diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5aca8e7a5b..77c0ff6af0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Security/Media: harden local media ingestion against TOCTOU/symlink swap attacks by pinning reads to a single file descriptor with symlink rejection and inode/device verification in `saveMediaSource`. Thanks @dorjoos for reporting.
 - Agents/Streaming: keep assistant partial streaming active during reasoning streams, handle native `thinking_*` stream events consistently, dedupe mixed reasoning-end signals, and clear stale mutating tool errors after same-target retry success. (#20635) Thanks @obviyus.
 - Gateway/Auth: default unresolved gateway auth to token mode with startup auto-generation/persistence of `gateway.auth.token`, while allowing explicit `gateway.auth.mode: "none"` for intentional open loopback setups. (#20686) thanks @gumadeiras.
 - Browser/Relay: require gateway-token auth on both `/extension` and `/cdp`, and align Chrome extension setup to use a single `gateway.auth.token` input for relay authentication. Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
diff --git a/src/media/store.test.ts b/src/media/store.test.ts
index dbdc226bac..1486c75ce8 100644
--- a/src/media/store.test.ts
+++ b/src/media/store.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
+import JSZip from "jszip";
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
-import JSZip from "jszip";
 import sharp from "sharp";
 import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { isPathWithinBase } from "../../test/helpers/paths.js";
@@ -102,6 +102,17 @@ describe("media store", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it.runIf(process.platform !== "win32")("rejects symlink sources", async () => {
+    await withTempStore(async (store, home) => {
+      const target = path.join(home, "sensitive.txt");
+      const source = path.join(home, "source.txt");
+      await fs.writeFile(target, "sensitive");
+      await fs.symlink(target, source);
+
+      await expect(store.saveMediaSource(source)).rejects.toThrow("symlink");
+    });
+  });
+
   it("cleans old media files in first-level subdirectories", async () => {
     await withTempStore(async (store) => {
       const saved = await store.saveMediaBuffer(Buffer.from("nested"), "text/plain", "inbound");
diff --git a/src/media/store.ts b/src/media/store.ts
index c5882ae10f..b4c4ead54d 100644
--- a/src/media/store.ts
+++ b/src/media/store.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import crypto from "node:crypto";
+import { constants as fsConstants } from "node:fs";
 import { createWriteStream } from "node:fs";
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import { request as httpRequest } from "node:http";
@@ -20,6 +21,12 @@ const defaultHttpRequestImpl: RequestImpl = httpRequest;
 const defaultHttpsRequestImpl: RequestImpl = httpsRequest;
 const defaultResolvePinnedHostnameImpl: ResolvePinnedHostnameImpl = resolvePinnedHostname;
 
+const isNodeError = (err: unknown): err is NodeJS.ErrnoException =>
+  Boolean(err && typeof err === "object" && "code" in (err as Record<string, unknown>));
+
+const isSymlinkOpenError = (err: unknown) =>
+  isNodeError(err) && (err.code === "ELOOP" || err.code === "EINVAL" || err.code === "ENOTSUP");
+
 let httpRequestImpl: RequestImpl = defaultHttpRequestImpl;
 let httpsRequestImpl: RequestImpl = defaultHttpsRequestImpl;
 let resolvePinnedHostnameImpl: ResolvePinnedHostnameImpl = defaultResolvePinnedHostnameImpl;
@@ -232,20 +239,41 @@ export async function saveMediaSource(
     return { id, path: finalDest, size, contentType: mime };
   }
   // local path
-  const stat = await fs.stat(source);
-  if (!stat.isFile()) {
-    throw new Error("Media path is not a file");
+  const supportsNoFollow = process.platform !== "win32" && "O_NOFOLLOW" in fsConstants;
+  const flags = fsConstants.O_RDONLY | (supportsNoFollow ? fsConstants.O_NOFOLLOW : 0);
+  let handle: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof fs.open>>;
+  try {
+    handle = await fs.open(source, flags);
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (isSymlinkOpenError(err)) {
+      throw new Error("Media path must not be a symlink", { cause: err });
+    }
+    throw err;
   }
-  if (stat.size > MAX_BYTES) {
-    throw new Error("Media exceeds 5MB limit");
+  try {
+    const [stat, lstat] = await Promise.all([handle.stat(), fs.lstat(source)]);
+    if (lstat.isSymbolicLink()) {
+      throw new Error("Media path must not be a symlink");
+    }
+    if (!stat.isFile()) {
+      throw new Error("Media path is not a file");
+    }
+    if (stat.ino !== lstat.ino || stat.dev !== lstat.dev) {
+      throw new Error("Media path changed during read");
+    }
+    if (stat.size > MAX_BYTES) {
+      throw new Error("Media exceeds 5MB limit");
+    }
+    const buffer = await handle.readFile();
+    const mime = await detectMime({ buffer, filePath: source });
+    const ext = extensionForMime(mime) ?? path.extname(source);
+    const id = ext ? `${baseId}${ext}` : baseId;
+    const dest = path.join(dir, id);
+    await fs.writeFile(dest, buffer, { mode: 0o600 });
+    return { id, path: dest, size: stat.size, contentType: mime };
+  } finally {
+    await handle.close().catch(() => {});
   }
-  const buffer = await fs.readFile(source);
-  const mime = await detectMime({ buffer, filePath: source });
-  const ext = extensionForMime(mime) ?? path.extname(source);
-  const id = ext ? `${baseId}${ext}` : baseId;
-  const dest = path.join(dir, id);
-  await fs.writeFile(dest, buffer, { mode: 0o600 });
-  return { id, path: dest, size: stat.size, contentType: mime };
 }
 
 export async function saveMediaBuffer(