🚨 Critical OpenClaw Bug Report
Critical OpenClaw Bug ReportVersion: 2026.2.3-1 (d84eb46)
Platform: macOS 14.7.4 (arm64), Node.js 22.19.0
Gateway PID: 10106 (at time of discovery)
Issue: Catastrophic file descriptor leak in exec tool
Symptoms:
• exec tool fails with spawn EBADF error
• Every failed exec attempt leaks thousands of file descriptors
• File descriptor count: 50 → 24,340 in seconds
• Gateway becomes unusable, requires restart
Reproduction:
1. Fresh gateway start: lsof -p <pid> | wc -l shows ~50 (normal)
2. Agent attempts ANY exec command (e.g., ls, ulimit -n)
3. Command fails with spawn EBADF
4. Immediately check: lsof -p <pid> | wc -l shows 24,340+
5. Subsequent exec attempts continue leaking, compounding the issue
Expected: Failed spawn should clean up file descriptors
Actual: Failed spawn leaks ~24k file descriptors per attempt
Impact:
• exec tool completely unusable
• Gateway process degradation
• Requires frequent restarts
• Agent workflows broken (cannot run shell commands)
Workaround:
• Avoid exec tool entirely
• Restart gateway frequently
• Use browser/read/write tools as alternatives
Evidence:
ps aux | grep openclaw
tcheng 10106 0.1 1.7 421662016 580064 ?? S 2:44am 0:09.25 openclaw-gateway
lsof -p 10106 | wc -l
24340
Request: Please investigate Node.js child_process spawn error handling in exec tool implementation.
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