of malware will focus heavily on the intersection of local computing and artificial intelligence.
Source: Infostealer Steals OpenClaw AI Config Files And Gateway Tokens