๐Ÿ›ก๏ธSecurity & Hardening

How to Protect OpenClaw from Container Escape Attacks

Advanced1-2 hoursUpdated 2026-02-11

Container escape vulnerabilities like the recent runC exploits allow attackers to break out of isolated containers and compromise the host system. OpenClaw deployments running in Docker or Kubernetes face these risks, especially when processing untrusted code or data. This guide implements defense-in-depth strategies to prevent container escapes even when zero-days are exploited.

Why This Is Hard to Do Yourself

These are the common pitfalls that trip people up.

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Runtime vulnerabilities

Exploits in container runtimes (runC, containerd) enable escapes from isolated containers to host systems.

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Privileged containers

Running containers with elevated privileges or dangerous capabilities bypasses isolation boundaries.

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Volume mount exposures

Mounting sensitive host paths into containers provides direct access to escape-enabling files.

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Kernel exploitation

Kernel vulnerabilities exploited from within containers can grant host-level access.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1

Run containers as non-root user

Force containers to run with unprivileged UIDs.

Step 2

Drop all unnecessary capabilities

Remove dangerous Linux capabilities.

Step 3

Enable seccomp security profiles

Restrict syscalls available to containers.

Step 4

Configure AppArmor or SELinux

Add mandatory access control layer.

Step 5

Use user namespace remapping

Isolate container UIDs from host UIDs.

Step 6

Restrict volume mounts

Never mount sensitive host directories.

Warning: Never mount Docker socket, /proc, /sys, or root filesystem into containers. These provide trivial container escape paths.

Step 7

Enable runtime security monitoring

Detect escape attempts in real-time.

Step 8

Keep runtime components updated

Patch container runtime vulnerabilities.

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Frequently Asked Questions