OpenClaw 2026.2.23: Enhanced Security and AI Features for Robust Performance
OpenClaw, the widely acclaimed open-source personal AI assistant, has unveiled its latest version, 2026.2.23. This release focuses on bolstering security measures and integrating advanced AI functionalities, catering to users who prioritize privacy and deploy AI gateways locally across various operating systems, including macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Strengthened Security Measures
In response to the evolving cybersecurity landscape, OpenClaw has implemented several critical security enhancements:
– Implementation of HTTP Security Headers: The update introduces optional HTTP security headers, notably the Strict-Transport-Security header for direct HTTPS deployments. This addition aims to mitigate man-in-the-middle attacks by enforcing secure connections.
– Enhanced Session Management: The new openclaw sessions cleanup feature introduces disk-budget controls and safer transcript handling. This improvement prevents storage overflows and potential data leaks, ensuring more reliable session maintenance.
– Revised SSRF Policy: The default Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) policy has been adjusted to trusted-network mode. This change requires explicit configuration for private network access, enhancing protection against unauthorized internal requests.
– Configuration Redaction: Sensitive dynamic keys, such as env., are now redacted in configuration snapshots. This measure preserves restore functionality while preventing the exposure of confidential information.
– Execution Security: The system now detects and blocks obfuscated commands, requiring explicit approval before execution. This approach mitigates the risk of injection attacks.
– Skill Packaging Safeguards: The update includes measures to reject symlink escapes and cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in image galleries within skill packages, enhancing overall security.
– Telemetry Data Protection: OpenTelemetry (OTEL) diagnostics now redact API keys from logs before export, safeguarding sensitive telemetry data.
Advancements in AI Capabilities
OpenClaw 2026.2.23 also brings significant enhancements to its AI functionalities:
– Support for Claude Opus 4.6: The update introduces first-class support for Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 model, including authentication, onboarding, and cache handling. This integration expands the range of AI models available to users.
– Vercel AI Gateway Enhancements: The Vercel AI Gateway now normalizes shorthand references for Claude models, streamlining the user experience.
– Improved Web Search Tools: The tools/web_search component adds support for Moonshot’s kimi provider, offering improved citation extraction capabilities.
– Expanded Media Understanding: Native support for Moonshot video has been added, along with refactored execution for better URL and header precedence, enhancing media processing capabilities.
– Agent Parameter Overrides: Agents now benefit from per-agent parameter overrides for cache retention and bootstrap caching, minimizing prompt invalidations and improving performance.
– Context Pruning and Model Resolution Fixes: The update extends context pruning to Moonshot/Kimi models and resolves issues with model resolution for default settings, ensuring more efficient AI operations.
– Enhanced Error Handling: Improved detection and handling of overflow conditions for better failover on 502/503 errors have been implemented, increasing system resilience.
Community Collaboration and Future Outlook
The release of OpenClaw 2026.2.23, tagged recently by lead developer steipete, reflects the collaborative efforts of numerous contributors. This update underscores OpenClaw’s rapid evolution as a secure, multi-model AI hub compatible with messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.
With fixes for Telegram polling, WhatsApp group policies, and provider-specific issues (e.g., Anthropic OAuth betas), the update ensures stable operations amid growing ecosystem demands. Users are encouraged to upgrade to this latest version to benefit from the enhanced security measures and AI capabilities.
