How severe is CVE-2026-43529?

No CVSS score has been assigned to CVE-2026-43529 yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-43529?

CVE-2026-43529 affects the following packages: openclaw (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2026-43529?

Update openclaw to 2026.4.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-43529 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2026-43529 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openclaw, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2026-43529 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2026-43529?

O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-43529 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Is CVE-2026-43529 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2026-43529 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2026-43529?

CVE-2026-43529 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.1%, placing it in the 0th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-43529?

CVE-2026-43529 is classified as CWE-367 (CWE-367). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2026-43529 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2026-43529 was published on May 5, 2026 and was last updated on August 12, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦 npm

Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2026-43529 — openclaw

Fix: openclaw/openclaw@b024fae

CVE-2026-43529 is a CWE-367 vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.

OpenClaw < 2026.4.10 - Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Condition in exec Script Preflight Validator

Also known asGHSA-gj9q-8w99-mp8j

Published

May 5, 2026

Updated

Aug 12, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Sep 21, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-43529.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs0th percentile — riskier than 0% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.

133other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

openclawnpm

2.7Mdownloads / week

Description

Summary

OpenClaw's exec script preflight validator previously validated and then read a script by mutable pathname. A local race could swap the path between validation and read, causing preflight analysis to inspect a different file identity than the one that passed the workspace boundary check.

Affected Packages / Versions

Package: openclaw
Ecosystem: npm
Affected versions: < 2026.4.10
Patched versions: >= 2026.4.10

Impact

The impact is limited. This was not arbitrary full-file disclosure through the preflight error path. The validator only surfaced derived preflight content, such as a matched token, a line number, or the first non-empty JavaScript line in one branch. Exploitation also required the ability to mutate the relevant workspace path during the preflight window.

Still, this was a real TOCTOU boundary bug in code that is supposed to reason about workspace-local script files before execution. A file identity that passed the initial boundary validation could differ from the identity that was later read for preflight analysis.

Technical Details

The vulnerable flow performed separate path validation and file reads in validateScriptFileForShellBleed. Because the read was path-based, an attacker with write access to the workspace path could race replacement of the target after validation but before preflight read.

Fix

PR #62333 replaced the check-then-read flow with a pinned safe-open/read path using the shared readFileWithinRoot helper. The fixed path performs boundary verification around the opened file identity and avoids relying on a mutable pathname for the final preflight read. Regression tests cover both pre-open and post-open swap windows.

Fix Commit(s)

b024fae9e5df43e9b69b2daebb72be3469d52e91 (fix(exec): replace TOCTOU check-then-read with atomic pinned-fd open in script preflight [AI])
PR: #62333

Release Process Note

The fix first shipped in v2026.4.10. Users should upgrade to openclaw 2026.4.10 or newer; the latest npm release already includes the fix.

Credits

Thanks to @kikayli for reporting this issue.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`openclaw`	all versions	2026.4.10`npm install openclaw@2026.4.10`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openclaw, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update openclaw to 2026.4.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-43529 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-43529 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to CVE-2026-43529. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

## Summary OpenClaw's exec script preflight validator previously validated and then read a script by mutable pathname. A local race could swap the path between validation and read, causing preflight analysis to inspect a different file identity than the one that passed the workspace boundary check. ## Affected Packages / Versions - Package: `openclaw` - Ecosystem: npm - Affected versions: `< 2026.4.10` - Patched versions: `>= 2026.4.10` ## Impact The impact is limited. This was not arbitrary full-file disclosure through the preflight error path. The validator only surfaced derived preflig

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2026-43529 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds CVE-2026-43529 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works