fix(config): fail closed on invalid config load (#9040, thanks @joetomasone)

Land #9040 by @joetomasone. Add fail-closed config loading, compat coverage, and changelog entry for #5052.

Co-authored-by: Joe Tomasone <joe@tomasone.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Security/Config: fail closed when `loadConfig()` hits validation or read errors so invalid configs cannot silently fall back to permissive runtime defaults. (#9040) Thanks @joetomasone.
 - LINE/`requireMention` group gating: align inbound and reply-stage LINE group policy resolution across raw, `group:`, and `room:` keys (including account-scoped group config), preserve plugin-backed reply-stage fallback behavior, and add regression coverage for prefixed-only group/room config plus reply-stage policy resolution. (#35847) Thanks @kirisame-wang.
 - Onboarding/local setup: default unset local `tools.profile` to `coding` instead of `messaging`, restoring file/runtime tools for fresh local installs while preserving explicit user-set profiles. (from #38241, overlap with #34958) Thanks @cgdusek.
 - Gateway/Telegram stale-socket restart guard: only apply stale-socket restarts to channels that publish event-liveness timestamps, preventing Telegram providers from being misclassified as stale solely due to long uptime and avoiding restart/pairing storms after upgrade. (openclaw#38464)

src/config/io.compat.test.ts

@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ describe("config io paths", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it("logs invalid config path details and returns empty config", async () => {
+  it("logs invalid config path details and throws on invalid config", async () => {
     await withTempHome(async (home) => {
       const configDir = path.join(home, ".openclaw");
       await fs.mkdir(configDir, { recursive: true });
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ describe("config io paths", () => {
         logger,
       });
 
-      expect(io.loadConfig()).toEqual({});
+      expect(() => io.loadConfig()).toThrow("Invalid config");
       expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
         expect.stringContaining(`Invalid config at ${configPath}:\\n`),
       );

src/config/io.ts

@@ -831,10 +831,11 @@ export function createConfigIO(overrides: ConfigIoDeps = {}) {
       }
       const error = err as { code?: string };
       if (error?.code === "INVALID_CONFIG") {
-        return {};
+        // Fail closed so invalid configs cannot silently fall back to permissive defaults.
+        throw err;
       }
       deps.logger.error(`Failed to read config at ${configPath}`, err);
-      return {};
+      throw err;
     }
   }
 

src/config/io.validation-fails-closed.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { clearConfigCache, loadConfig } from "./config.js";
+import { withTempHomeConfig } from "./test-helpers.js";
+
+describe("config validation fail-closed behavior", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    clearConfigCache();
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it("throws INVALID_CONFIG instead of returning an empty config", async () => {
+    await withTempHomeConfig(
+      {
+        agents: { list: [{ id: "main" }] },
+        nope: true,
+        channels: {
+          whatsapp: {
+            dmPolicy: "allowlist",
+            allowFrom: ["+1234567890"],
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      async () => {
+        const spy = vi.spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+        let thrown: unknown;
+        try {
+          loadConfig();
+        } catch (err) {
+          thrown = err;
+        }
+
+        expect(thrown).toBeInstanceOf(Error);
+        expect((thrown as { code?: string } | undefined)?.code).toBe("INVALID_CONFIG");
+        expect(spy).toHaveBeenCalled();
+      },
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("still loads valid security settings unchanged", async () => {
+    await withTempHomeConfig(
+      {
+        agents: { list: [{ id: "main" }] },
+        channels: {
+          whatsapp: {
+            dmPolicy: "allowlist",
+            allowFrom: ["+1234567890"],
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      async () => {
+        const cfg = loadConfig();
+        expect(cfg.channels?.whatsapp?.dmPolicy).toBe("allowlist");
+        expect(cfg.channels?.whatsapp?.allowFrom).toEqual(["+1234567890"]);
+      },
+    );
+  });
+});