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fix(security): surface immutable symlink hardening status#1467

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13ernkastel wants to merge 1 commit intoNVIDIA:mainfrom
13ernkastel:codex/pr-1137-hardening-observability-mainline
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fix(security): surface immutable symlink hardening status#1467
13ernkastel wants to merge 1 commit intoNVIDIA:mainfrom
13ernkastel:codex/pr-1137-hardening-observability-mainline

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@13ernkastel
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Summary

This follow-up builds on #1137 and improves the observability around immutable symlink hardening without changing the underlying defense-in-depth approach.

What Changed

  • factors .openclaw symlink validation into a reusable helper so both startup paths use the same validation logic
  • adds explicit security logging when immutable hardening succeeds, is partial, or is skipped because chattr is unavailable
  • extends the gateway-isolation E2E to fail if chattr is missing from the image, so the mitigation cannot silently disappear

Why

The original immutable-hardening fix is directionally strong, but the chattr path is intentionally best-effort and currently silent. That makes the mitigation harder to trust and harder to debug because:

  • a missing chattr binary looks the same as successful hardening
  • partial chattr +i failures are suppressed with no visibility
  • the image can regress and stop shipping chattr without CI catching it

These changes make the mitigation easier to audit while staying compatible with the current layered hardening model.

Validation

  • bash -n scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh
  • bash -n test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh
  • git diff --check
  • not run: test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh (docker is not installed in this environment)

Relationship To #1137

This is a repost of the follow-up originally opened as latenighthackathon/NemoClaw#1, now targeted at NVIDIA/NemoClaw as requested.

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This repository limits contributors to 10 open pull requests. Please close or merge existing PRs before opening new ones.

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cv added a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 6, 2026
## Summary

This follow-up builds on #1137 and improves the observability around
immutable symlink hardening without changing the underlying
defense-in-depth approach.

## What Changed

- factors `.openclaw` symlink validation into a reusable helper so both
startup paths use the same validation logic
- adds explicit security logging when immutable hardening succeeds, is
partial, or is skipped because `chattr` is unavailable
- extends the gateway-isolation E2E to fail if `chattr` is missing from
the image, so the mitigation cannot silently disappear

## Why

The original immutable-hardening fix is directionally strong, but the
`chattr` path is intentionally best-effort and currently silent. That
makes the mitigation harder to trust and harder to debug because:

- a missing `chattr` binary looks the same as successful hardening
- partial `chattr +i` failures are suppressed with no visibility
- the image can regress and stop shipping `chattr` without CI catching
it

These changes make the mitigation easier to audit while staying
compatible with the current layered hardening model.

## Validation

- `bash -n scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh`
- `bash -n test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh`
- `git diff --check`
- not run: `test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh` (`docker` is not installed in
this environment)

## Relationship To #1137

This is a repost of the follow-up originally opened as
`latenighthackathon#1`, now targeted at `NVIDIA/NemoClaw` as
requested.

## Note

This replaces `#1467`, which GitHub auto-closed because the repository's
contributor open-PR limit was hit at the time.

Signed-off-by: 13ernkastel <LennonCMJ@live.com>


<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->

## Summary by CodeRabbit

* **Chores**
* Enhanced startup process validation to ensure system integrity and
correct configuration
* Improved security hardening mechanisms with comprehensive logging and
graceful fallback handling when system features are unavailable

* **Tests**
* Updated end-to-end integration tests to verify system hardening
capabilities and feature availability

<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->

Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>
tranzmatt pushed a commit to tranzmatt/NemoClaw that referenced this pull request Apr 6, 2026
## Summary

This follow-up builds on NVIDIA#1137 and improves the observability around
immutable symlink hardening without changing the underlying
defense-in-depth approach.

## What Changed

- factors `.openclaw` symlink validation into a reusable helper so both
startup paths use the same validation logic
- adds explicit security logging when immutable hardening succeeds, is
partial, or is skipped because `chattr` is unavailable
- extends the gateway-isolation E2E to fail if `chattr` is missing from
the image, so the mitigation cannot silently disappear

## Why

The original immutable-hardening fix is directionally strong, but the
`chattr` path is intentionally best-effort and currently silent. That
makes the mitigation harder to trust and harder to debug because:

- a missing `chattr` binary looks the same as successful hardening
- partial `chattr +i` failures are suppressed with no visibility
- the image can regress and stop shipping `chattr` without CI catching
it

These changes make the mitigation easier to audit while staying
compatible with the current layered hardening model.

## Validation

- `bash -n scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh`
- `bash -n test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh`
- `git diff --check`
- not run: `test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh` (`docker` is not installed in
this environment)

## Relationship To NVIDIA#1137

This is a repost of the follow-up originally opened as
`latenighthackathon#1`, now targeted at `NVIDIA/NemoClaw` as
requested.

## Note

This replaces `NVIDIA#1467`, which GitHub auto-closed because the repository's
contributor open-PR limit was hit at the time.

Signed-off-by: 13ernkastel <LennonCMJ@live.com>


<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->

## Summary by CodeRabbit

* **Chores**
* Enhanced startup process validation to ensure system integrity and
correct configuration
* Improved security hardening mechanisms with comprehensive logging and
graceful fallback handling when system features are unavailable

* **Tests**
* Updated end-to-end integration tests to verify system hardening
capabilities and feature availability

<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->

Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>
gemini2026 pushed a commit to gemini2026/NemoClaw that referenced this pull request Apr 14, 2026
## Summary

This follow-up builds on NVIDIA#1137 and improves the observability around
immutable symlink hardening without changing the underlying
defense-in-depth approach.

## What Changed

- factors `.openclaw` symlink validation into a reusable helper so both
startup paths use the same validation logic
- adds explicit security logging when immutable hardening succeeds, is
partial, or is skipped because `chattr` is unavailable
- extends the gateway-isolation E2E to fail if `chattr` is missing from
the image, so the mitigation cannot silently disappear

## Why

The original immutable-hardening fix is directionally strong, but the
`chattr` path is intentionally best-effort and currently silent. That
makes the mitigation harder to trust and harder to debug because:

- a missing `chattr` binary looks the same as successful hardening
- partial `chattr +i` failures are suppressed with no visibility
- the image can regress and stop shipping `chattr` without CI catching
it

These changes make the mitigation easier to audit while staying
compatible with the current layered hardening model.

## Validation

- `bash -n scripts/nemoclaw-start.sh`
- `bash -n test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh`
- `git diff --check`
- not run: `test/e2e-gateway-isolation.sh` (`docker` is not installed in
this environment)

## Relationship To NVIDIA#1137

This is a repost of the follow-up originally opened as
`latenighthackathon#1`, now targeted at `NVIDIA/NemoClaw` as
requested.

## Note

This replaces `NVIDIA#1467`, which GitHub auto-closed because the repository's
contributor open-PR limit was hit at the time.

Signed-off-by: 13ernkastel <LennonCMJ@live.com>


<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->

## Summary by CodeRabbit

* **Chores**
* Enhanced startup process validation to ensure system integrity and
correct configuration
* Improved security hardening mechanisms with comprehensive logging and
graceful fallback handling when system features are unavailable

* **Tests**
* Updated end-to-end integration tests to verify system hardening
capabilities and feature availability

<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->

Co-authored-by: Carlos Villela <cvillela@nvidia.com>
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