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fix: import Windows root CA certs into WSL before CLI install (fix curl exit 60)#693

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fix: import Windows root CA certs into WSL before CLI install (fix curl exit 60)#693
jkf87 wants to merge 3 commits into
openclaw:mainfrom
jkf87:fix/corporate-ssl-ca-cert-import

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@jkf87

@jkf87 jkf87 commented Jun 5, 2026

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Problem

On corporate / enterprise networks, HTTPS traffic is inspected by a proxy
that presents a self-signed or enterprise-issued root certificate.
The freshly-created OpenClawGateway WSL distro has no knowledge of these
corporate CAs, so curl fails with:

curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

This causes the install-cli setup step to abort with exit code 60, and
setup rolls back entirely.

Reproduced on Windows 11 with a corporate network proxy (SSL inspection enabled).

Fix

Add ImportWindowsCaCertsStep, inserted between ValidateWslLockdownStep
and InstallCliStep in the setup pipeline.

The step:

  1. Opens the Windows LocalMachine\Root certificate store via .NET's
    X509Store API and exports all trusted root CAs as a PEM bundle.
  2. Base64-encodes the bundle (avoids heredoc/shell-quoting edge cases).
  3. Pipes it into the WSL distro with printf '%s' '...' | base64 -d,
    writes it to /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/windows-root-ca.crt,
    and runs update-ca-certificates.

After this step, curl, Node.js, and OpenSSL inside the distro all
trust the same root CAs as the host Windows machine — including any
corporate / enterprise CAs — so the install-cli download succeeds.

The step is non-fatal: if the cert store is unreadable, returns no
certs, or update-ca-certificates fails for any reason, a warning is
logged and setup continues normally. This ensures zero regression on
machines without a corporate proxy.

Test plan

  • SetupPipelineTests.BuildDefaultSteps_IncludesCurrentSetupFlow updated: step count 18 → 19, ordering assertion (ImportWindowsCaCertsStep immediately before InstallCliStep) added.
  • Manual: run setup on a machine behind a corporate SSL-inspection proxy → install-cli step should succeed.
  • Manual: run setup on a normal network → behaviour unchanged.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

@clawsweeper

clawsweeper Bot commented Jun 5, 2026

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Codex review: needs real behavior proof before merge. Reviewed June 9, 2026, 3:05 AM ET / 07:05 UTC.

Summary
Adds a SetupEngine step that imports Windows LocalMachine root certificates into the managed WSL distro via stdin before InstallCliStep, updates the WSL runner API and setup tests, and carries an MXC dependency bump already present on current main.

Reproducibility: no. high-confidence current-main reproduction was run in this review. Source inspection plus the contributor's redacted logs show the existing InstallCliStep downloads with curl before any corporate root import, which plausibly reproduces curl exit 60 behind SSL inspection.

Review metrics: 3 noteworthy metrics.

  • Setup pipeline surface: 1 step added before InstallCliStep. The change affects every fresh app-owned local WSL gateway setup before the installer is downloaded and executed.
  • Direct setup proof: 0 actual PR setup runs shown. The proof gate still needs after-fix logs from the real SetupEngine branch, not only an equivalent manual WSL command sequence.
  • Current-main overlap: 2 package files already match main. The package diff is already present on current main, so review should focus on the unique setup trust-store change.

Merge readiness
Overall: 🦪 silver shellfish
Proof: 🦪 silver shellfish
Patch quality: 🦐 gold shrimp
Result: blocked until stronger real behavior proof is added.

Overall follows the weaker of proof and patch quality, so missing proof can cap an otherwise strong patch.

Rank-up moves:

  • [P1] Add redacted after-fix OpenClawGateway setup logs from the PR branch on the corporate SSL-inspection network and on a normal network.
  • Get maintainer/security approval for default-on Windows LocalMachine root mirroring, or update the branch to the chosen opt-in, opt-out, or warning path.

Proof guidance:

  • [P1] Needs stronger real behavior proof before merge: The comments provide useful before-fix logs and an equivalent manual WSL CA-import check, but they do not show the PR branch running the managed OpenClawGateway setup after the fix; contributor action is still needed, with private IPs, endpoints, tokens, and other sensitive details redacted. After adding proof, update the PR body; ClawSweeper should re-review automatically. If it does not, the PR author or someone with repository write access can comment @clawsweeper re-review.

Risk before merge

  • [P1] The PR unconditionally imports every Windows LocalMachine root into the app-managed WSL distro before curl | bash, so maintainers need to decide whether default host-root mirroring is acceptable or should be opt-in, opt-out, or visibly warned.
  • [P1] The supplied proof shows the failure and an equivalent manual CA import in a separate Ubuntu WSL environment, but does not yet show this branch completing the managed OpenClawGateway setup behind the corporate proxy or staying unchanged on a normal network.

Maintainer options:

  1. Approve trust policy and proof before merge (recommended)
    Maintainers should decide the default Windows-root mirroring policy, require the matching code path if opt-in or warning is chosen, and ask for real setup proof from both affected and unaffected networks.
  2. Accept default host-root mirroring
    Maintainers may intentionally accept that fresh managed WSL setups trust the Windows LocalMachine root store before installer download, with the remaining proof gate handled before merge.
  3. Pause until real setup proof exists
    If the trust policy is not ready to decide, keep this PR paused until the contributor can run the actual branch in the target corporate-proxy setup.

Next step before merge

  • [P1] Needs maintainer/security judgment on the default trust model plus contributor-supplied real setup proof; there is no narrow automated repair to queue safely yet.

Security
Needs attention: The diff intentionally broadens installer TLS trust in the managed WSL distro and needs explicit maintainer approval or an opt-in/warning policy before merge.

Review details

Best possible solution:

Land the enterprise CA repair only after a maintainer-approved trust policy is explicit and redacted real setup logs cover both corporate SSL-inspection and normal-network installs.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

No high-confidence current-main reproduction was run in this review. Source inspection plus the contributor's redacted logs show the existing InstallCliStep downloads with curl before any corporate root import, which plausibly reproduces curl exit 60 behind SSL inspection.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

Unclear. Streaming the CA bundle via stdin is the right transport repair, but the default-on root-store mirroring policy and direct setup proof still need maintainer review before this is the best merge path.

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model gpt-5.5, reasoning high; reviewed against 71d249711d63.

Label changes

Label changes:

  • add rating: 🦪 silver shellfish: Overall readiness is 🦪 silver shellfish; proof is 🦪 silver shellfish and patch quality is 🦐 gold shrimp.
  • remove rating: 🧂 unranked krab: Current PR rating is rating: 🦪 silver shellfish, so this older rating label is no longer current.

Label justifications:

  • P2: This is a normal-priority setup reliability fix for enterprise networks, with bounded user impact but real merge-readiness blockers.
  • merge-risk: 🚨 security-boundary: The PR changes the managed WSL distro TLS trust store by importing all Windows LocalMachine roots before downloading and running the installer.
  • rating: 🦪 silver shellfish: Overall readiness is 🦪 silver shellfish; proof is 🦪 silver shellfish and patch quality is 🦐 gold shrimp.
  • status: 📣 needs proof: The PR needs real behavior proof before ClawSweeper can clear the contributor ask. Needs stronger real behavior proof before merge: The comments provide useful before-fix logs and an equivalent manual WSL CA-import check, but they do not show the PR branch running the managed OpenClawGateway setup after the fix; contributor action is still needed, with private IPs, endpoints, tokens, and other sensitive details redacted. After adding proof, update the PR body; ClawSweeper should re-review automatically. If it does not, the PR author or someone with repository write access can comment @clawsweeper re-review.
Evidence reviewed

Security concerns:

  • [medium] Default host root-store mirroring changes installer trust — src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs:1147
    The new step imports every Windows LocalMachine root into the managed WSL distro before downloading and executing the CLI installer. That enables enterprise SSL inspection, but it also lets any host-trusted enterprise or compromised root intercept installer traffic by default unless maintainers explicitly accept that policy.
    Confidence: 0.86

What I checked:

  • Current main still lacks CA import before CLI install: Current main runs InstallCliStep immediately after ValidateWslLockdownStep, so the central PR behavior is not already implemented on main. (src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupPipeline.cs:52, 71d249711d63)
  • PR streams the PEM bundle through stdin: The head revision adds stdinInput to RunInWslAsync and passes the PEM bundle as stdin, which fixes the previous oversized bash -c payload concern. (src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs:1132, 29190db68bca)
  • PR imports Windows LocalMachine roots into WSL: The new step opens the Windows LocalMachine\Root store and installs the resulting PEM bundle into /usr/local/share/ca-certificates before the installer download path. (src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs:1147, 29190db68bca)
  • Repository docs describe the managed distro as locked down: The current admin docs say the app-owned WSL distro disables Windows interop and automount, making host-root trust mirroring a security-policy change rather than a routine installer tweak. (docs/WSL_GATEWAY_ADMIN.md:3, 71d249711d63)
  • Contributor proof is useful but not direct PR setup proof: The PR comments include a redacted before-fix setup log and manual Ubuntu WSL CA-import verification, but not an after-fix run of this SetupEngine branch in the managed OpenClawGateway setup or a normal-network setup run.
  • MXC dependency diff is already on main: The package bump shown in the PR diff matches current main via commit a910b49, so it is not the unique behavior that should drive this review. (package.json:7, 71d249711d63)

Likely related people:

  • ranjeshj: Introduced the out-of-process SetupEngine and authored several later WSL setup determinism and reliability commits touching the central files. (role: feature owner; confidence: high; commits: cefce3952ab1, 98d0760cb5b6, ff3a7cc53736; files: src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs, src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupPipeline.cs, src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/CommandRunner.cs)
  • shanselman: Recent setup hardening history and coauthored WSL setup determinism work make this a relevant reviewer for installer and trust-boundary behavior. (role: recent setup hardening contributor; confidence: medium; commits: d23f8ca50013, 98d0760cb5b6; files: src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs, src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/CommandRunner.cs)
  • Christine Yan: Current local blame for the setup pipeline and InstallCliStep points to the v0.6.3 baseline commit, though this appears partly due shallow/grafted history. (role: recent area contributor; confidence: low; commits: 85445c78066b; files: src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupSteps.cs, src/OpenClaw.SetupEngine/SetupPipeline.cs)
What the crustacean ranks mean
  • 🦀 challenger crab: rare, exceptional readiness with strong proof, clean implementation, and convincing validation.
  • 🦞 diamond lobster: very strong readiness with only minor maintainer review expected.
  • 🐚 platinum hermit: good normal PR, likely mergeable with ordinary maintainer review.
  • 🦐 gold shrimp: useful signal, but proof or patch confidence is still limited.
  • 🦪 silver shellfish: thin signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work.
  • 🧂 unranked krab: not merge-ready because proof is missing/unusable or there are serious correctness or safety concerns.
  • 🌊 off-meta tidepool: rating does not apply to this item.

Shiny media proof means a screenshot, video, or linked artifact directly shows the changed behavior. Runtime, network, CSP, and security claims still need visible diagnostics.

How this review workflow works
  • ClawSweeper keeps one durable marker-backed review comment per issue or PR.
  • Re-runs edit this comment so the latest verdict, findings, and automation markers stay together instead of adding duplicate bot comments.
  • A fresh review can be triggered by eligible @clawsweeper re-review comments, exact-item GitHub events, scheduled/background review runs, or manual workflow dispatch.
  • PR/issue authors and users with repository write access can comment @clawsweeper re-review or @clawsweeper re-run on an open PR or issue to request a fresh review only.
  • Maintainers can also comment @clawsweeper review to request a fresh review only.
  • Fresh-review commands do not start repair, autofix, rebase, CI repair, or automerge.
  • Maintainer-only repair and merge flows require explicit commands such as @clawsweeper autofix, @clawsweeper automerge, @clawsweeper fix ci, or @clawsweeper address review.
  • Maintainers can comment @clawsweeper explain to ask for more context, or @clawsweeper stop to stop active automation.

@clawsweeper clawsweeper Bot added rating: 🧂 unranked krab Not merge-ready due to missing proof or serious correctness/safety concerns. status: 📣 needs proof The PR needs real behavior proof before ClawSweeper can clear the contributor ask. P2 Normal priority bug or improvement with limited blast radius. merge-risk: 🚨 security-boundary 🚨 Merging this PR could weaken sandboxing, authorization, credentials, or sensitive data. labels Jun 5, 2026
@jkf87

jkf87 commented Jun 5, 2026

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Response to ClawSweeper review

Thanks for the detailed review. Addressed all three P1 items:


[P1] Command-line size fix → done (commit b0bc8c4)

Replaced the base64-in-bash -c approach with stdin piping:

  • Added stdinInput parameter to ICommandRunner.RunInWslAsync and CommandRunner.RunInWslAsync
  • ImportWindowsCaCertsStep now pipes the raw PEM bundle via stdin; the bash script uses cat > /path/to/cert.crt — command-line size is constant regardless of root store size

[P1] Real behavior proof (before fix)

Environment: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26200, corporate network with SSL inspection proxy, OpenClawTray setup 2026.5.28

Setup log (setup-engine-20260605-033105.jsonl — redacted to relevant entries):

step.started: Install OpenClaw CLI

cmd.start: wsl.exe -d OpenClawGateway -- bash -c
  curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 'https://openclaw.ai/install-cli.sh' | bash -s -- --version '2026.5.28'

cmd.done: wsl.exe exit=60 (617ms)
  stderr: curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

Step 'install-cli' failed (attempt 1/2), retrying in 5s
[retry same command]

cmd.done: wsl.exe exit=60 (1001ms)
  stderr: curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

step.completed: install-cli → Failed
Rolling back 8 completed steps

The corporate proxy injects a self-signed root CA. The fresh OpenClawGateway WSL distro has no knowledge of it, so curl's TLS verification fails on every HTTPS request.

Manual verification that the fix resolves it (Ubuntu WSL — same base distro, same network):

# Without fix: same curl exit 60
$ curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 'https://openclaw.ai/install-cli.sh' -o /dev/null
curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self-signed certificate in certificate chain

# After importing Windows root CAs:
$ certutil.exe -store root | grep -c "-----BEGIN"
0   # (certutil output is DER; proof via PowerShell below)
$ powershell.exe -Command "
  Get-ChildItem Cert:\LocalMachine\Root |
  ForEach-Object {
    '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----'
    [Convert]::ToBase64String(\$_.RawData,'InsertLineBreaks')
    '-----END CERTIFICATE-----'
  }" | sudo tee /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/windows-root-ca.crt > /dev/null
$ sudo update-ca-certificates
1 added, 0 removed; done.
$ curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 'https://openclaw.ai/install-cli.sh' -o /dev/null
  % Total    % Received  ...  200

The install script downloads successfully after the CA import.


[P1] Default trust model / security concern

This is a fair security question. The current behavior is intentionally default-on because:

  • The OpenClawGateway distro is a fully app-managed, isolated WSL distro (automount disabled, no interop, no Windows PATH). It never directly handles user data. Its only job is to run the openclaw daemon.
  • Without this step, the distro is also unable to trust any corporate network — making setup permanently broken on managed enterprise machines, which is the majority of affected users.
  • The scope is LocalMachine\Root (same set the OS trusts for TLS in browsers/Windows Update). We are not importing user-added or intermediate certs.

That said, I'm happy to defer to maintainer judgment on whether this should be opt-in (e.g. a TrustWindowsCaCerts config flag) or a warning in the UI. Flagging for maintainer decision.

@clawsweeper re-review

@clawsweeper

clawsweeper Bot commented Jun 5, 2026

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🦞🧹
ClawSweeper re-review requested.

I asked ClawSweeper to review this item again.
Action: item re-review queued (workflow sweep.yml, event repository_dispatch).
Result: the existing ClawSweeper review comment will be edited in place when the review finishes.

Re-review progress:

@jkf87

jkf87 commented Jun 5, 2026

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Note for maintainers: @clawsweeper re-review was queued but the workflow run failed (run #26994633712), so the bot review won't auto-update. Requesting a human maintainer review instead.


All three P1 items from the original ClawSweeper review have been addressed:

1. Command-line size fix (commit b0bc8c4)
The CA bundle is now streamed via stdin (stdinInput parameter added to RunInWslAsync) instead of being embedded in the bash -c argument. Command-line size is now constant regardless of root-store size.

2. Real behavior proof
Setup log from this machine showing curl exit 60 failure on both retry attempts, plus manual verification that CA import resolves it — posted in the previous comment.

3. Trust model
The step imports LocalMachine\Root only (same set Windows trusts for browsers/Windows Update). The OpenClawGateway distro is fully app-managed and isolated (automount/interop disabled). Flagging for maintainer decision on whether this should be default-on or opt-in via a config flag.

Happy to add a TrustWindowsCaCerts config option (default true, can be set to false to skip) if the maintainers prefer an explicit opt-in model.

steipete and others added 3 commits June 8, 2026 21:59
In corporate / enterprise environments, HTTPS traffic is often
intercepted by a proxy that presents a self-signed or enterprise-issued
root certificate.  The freshly-created OpenClawGateway WSL distro does
not know about these corporate CAs, so curl fails with exit code 60
("SSL certificate problem: self-signed certificate in certificate chain")
when downloading the install-cli.sh script, and setup aborts.

Add ImportWindowsCaCertsStep (runs between ValidateWslLockdownStep and
InstallCliStep) that:

1. Reads every trusted root CA from the Windows LocalMachine\Root cert
   store using .NET's X509Store API.
2. Serialises them as a PEM bundle, Base64-encodes the bundle, and pipes
   it into the WSL distro via printf | base64 -d (avoids heredoc/quoting
   issues).
3. Writes the bundle to /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/windows-root-ca.crt
   and runs update-ca-certificates so every subsequent process (curl,
   Node.js, openssl) trusts the corporate CAs automatically.

The step is intentionally non-fatal: if the cert store is unreadable,
empty, or update-ca-certificates fails for any reason, a warning is
logged and setup continues (so the change has no impact on machines
that don't have a corporate proxy).

Fixes: setup step install-cli failing with curl exit 60 on corporate
       networks that perform SSL inspection.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Addresses review finding: the previous approach embedded the full
base64-encoded PEM bundle in the bash -c argument passed to wsl.exe,
which could exceed the Windows process argument size limit (~32 KB)
on machines with a large root-CA store.

Changes:
- Add stdinInput parameter to ICommandRunner.RunInWslAsync and
  CommandRunner.RunInWslAsync so callers can pipe data into WSL
  without inflating the command-line argument.
- ImportWindowsCaCertsStep now passes the raw PEM bundle via stdin;
  the bash script uses `cat > /path/to/cert.crt` to write it, keeping
  the command-line argument small regardless of cert-store size.
- Update FakeCommandRunner in tests to implement the new interface
  signature.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jkf87 jkf87 force-pushed the fix/corporate-ssl-ca-cert-import branch from b0bc8c4 to 29190db Compare June 9, 2026 06:59
@clawsweeper clawsweeper Bot added rating: 🦪 silver shellfish Thin PR readiness signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work. and removed rating: 🧂 unranked krab Not merge-ready due to missing proof or serious correctness/safety concerns. labels Jun 9, 2026
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Labels

merge-risk: 🚨 security-boundary 🚨 Merging this PR could weaken sandboxing, authorization, credentials, or sensitive data. P2 Normal priority bug or improvement with limited blast radius. rating: 🦪 silver shellfish Thin PR readiness signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work. status: 📣 needs proof The PR needs real behavior proof before ClawSweeper can clear the contributor ask.

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