openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix openclaw security audit --deep hangs during diagnostics on 2026.5.12

Summary

On this host, openclaw security audit --deep was observed to hang during setup/diagnostics. We worked around it by recording a local operational rule to avoid --deep and use plain openclaw security audit instead.

This appears similar to earlier closed hang reports, but this is on a newer OpenClaw version.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.5.12 (f066dd2)
• Host OS: Debian Linux, kernel 6.1.0-37-amd64
• CPU: Intel Core i5-10210U
• Gateway port: 18794
• Gateway mode: local / loopback

Observed behavior

During setup/audit work, openclaw security audit --deep was treated as hanging on this host. The workaround was saved into local operator notes:

openclaw security audit --deep hangs on this host as of 2026-05-17. Do not run it directly, inside a subagent, through a pipe, or as part of exploratory diagnostics. Use openclaw security audit without --deep.

Plain openclaw security audit is the recommended local workaround.

Expected behavior

openclaw security audit --deep should either complete, print progress, or fail with a bounded timeout/error. It should not hang silently enough that operators need to blacklist the command locally.

Why this matters

--deep is likely to be used during hardening and support diagnostics. A silent hang makes it risky to run in chat-agent workflows because it can stall the active session and confuse the operator.

Related issues

Related closed issues I found:

• #69466
• #77198
• #75508

Those are closed, but the behavior was still observed during setup on 2026.5.12, so this may be a regression or an unresolved environment-specific path.

Note

I am intentionally not rerunning the deep audit in the main chat lane to avoid hanging the live support/setup session. A bounded repro with timeout can be provided if maintainers want exact current logs.