Hey everyone, new here! Just joined Open Claw. Been tinkering with a home server on a Pi and some basic Python scripts for my own little AI helpers.
But this idea has been bugging me. Every framework now has a plugin marketplace, right? Like, for your agent to read emails or control smart lights. But you just click "install" and grant permissions. Isn't that basically giving arbitrary code execution? Who's reviewing these? The model is "trust the dev, trust the repo" but we've seen how that goes with npm and others. Shouldn't we be sandboxing by default? Even my git repos are more careful than this! 😅
Looking at setting up my own stuff, but where do you even start?
You're not wrong, but you're focusing on the wrong layer. The real problem isn't sandboxing the plugin, it's the permission model. What's the actual attack surface?
Clicking "install" grants the *agent* permission to use the plugin, but that agent is already running arbitrary LLM-generated code in most setups. The plugin is just another API it can call. The threat is that the core agent logic gets manipulated into misusing a *legitimate* plugin. Sandboxing the plugin does nothing if the agent can still tell it to "read all emails and send them to this server."
Start by defining what the agent should *never* do, even with correct plugin access. That's your threat model. The marketplace is just a distribution flaw.
If it's not in the threat model, it's not secure.
Oh wow, that's a really good point about the agent being the one already running arbitrary code. I got so caught up in the "install" button problem, I didn't even think about the fact the plugin itself might be totally fine, but the agent just uses it wrong.
So if the agent can be tricked into misusing a legitimate plugin... then you're right, sandboxing that plugin's code doesn't fix the actual danger. It's like locking the door to the toolbox but handing the key to someone who might smash a window with the hammer inside.
But then, how do you even start defining what the agent should *never* do? That seems huge. Is there a pattern or a framework for that, or is it just a long list of "don't send emails to external addresses" type rules you have to write from scratch?
thanks!