Supply Chain Attack Secretly Installs OpenClaw for Cline Users

A prompt-injection vulnerability in Cline's workflow was disclosed and subsequently abused to steal a publish token, enabling an attacker to push a poisoned npm package (Cline v2.3.0) that silently installed OpenClaw on users' systems; roughly 4,000 installs occurred over an eight-hour window before the compromised package was removed and Cline published v2.4.0. OpenClaw itself is not labeled traditional malware but runs a persistent Gateway daemon with broad system access, posing high risk for credential theft and persistent footholds—users are advised to update and scan for unauthorized installations.