fix(macos): enforce path-only exec allowlist patterns

Author: steipete

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Security/Shell env: validate login-shell executable paths for shell-env fallback (`/etc/shells` + trusted prefixes) and block `SHELL` in dangerous env override policy paths so untrusted shell-path injection falls back safely to `/bin/sh`. Thanks @athuljayaram for reporting.
 - Security/Config: make parsed chat allowlist checks fail closed when `allowFrom` is empty, restoring expected DM/pairing gating.
 - Security/Exec: in non-default setups that manually add `sort` to `tools.exec.safeBins`, block `sort --compress-program` so allowlist-mode safe-bin checks cannot bypass approval. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
-- Security/macOS app beta: harden `system.run` allowlist handling by evaluating shell chains per segment, treating control/expansion syntax as approval-required misses, and failing closed on unsafe parse cases (including quoted command substitution/backticks). Default installs are unaffected unless `tools.exec.host` is explicitly enabled. This ships in the next npm release. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
+- Security/macOS app beta: enforce path-only `system.run` allowlist matching (drop basename matches like `echo`), migrate legacy basename entries to last resolved paths when available, and harden shell-chain handling to fail closed on unsafe parse/control syntax (including quoted command substitution/backticks). This is an optional allowlist-mode feature; default installs remain deny-by-default. This ships in the next npm release. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
 - Security/Archive: block zip symlink escapes during archive extraction.
 - Security/Discord: add `openclaw security audit` warnings for name/tag-based Discord allowlist entries (DM allowlists, guild/channel `users`, and pairing-store entries), highlighting slug-collision risk while keeping name-based matching supported, and canonicalize resolved Discord allowlist names to IDs at runtime without rewriting config files. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
 - Security/Gateway: block node-role connections when device identity metadata is missing.

apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/ExecAllowlistMatcher.swift

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ enum ExecAllowlistMatcher {
         guard let resolution, !entries.isEmpty else { return nil }
         let rawExecutable = resolution.rawExecutable
         let resolvedPath = resolution.resolvedPath
-        let executableName = resolution.executableName
 
         for entry in entries {
             let pattern = entry.pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
@@ -14,8 +13,6 @@ enum ExecAllowlistMatcher {
             if hasPath {
                 let target = resolvedPath ?? rawExecutable
                 if self.matches(pattern: pattern, target: target) { return entry }
-            } else if self.matches(pattern: pattern, target: executableName) {
-                return entry
             }
         }
         return nil

apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/ExecApprovals.swift

@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ enum ExecApprovalsStore {
     }
 
     static func ensureFile() -> ExecApprovalsFile {
-        var file = self.loadFile()
+        var file = self.normalizeIncoming(self.loadFile())
         if file.socket == nil { file.socket = ExecApprovalsSocketConfig(path: nil, token: nil) }
         let path = file.socket?.path?.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines) ?? ""
         if path.isEmpty {
@@ -316,6 +316,18 @@ enum ExecApprovalsStore {
         if token.isEmpty {
             file.socket?.token = self.generateToken()
         }
+        if var agents = file.agents {
+            for (key, entry) in agents {
+                guard let allowlist = entry.allowlist else { continue }
+                let migrated = allowlist.map { self.migrateLegacyPattern($0) }
+                if migrated != allowlist {
+                    var next = entry
+                    next.allowlist = migrated
+                    agents[key] = next
+                }
+            }
+            file.agents = agents.isEmpty ? nil : agents
+        }
         if file.agents == nil { file.agents = [:] }
         self.saveFile(file)
         return file
@@ -400,7 +412,7 @@ enum ExecApprovalsStore {
 
     static func addAllowlistEntry(agentId: String?, pattern: String) {
         let trimmed = pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
-        guard !trimmed.isEmpty else { return }
+        guard !trimmed.isEmpty, self.isPathPattern(trimmed) else { return }
         self.updateFile { file in
             let key = self.agentKey(agentId)
             var agents = file.agents ?? [:]
@@ -453,7 +465,7 @@ enum ExecApprovalsStore {
                         lastUsedCommand: item.lastUsedCommand,
                         lastResolvedPath: item.lastResolvedPath)
                 }
-                .filter { !$0.pattern.isEmpty }
+                .filter { !$0.pattern.isEmpty && self.isPathPattern($0.pattern) }
             entry.allowlist = cleaned
             agents[key] = entry
             file.agents = agents
@@ -523,6 +535,37 @@ enum ExecApprovalsStore {
         return trimmed.isEmpty ? nil : trimmed.lowercased()
     }
 
+    private static func isPathPattern(_ pattern: String) -> Bool {
+        pattern.contains("/") || pattern.contains("~") || pattern.contains("\\")
+    }
+
+    private static func migrateLegacyPattern(_ entry: ExecAllowlistEntry) -> ExecAllowlistEntry {
+        let trimmedPattern = entry.pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
+        let trimmedResolved = entry.lastResolvedPath?.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines) ?? ""
+        guard !trimmedPattern.isEmpty else {
+            return ExecAllowlistEntry(
+                id: entry.id,
+                pattern: trimmedPattern,
+                lastUsedAt: entry.lastUsedAt,
+                lastUsedCommand: entry.lastUsedCommand,
+                lastResolvedPath: entry.lastResolvedPath)
+        }
+        if self.isPathPattern(trimmedPattern) || trimmedResolved.isEmpty || !self.isPathPattern(trimmedResolved) {
+            return ExecAllowlistEntry(
+                id: entry.id,
+                pattern: trimmedPattern,
+                lastUsedAt: entry.lastUsedAt,
+                lastUsedCommand: entry.lastUsedCommand,
+                lastResolvedPath: entry.lastResolvedPath)
+        }
+        return ExecAllowlistEntry(
+            id: entry.id,
+            pattern: trimmedResolved,
+            lastUsedAt: entry.lastUsedAt,
+            lastUsedCommand: entry.lastUsedCommand,
+            lastResolvedPath: entry.lastResolvedPath)
+    }
+
     private static func mergeAgents(
         current: ExecApprovalsAgent,
         legacy: ExecApprovalsAgent) -> ExecApprovalsAgent

apps/macos/Sources/OpenClaw/SystemRunSettingsView.swift

@@ -105,18 +105,22 @@ struct SystemRunSettingsView: View {
                     .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
             } else {
                 HStack(spacing: 8) {
-                    TextField("Add allowlist pattern (case-insensitive globs)", text: self.$newPattern)
+                    TextField("Add allowlist path pattern (case-insensitive globs)", text: self.$newPattern)
                         .textFieldStyle(.roundedBorder)
                     Button("Add") {
                         let pattern = self.newPattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
-                        guard !pattern.isEmpty else { return }
+                        guard self.model.isPathPattern(pattern) else { return }
                         self.model.addEntry(pattern)
                         self.newPattern = ""
                     }
                     .buttonStyle(.bordered)
-                    .disabled(self.newPattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).isEmpty)
+                    .disabled(!self.model.isPathPattern(self.newPattern))
                 }
 
+                Text("Path patterns only. Basename entries like \"echo\" are ignored.")
+                    .font(.footnote)
+                    .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+
                 if self.model.entries.isEmpty {
                     Text("No allowlisted commands yet.")
                         .font(.footnote)
@@ -370,15 +374,19 @@ final class ExecApprovalsSettingsModel {
     func addEntry(_ pattern: String) {
         guard !self.isDefaultsScope else { return }
         let trimmed = pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
-        guard !trimmed.isEmpty else { return }
+        guard self.isPathPattern(trimmed) else { return }
         self.entries.append(ExecAllowlistEntry(pattern: trimmed, lastUsedAt: nil))
         ExecApprovalsStore.updateAllowlist(agentId: self.selectedAgentId, allowlist: self.entries)
     }
 
     func updateEntry(_ entry: ExecAllowlistEntry, id: UUID) {
         guard !self.isDefaultsScope else { return }
         guard let index = self.entries.firstIndex(where: { $0.id == id }) else { return }
-        self.entries[index] = entry
+        var next = entry
+        let trimmed = next.pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
+        guard self.isPathPattern(trimmed) else { return }
+        next.pattern = trimmed
+        self.entries[index] = next
         ExecApprovalsStore.updateAllowlist(agentId: self.selectedAgentId, allowlist: self.entries)
     }
 
@@ -393,6 +401,12 @@ final class ExecApprovalsSettingsModel {
         self.entries.first(where: { $0.id == id })
     }
 
+    func isPathPattern(_ pattern: String) -> Bool {
+        let trimmed = pattern.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
+        guard !trimmed.isEmpty else { return false }
+        return trimmed.contains("/") || trimmed.contains("~") || trimmed.contains("\\")
+    }
+
     func refreshSkillBins(force: Bool = false) async {
         guard self.autoAllowSkills else {
             self.skillBins = []

apps/macos/Tests/OpenClawIPCTests/ExecAllowlistTests.swift

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import Foundation
 import Testing
 @testable import OpenClaw
 
+/// These cases cover optional `security=allowlist` behavior.
+/// Default install posture remains deny-by-default for exec on macOS node-host.
 struct ExecAllowlistTests {
     @Test func matchUsesResolvedPath() {
         let entry = ExecAllowlistEntry(pattern: "/opt/homebrew/bin/rg")
@@ -14,15 +16,26 @@ struct ExecAllowlistTests {
         #expect(match?.pattern == entry.pattern)
     }
 
-    @Test func matchUsesBasenameForSimplePattern() {
+    @Test func matchIgnoresBasenamePattern() {
         let entry = ExecAllowlistEntry(pattern: "rg")
         let resolution = ExecCommandResolution(
             rawExecutable: "rg",
             resolvedPath: "/opt/homebrew/bin/rg",
             executableName: "rg",
             cwd: nil)
         let match = ExecAllowlistMatcher.match(entries: [entry], resolution: resolution)
-        #expect(match?.pattern == entry.pattern)
+        #expect(match == nil)
+    }
+
+    @Test func matchIgnoresBasenameForRelativeExecutable() {
+        let entry = ExecAllowlistEntry(pattern: "echo")
+        let resolution = ExecCommandResolution(
+            rawExecutable: "./echo",
+            resolvedPath: "/tmp/oc-basename/echo",
+            executableName: "echo",
+            cwd: "/tmp/oc-basename")
+        let match = ExecAllowlistMatcher.match(entries: [entry], resolution: resolution)
+        #expect(match == nil)
     }
 
     @Test func matchIsCaseInsensitive() {