fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config by drobison00 · Pull Request #70247 · openclaw/openclaw

drobison00 · 2026-04-22T15:53:07Z

fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config

Summary

Describe the problem and fix in 2–5 bullets:

If this PR fixes a plugin beta-release blocker, title it fix(<plugin-id>): beta blocker - <summary> and link the matching Beta blocker: <plugin-name> - <summary> issue labeled beta-blocker. Contributors cannot label PRs, so the title is the PR-side signal for maintainers and automation.

Problem: /__openclaw/control-ui-config.json returned bootstrap metadata even when gateway.auth was configured.
Why it matters: unauthenticated callers could read server version, assistant identity, embed posture, and local media preview roots.
What changed: the bootstrap handler now uses the existing Control UI read-auth helper, server-http now passes the resolved auth context into that handler, and gateway tests cover both unauthorized and authorized bootstrap requests.
What did NOT change (scope boundary): no CI, workflow, dependency, or unrelated Control UI route behavior changed.

Change Type (select all)

Scope (select all touched areas)

Linked Issue/PR

Closes
Related NVIDIA-dev/openclaw-tracking#497
This PR fixes a bug or regression

Root Cause (if applicable)

For bug fixes or regressions, explain why this happened, not just what changed. Otherwise write N/A. If the cause is unclear, write Unknown.

Root cause: handleControlUiHttpRequest() served the bootstrap config branch without calling authorizeControlUiReadRequest(), and its request options did not accept the auth-related fields used by sibling Control UI read routes.
Missing detection / guardrail: bootstrap config tests asserted the anonymous payload shape but did not assert that auth-enabled deployments reject unauthenticated requests.
Contributing context (if known): the bootstrap response had already accumulated more host-specific fields, so the missing auth gate exposed more metadata over time.

Regression Test Plan (if applicable)

For bug fixes or regressions, name the smallest reliable test coverage that should catch this. Otherwise write N/A.

Coverage level that should have caught this:
- Unit test
- Seam / integration test
- End-to-end test
- Existing coverage already sufficient
Target test or file: src/gateway/control-ui.http.test.ts
Scenario the test should lock in: bootstrap config requests return 401 without a valid credential when gateway.auth is enabled and still return 200 with the valid token.
Why this is the smallest reliable guardrail: it exercises the exported bootstrap handler directly and covers the server-auth wiring without needing a full running gateway.
Existing test that already covers this (if any): none before this patch.
If no new test is added, why not: new targeted tests were added in src/gateway/control-ui.http.test.ts.

User-visible / Behavior Changes

Gateways with gateway.auth enabled now require valid Control UI read auth before returning /__openclaw/control-ui-config.json.
Authenticated Control UI callers continue to receive the bootstrap payload.

Diagram (if applicable)

N/A

Security Impact (required)

New permissions/capabilities? (Yes/No) No
Secrets/tokens handling changed? (Yes/No) No
New/changed network calls? (Yes/No) No
Command/tool execution surface changed? (Yes/No) No
Data access scope changed? (Yes/No) Yes
If any Yes, explain risk + mitigation: bootstrap config data is no longer exposed to unauthenticated callers when gateway auth is configured; the route now uses the same read-auth path as the sibling Control UI read endpoints.

Repro + Verification

Environment

OS: Linux 6.8.0-110-generic
Runtime/container: Codex workspace shell
Model/provider: <operator to fill>
Integration/channel (if any): None
Relevant config (redacted): gateway.controlUi enabled; gateway.auth.mode=token

Steps

Start the gateway with Control UI enabled and gateway auth configured.
Request GET /__openclaw/control-ui-config.json without an auth credential.
Repeat the same request with a valid bearer token.

Expected

Unauthenticated request is rejected.
Authenticated request returns the bootstrap config payload.

Actual

Targeted gateway tests pass for both unauthorized and authorized bootstrap config requests.

Evidence

Attach at least one:

Failing test/log before + passing after
Trace/log snippets
Screenshot/recording
Perf numbers (if relevant)

Human Verification (required)

What you personally verified (not just CI), and how:

Verified scenarios: ran node ./node_modules/vitest/vitest.mjs run --reporter=verbose --config test/vitest/vitest.gateway.config.ts src/gateway/control-ui.http.test.ts src/gateway/control-ui.auto-root.http.test.ts src/gateway/gateway-misc.test.ts and confirmed 3 files / 67 tests passed, including the new bootstrap auth cases.
Edge cases checked: valid-token bootstrap reads still return 200; existing direct callers and tests were updated to await the now-async Control UI HTTP handler.
What you did not verify: a manual live gateway curl reproduction outside the test harness.

Review Conversations

I replied to or resolved every bot review conversation I addressed in this PR.
I left unresolved only the conversations that still need reviewer or maintainer judgment.

If a bot review conversation is addressed by this PR, resolve that conversation yourself. Do not leave bot review conversation cleanup for maintainers.

Compatibility / Migration

Backward compatible? (Yes/No) Yes
Config/env changes? (Yes/No) No
Migration needed? (Yes/No) No
If yes, exact upgrade steps:

Risks and Mitigations

List only real risks for this PR. Add/remove entries as needed. If none, write None.

Risk: other call sites could miss the new async handleControlUiHttpRequest() contract.
Mitigation: the gateway server path and direct tests in the touched area were updated to await the handler.
Risk: deployments that implicitly relied on anonymous bootstrap reads will now receive auth failures when gateway.auth is enabled.
Mitigation: the behavior now matches the sibling Control UI read routes, and the authorized bootstrap path is covered by targeted tests.

greptile-apps · 2026-04-22T15:55:05Z

Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a missing auth gate on /__openclaw/control-ui-config.json, which previously returned bootstrap metadata (server version, assistant identity, embed posture, local media roots) to unauthenticated callers even when gateway.auth was configured. The fix adds an authorizeControlUiReadRequest call to the bootstrap config branch, passes the required auth context from server-http.ts, and upgrades handleControlUiHttpRequest to async/Promise<boolean>. All existing call sites are correctly updated to await the handler, and new targeted tests verify both the 401 rejection and the 200 authorized path.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge — the fix is well-scoped, all call sites are updated, and new tests cover the added auth gate.

All remaining findings are at most P2. The core auth gate is correctly implemented following the same pattern as sibling Control UI read routes. Every call site that uses the now-async handler is properly awaited. New tests cover the unauthorized (401) and authorized (200) bootstrap scenarios. No regressions introduced.

No files require special attention.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "fix(gateway): require auth for control u..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

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aisle-research-bot · 2026-04-22T22:49:04Z

🔒 Aisle Security Analysis

We found 1 potential security issue(s) in this PR:

#	Severity	Title
1	🔵 Low	Auth retry loop can amplify failed-auth attempts and trigger rate-limit lockouts

1. 🔵 Auth retry loop can amplify failed-auth attempts and trigger rate-limit lockouts

Property	Value
Severity	Low
CWE	CWE-307
Location	`ui/src/ui/controllers/control-ui-bootstrap.ts:46-60`

Description

loadControlUiBootstrapConfig retries the bootstrap request with multiple shared-secret candidates (deviceToken, settings.token, password) when it receives a 401/403. Each retry results in an additional authentication attempt against the gateway.

If the gateway’s AuthRateLimiter is enabled, each wrong candidate will typically call recordFailure(...) server-side, so a single UI bootstrap action can:

Multiply failed-auth events (up to 3 failures per user action)
Accelerate lockout/DoS against legitimate users who have stale credentials stored (e.g., old settings.token plus a changed password)
Increase the effective guess rate for an attacker who can trigger the bootstrap fetch repeatedly (client performs multiple attempts per trigger)

Vulnerable code:

const attempts: string[] = authCandidates.length > 0 ? authCandidates : [""];
for (const candidate of attempts) {
  ...
  res = await fetch(url, { method: "GET", headers, credentials: "same-origin" });
  if (res.ok) break;
  if (res.status !== 401 && res.status !== 403) return;
}

Recommendation

Reduce the number of automatic shared-secret retries and/or avoid counting multiple failures toward lockout for a single UI action.

Options:

Only retry once (max 2 attempts total) and only when there’s strong evidence the first credential is stale (e.g., prefer current session credential and do not try older persisted ones).
Add client-side backoff / retry gating so repeated UI bootstrap attempts within a short window do not keep generating multiple auth failures.
Server-side: if you keep the retry behavior, consider adding a mechanism to treat a small burst of failures within one request chain as a single failure (or delay responses) for the bootstrap endpoint.

Example (client: cap retries to 1):

const authCandidates = sameOrigin ? resolveControlUiAuthCandidates(state) : [];
const attempts = authCandidates.slice(0, 2); // at most one retry

Analyzed PR: #70247 at commit d555597

_{Last updated on: 2026-04-22T22:51:04Z}

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-04-22T22:55:01Z

+      void loadControlUiBootstrapConfig(
+        host as unknown as Parameters<typeof loadControlUiBootstrapConfig>[0],
+      );


Avoid clobbering session identity on hello bootstrap refresh

Triggering loadControlUiBootstrapConfig inside onHello races with loadAssistantIdentity, and both write assistantName/assistantAvatar/assistantAgentId on the same host object. The bootstrap response is derived from config-level identity (via src/gateway/server-http.ts passing resolveAssistantIdentity({ cfg }).agentId into the bootstrap handler), not the active session’s agent, so in non-default sessions this extra fetch can overwrite the correct per-session identity if it finishes last.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

…70247) * fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config * fix(ui): send auth on bootstrap fetch * fix(ui): keep bootstrap auth same-origin * fix(ui): refresh bootstrap after auth hello * docs(changelog): note control ui bootstrap auth * fix(ui): retry bootstrap auth with alternate shared secret on 401

openclaw-barnacle Bot added app: web-ui App: web-ui gateway Gateway runtime size: S maintainer Maintainer-authored PR labels Apr 22, 2026

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Apr 22, 2026

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Comment thread src/gateway/control-ui.ts

drobison00 force-pushed the control-ui-bootstrap-auth branch 2 times, most recently from de300ca to 3a96e29 Compare April 22, 2026 16:15

openclaw-barnacle Bot added size: M and removed size: S labels Apr 22, 2026

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Apr 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread ui/src/ui/controllers/control-ui-bootstrap.ts Outdated

drobison00 force-pushed the control-ui-bootstrap-auth branch 2 times, most recently from 401355e to 827160a Compare April 22, 2026 17:18

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Apr 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread ui/src/ui/controllers/control-ui-bootstrap.ts Outdated

drobison00 force-pushed the control-ui-bootstrap-auth branch from 827160a to 68bd62f Compare April 22, 2026 22:26

drobison00 added 6 commits April 22, 2026 16:48

fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config

a6dddab

fix(ui): send auth on bootstrap fetch

e757e41

fix(ui): keep bootstrap auth same-origin

7585378

fix(ui): refresh bootstrap after auth hello

70c1bbe

docs(changelog): note control ui bootstrap auth

4a73dfd

fix(ui): retry bootstrap auth with alternate shared secret on 401

d555597

drobison00 force-pushed the control-ui-bootstrap-auth branch from 68bd62f to d555597 Compare April 22, 2026 22:48

drobison00 merged commit 2321d67 into openclaw:main Apr 22, 2026
70 of 73 checks passed

chatgpt-codex-connector Bot reviewed Apr 22, 2026

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clawsweeper Bot mentioned this pull request Apr 29, 2026

fix(ui): split higher-rate threshold hints from model context limits #47540

Open

clawsweeper Bot mentioned this pull request May 6, 2026

Bug: Control UI CSP blocks Zod Function() constructor — 'eval' violation + 401 config fetch #78362

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fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config#70247

fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config#70247
drobison00 merged 6 commits intoopenclaw:mainfrom
drobison00:control-ui-bootstrap-auth

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drobison00 commented Apr 22, 2026

fix(gateway): require auth for control ui bootstrap config

Summary

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greptile-apps Bot commented Apr 22, 2026

Greptile Summary

Confidence Score: 5/5

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