Product / Version

OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a) — stable channel

Summary

openclaw secrets audit flags the codex provider's apiKey field in every agent's models.json as PLAINTEXT_FOUND. The flagged value is "codex-app-server" — a synthetic auth marker hardcoded by the codex extension, not a real API key.

Expected Behavior

The secrets audit should not report known synthetic provider auth markers as plaintext secret findings. Either:

• Exclude "codex-app-server" from PLAINTEXT_FOUND results
• Downgrade to INFO with wording like "synthetic non-secret auth marker"
• Add a secrets.audit.excludePatterns config option for operators to suppress known false positives

Actual Behavior

Secrets audit: findings. plaintext=10, unresolved=0, shadowed=0, legacy=13.
- [PLAINTEXT_FOUND] agents/main/agent/models.json:providers.codex.apiKey models.json provider apiKey is stored as plaintext.
- [PLAINTEXT_FOUND] agents/nikola/agent/models.json:providers.codex.apiKey models.json provider apiKey is stored as plaintext.
(... repeated for every agent with a codex provider block — 7 total)

Impact

• Inflates the plaintext count by 7 findings per installation
• Obscures genuine secret exposure findings
• Makes the audit's plaintext count unreliable as a security metric
• Operators cannot distinguish "10 real secrets" from "0 real + 10 synthetic" without manual investigation
• After completing a full SecretRef migration (runtime config + auth profiles), the audit still reports plaintext=10 — 7 of which are this false positive

Reproduction

1. Install OpenClaw 2026.4.15 with codex extension enabled
2. Start the gateway — on first session, buildCodexProviderCatalog() writes the codex provider block to each agent's models.json
3. Run openclaw secrets audit
4. Observe PLAINTEXT_FOUND for providers.codex.apiKey in every agent that has had a session

Evidence

The codex extension registers with:

resolveSyntheticAuth: () => ({
  apiKey: "codex-app-server",
  source: "codex-app-server",
  mode: "token"
})

The value "codex-app-server" is:

• A constant string, not a credential
• Hardcoded in dist/extensions/codex/openclaw.plugin.json
• Regenerated by buildCodexProviderCatalog() on every real session start
• Not usable for authentication — the real auth goes through OAuth tokens in auth-profiles.json

Replacing the value with a SecretRef does not work because:

• buildCodexProviderCatalog() overwrites models.json on each session start, reverting any SecretRef
• The secrets audit reports SecretRef objects in models.json as REF_UNRESOLVED, recommending regeneration

Current Workaround

Document as accepted baseline exception. The 7 findings are excluded from security posture metrics via operational documentation.

Why Not Fixed in 2026.4.15

The 2026.4.15 changelog contains no changes to the secrets audit scanning logic, codex-app-server marker handling, or audit exclusion patterns.

Recommended Priority

MEDIUM — cosmetic for security-sensitive operators, no runtime impact.

Draft prepared for GitHub filing. Do not include real secret values.