fix(media): guard local media reads + accept all path types in MEDIA directive

src/infra/outbound/message-action-runner.ts

@@ -443,7 +443,8 @@ async function hydrateSetGroupIconParams(params: {
       channel: params.channel,
       accountId: params.accountId,
     });
-    const media = await loadWebMedia(mediaSource, maxBytes);
+    // localRoots: "any" — media paths are already validated by normalizeSandboxMediaList above.
+    const media = await loadWebMedia(mediaSource, maxBytes, { localRoots: "any" });
     params.args.buffer = media.buffer.toString("base64");
     if (!contentTypeParam && media.contentType) {
       params.args.contentType = media.contentType;
@@ -507,7 +508,8 @@ async function hydrateSendAttachmentParams(params: {
       channel: params.channel,
       accountId: params.accountId,
     });
-    const media = await loadWebMedia(mediaSource, maxBytes);
+    // localRoots: "any" — media paths are already validated by normalizeSandboxMediaList above.
+    const media = await loadWebMedia(mediaSource, maxBytes, { localRoots: "any" });
     params.args.buffer = media.buffer.toString("base64");
     if (!contentTypeParam && media.contentType) {
       params.args.contentType = media.contentType;

src/media/parse.test.ts

@@ -8,28 +8,28 @@ describe("splitMediaFromOutput", () => {
     expect(result.text).toBe("Hello world");
   });
 
-  it("rejects absolute media paths to prevent LFI", () => {
+  it("accepts absolute media paths", () => {
     const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:/Users/pete/My File.png");
-    expect(result.mediaUrls).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["/Users/pete/My File.png"]);
-    expect(result.text).toBe("MEDIA:/Users/pete/My File.png");
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
 
-  it("rejects quoted absolute media paths to prevent LFI", () => {
+  it("accepts quoted absolute media paths", () => {
     const result = splitMediaFromOutput('MEDIA:"/Users/pete/My File.png"');
-    expect(result.mediaUrls).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["/Users/pete/My File.png"]);
-    expect(result.text).toBe('MEDIA:"/Users/pete/My File.png"');
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
 
-  it("rejects tilde media paths to prevent LFI", () => {
+  it("accepts tilde media paths", () => {
     const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:~/Pictures/My File.png");
-    expect(result.mediaUrls).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["~/Pictures/My File.png"]);
-    expect(result.text).toBe("MEDIA:~/Pictures/My File.png");
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
 
-  it("rejects directory traversal media paths to prevent LFI", () => {
+  it("accepts traversal-like media paths (validated at load time)", () => {
     const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:../../etc/passwd");
-    expect(result.mediaUrls).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["../../etc/passwd"]);
-    expect(result.text).toBe("MEDIA:../../etc/passwd");
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
 
   it("captures safe relative media paths", () => {
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ describe("splitMediaFromOutput", () => {
     expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
 
+  it("accepts sandbox-relative media paths", () => {
+    const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:media/inbound/image.png");
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["media/inbound/image.png"]);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
+  });
+
   it("keeps audio_as_voice detection stable across calls", () => {
     const input = "Hello [[audio_as_voice]]";
     const first = splitMediaFromOutput(input);
@@ -58,4 +64,27 @@ describe("splitMediaFromOutput", () => {
     expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["./screenshot.png"]);
     expect(result.text).toBe("");
   });
+
+  it("accepts Windows-style paths", () => {
+    const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:C:\\Users\\pete\\Pictures\\snap.png");
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["C:\\Users\\pete\\Pictures\\snap.png"]);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  it("accepts TTS temp file paths", () => {
+    const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:/tmp/tts-fAJy8C/voice-1770246885083.opus");
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["/tmp/tts-fAJy8C/voice-1770246885083.opus"]);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  it("accepts bare filenames with extensions", () => {
+    const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:image.png");
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toEqual(["image.png"]);
+    expect(result.text).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  it("rejects bare words without file extensions", () => {
+    const result = splitMediaFromOutput("MEDIA:screenshot");
+    expect(result.mediaUrls).toBeUndefined();
+  });
 });

src/media/parse.ts

@@ -14,7 +14,29 @@ function cleanCandidate(raw: string) {
   return raw.replace(/^[`"'[{(]+/, "").replace(/[`"'\\})\],]+$/, "");
 }
 
-function isValidMedia(candidate: string, opts?: { allowSpaces?: boolean }) {
+const WINDOWS_DRIVE_RE = /^[a-zA-Z]:[\\/]/;
+const SCHEME_RE = /^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9+.-]*:/;
+const HAS_FILE_EXT = /\.\w{1,10}$/;
+
+// Recognize local file path patterns. Security validation is deferred to the
+// load layer (loadWebMedia / resolveSandboxedMediaSource) which has the context
+// needed to enforce sandbox roots and allowed directories.
+function isLikelyLocalPath(candidate: string): boolean {
+  return (
+    candidate.startsWith("/") ||
+    candidate.startsWith("./") ||
+    candidate.startsWith("../") ||
+    candidate.startsWith("~") ||
+    WINDOWS_DRIVE_RE.test(candidate) ||
+    candidate.startsWith("\\\\") ||
+    (!SCHEME_RE.test(candidate) && (candidate.includes("/") || candidate.includes("\\")))
+  );
+}
+
+function isValidMedia(
+  candidate: string,
+  opts?: { allowSpaces?: boolean; allowBareFilename?: boolean },
+) {
   if (!candidate) {
     return false;
   }
@@ -28,8 +50,17 @@ function isValidMedia(candidate: string, opts?: { allowSpaces?: boolean }) {
     return true;
   }
 
-  // Local paths: only allow safe relative paths starting with ./ that do not traverse upwards.
+  if (isLikelyLocalPath(candidate)) {
-  return candidate.startsWith("./") && !candidate.includes("..");
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  // Accept bare filenames (e.g. "image.png") only when the caller opts in.
+  // This avoids treating space-split path fragments as separate media items.
+  if (opts?.allowBareFilename && !SCHEME_RE.test(candidate) && HAS_FILE_EXT.test(candidate)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  return false;
 }
 
 function unwrapQuoted(value: string): string | undefined {
@@ -128,11 +159,7 @@ export function splitMediaFromOutput(raw: string): {
 
       const trimmedPayload = payloadValue.trim();
       const looksLikeLocalPath =
-        trimmedPayload.startsWith("/") ||
+        isLikelyLocalPath(trimmedPayload) || trimmedPayload.startsWith("file://");
-        trimmedPayload.startsWith("./") ||
-        trimmedPayload.startsWith("../") ||
-        trimmedPayload.startsWith("~") ||
-        trimmedPayload.startsWith("file://");
       if (
         !unwrapped &&
         validCount === 1 &&
@@ -152,7 +179,7 @@ export function splitMediaFromOutput(raw: string): {
 
       if (!hasValidMedia) {
         const fallback = normalizeMediaSource(cleanCandidate(payloadValue));
-        if (isValidMedia(fallback, { allowSpaces: true })) {
+        if (isValidMedia(fallback, { allowSpaces: true, allowBareFilename: true })) {
           media.push(fallback);
           hasValidMedia = true;
           foundMediaToken = true;

src/web/media.test.ts

@@ -292,3 +292,43 @@ describe("web media loading", () => {
     expect(result.buffer.length).toBeLessThanOrEqual(cap);
   });
 });
+
+describe("local media root guard", () => {
+  it("rejects local paths outside allowed roots", async () => {
+    const pngBuffer = await sharp({
+      create: { width: 10, height: 10, channels: 3, background: "#00ff00" },
+    })
+      .png()
+      .toBuffer();
+    const file = await writeTempFile(pngBuffer, ".png");
+
+    // Explicit roots that don't contain the temp file.
+    await expect(
+      loadWebMedia(file, 1024 * 1024, { localRoots: ["/nonexistent-root"] }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow(/not under an allowed directory/i);
+  });
+
+  it("allows local paths under an explicit root", async () => {
+    const pngBuffer = await sharp({
+      create: { width: 10, height: 10, channels: 3, background: "#00ff00" },
+    })
+      .png()
+      .toBuffer();
+    const file = await writeTempFile(pngBuffer, ".png");
+
+    const result = await loadWebMedia(file, 1024 * 1024, { localRoots: [os.tmpdir()] });
+    expect(result.kind).toBe("image");
+  });
+
+  it("allows any path when localRoots is 'any'", async () => {
+    const pngBuffer = await sharp({
+      create: { width: 10, height: 10, channels: 3, background: "#00ff00" },
+    })
+      .png()
+      .toBuffer();
+    const file = await writeTempFile(pngBuffer, ".png");
+
+    const result = await loadWebMedia(file, 1024 * 1024, { localRoots: "any" });
+    expect(result.kind).toBe("image");
+  });
+});

src/web/media.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import type { SsrFPolicy } from "../infra/net/ssrf.js";
@@ -25,8 +26,48 @@ type WebMediaOptions = {
   maxBytes?: number;
   optimizeImages?: boolean;
   ssrfPolicy?: SsrFPolicy;
+  /** Allowed root directories for local path reads. "any" skips the check (caller already validated). */
+  localRoots?: string[] | "any";
 };
 
+function getDefaultLocalRoots(): string[] {
+  const home = os.homedir();
+  return [
+    os.tmpdir(),
+    path.join(home, ".openclaw", "media"),
+    path.join(home, ".openclaw", "agents"),
+  ];
+}
+
+async function assertLocalMediaAllowed(
+  mediaPath: string,
+  localRoots: string[] | "any" | undefined,
+): Promise<void> {
+  if (localRoots === "any") {
+    return;
+  }
+  const roots = localRoots ?? getDefaultLocalRoots();
+  // Resolve symlinks so a symlink under /tmp pointing to /etc/passwd is caught.
+  let resolved: string;
+  try {
+    resolved = await fs.realpath(mediaPath);
+  } catch {
+    resolved = path.resolve(mediaPath);
+  }
+  for (const root of roots) {
+    let resolvedRoot: string;
+    try {
+      resolvedRoot = await fs.realpath(root);
+    } catch {
+      resolvedRoot = path.resolve(root);
+    }
+    if (resolved === resolvedRoot || resolved.startsWith(resolvedRoot + path.sep)) {
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+  throw new Error(`Local media path is not under an allowed directory: ${mediaPath}`);
+}
+
 const HEIC_MIME_RE = /^image\/hei[cf]$/i;
 const HEIC_EXT_RE = /\.(heic|heif)$/i;
 const MB = 1024 * 1024;
@@ -124,7 +165,7 @@ async function loadWebMediaInternal(
   mediaUrl: string,
   options: WebMediaOptions = {},
 ): Promise<WebMediaResult> {
-  const { maxBytes, optimizeImages = true, ssrfPolicy } = options;
+  const { maxBytes, optimizeImages = true, ssrfPolicy, localRoots } = options;
   // Use fileURLToPath for proper handling of file:// URLs (handles file://localhost/path, etc.)
   if (mediaUrl.startsWith("file://")) {
     try {
@@ -222,6 +263,9 @@ async function loadWebMediaInternal(
     mediaUrl = resolveUserPath(mediaUrl);
   }
 
+  // Guard local reads against allowed directory roots to prevent file exfiltration.
+  await assertLocalMediaAllowed(mediaUrl, localRoots);
+
   // Local path
   const data = await fs.readFile(mediaUrl);
   const mime = await detectMime({ buffer: data, filePath: mediaUrl });
@@ -244,24 +288,26 @@ async function loadWebMediaInternal(
 export async function loadWebMedia(
   mediaUrl: string,
   maxBytes?: number,
-  options?: { ssrfPolicy?: SsrFPolicy },
+  options?: { ssrfPolicy?: SsrFPolicy; localRoots?: string[] | "any" },
 ): Promise<WebMediaResult> {
   return await loadWebMediaInternal(mediaUrl, {
     maxBytes,
     optimizeImages: true,
     ssrfPolicy: options?.ssrfPolicy,
+    localRoots: options?.localRoots,
   });
 }
 
 export async function loadWebMediaRaw(
   mediaUrl: string,
   maxBytes?: number,
-  options?: { ssrfPolicy?: SsrFPolicy },
+  options?: { ssrfPolicy?: SsrFPolicy; localRoots?: string[] | "any" },
 ): Promise<WebMediaResult> {
   return await loadWebMediaInternal(mediaUrl, {
     maxBytes,
     optimizeImages: false,
     ssrfPolicy: options?.ssrfPolicy,
+    localRoots: options?.localRoots,
   });
 }