OpenClaw < 2026.2.22 - Allowlist Bypass via sort --compress-program Parameter

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Security/Exec: block `sort --compress-program` in `tools.exec.safeBins` policy so allowlist-mode safe-bin checks cannot be used to bypass approval and spawn external programs. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
 - Doctor/State integrity: only require/create the OAuth credentials directory when WhatsApp or pairing-backed channels are configured, and downgrade fresh-install missing-dir noise to an informational warning.
 - Security/Agents: cap embedded Pi runner outer retry loop with a higher profile-aware dynamic limit (32-160 attempts) and return an explicit `retry_limit` error payload when retries never converge, preventing unbounded internal retry cycles (`GHSA-76m6-pj3w-v7mf`).
 - Telegram: detect duplicate bot-token ownership across Telegram accounts at startup/status time, mark secondary accounts as not configured with an explicit fix message, and block duplicate account startup before polling to avoid endless `getUpdates` conflict loops.

@@ -127,9 +127,10 @@ positional file args and path-like tokens, so they can only operate on the incom
 Validation is deterministic from argv shape only (no host filesystem existence checks), which
 prevents file-existence oracle behavior from allow/deny differences.
 File-oriented options are denied for default safe bins (for example `sort -o`, `sort --output`,
-`sort --files0-from`, `wc --files0-from`, `jq -f/--from-file`, `grep -f/--file`).
+`sort --files0-from`, `sort --compress-program`, `wc --files0-from`, `jq -f/--from-file`,
+`grep -f/--file`).
 Safe bins also enforce explicit per-binary flag policy for options that break stdin-only
-behavior (for example `sort -o/--output` and grep recursive flags).
+behavior (for example `sort -o/--output/--compress-program` and grep recursive flags).
 Safe bins also force argv tokens to be treated as **literal text** at execution time (no globbing
 and no `$VARS` expansion) for stdin-only segments, so patterns like `*` or `$HOME/...` cannot be
 used to smuggle file reads.

@@ -222,6 +222,24 @@ describe("createOpenClawCodingTools safeBins", () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it("blocks sort --compress-program from bypassing safeBins", async () => {
+    if (process.platform === "win32") {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const { tmpDir, execTool } = await createSafeBinsExecTool({
+      tmpPrefix: "openclaw-safe-bins-sort-compress-",
+      safeBins: ["sort"],
+    });
+
+    await expect(
+      execTool.execute("call1", {
+        command: "sort --compress-program=sh",
+        workdir: tmpDir,
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow("exec denied: allowlist miss");
+  });
+
   it("blocks shell redirection metacharacters in safeBins mode", async () => {
     if (process.platform === "win32") {
       return;

@@ -564,6 +564,22 @@ describe("exec approvals safe bins", () => {
       safeBins: ["sort"],
       executableName: "sort",
     },
+    {
+      name: "blocks sort external program flag via --compress-program=<prog>",
+      argv: ["sort", "--compress-program=sh"],
+      resolvedPath: "/usr/bin/sort",
+      expected: false,
+      safeBins: ["sort"],
+      executableName: "sort",
+    },
+    {
+      name: "blocks sort external program flag via --compress-program <prog>",
+      argv: ["sort", "--compress-program", "sh"],
+      resolvedPath: "/usr/bin/sort",
+      expected: false,
+      safeBins: ["sort"],
+      executableName: "sort",
+    },
     {
       name: "blocks grep recursive flags that read cwd",
       argv: ["grep", "-R", "needle"],

@@ -20,3 +20,17 @@ describe("exec safe bin policy grep", () => {
     expect(validateSafeBinArgv(["-e", "KEY", "--", ".env"], grepProfile)).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+describe("exec safe bin policy sort", () => {
+  const sortProfile = SAFE_BIN_PROFILES.sort;
+
+  it("allows stdin-only sort flags", () => {
+    expect(validateSafeBinArgv(["-S", "1M"], sortProfile)).toBe(true);
+    expect(validateSafeBinArgv(["--key=1,1"], sortProfile)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("blocks sort --compress-program in safe-bin mode", () => {
+    expect(validateSafeBinArgv(["--compress-program=sh"], sortProfile)).toBe(false);
+    expect(validateSafeBinArgv(["--compress-program", "sh"], sortProfile)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});

@@ -151,7 +151,6 @@ export const SAFE_BIN_PROFILE_FIXTURES: Record<string, SafeBinProfileFixture> =
       "--field-separator",
       "--buffer-size",
       "--temporary-directory",
-      "--compress-program",
       "--parallel",
       "--batch-size",
       "--random-source",
@@ -163,7 +162,8 @@ export const SAFE_BIN_PROFILE_FIXTURES: Record<string, SafeBinProfileFixture> =
       "-T",
       "-o",
     ],
-    blockedFlags: ["--files0-from", "--output", "-o"],
+    // --compress-program can invoke an external executable and breaks stdin-only guarantees.
+    blockedFlags: ["--compress-program", "--files0-from", "--output", "-o"],
   },
   uniq: {
     maxPositional: 0,