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CVE-2026-44991 — openclaw

Fix: openclaw/openclaw@2aa93d4

CVE-2026-44991 is a CWE-863 vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.

OpenClaw < 2026.4.21 - Authorization Bypass in Owner-Enforced Commands via Wildcard Channel Senders

Also known asGHSA-c28g-vh7m-fm7v
Published
May 11, 2026
Updated
Aug 12, 2026
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Sep 22, 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-2026-44991.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs15th percentile — riskier than 15% 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
2.5Mdownloads / week

Description

Impact

OpenClaw deployments before 2026.4.21 could treat a non-owner sender as authorized for owner-enforced slash commands when all of the following were true:

  • a channel plugin declared commands.enforceOwnerForCommands: true;
  • the channel accepted wildcard inbound senders with allowFrom: ["*"];
  • no explicit commands.ownerAllowFrom was configured.

In that state, src/auto-reply/command-auth.ts reused the channel inbound wildcard as part of the command-owner decision. A sender who was not the owner could therefore pass the owner-command gate for commands such as /send, /config, or /debug on the affected channel.

The issue is limited to the command-owner authorization axis. It does not by itself grant owner-only tool access, host/sandbox access, or gateway administrator scope.

Affected Packages / Versions

  • Package: openclaw on npm
  • Affected versions: <= 2026.4.20
  • Patched version: 2026.4.21

The latest public release, 2026.4.21, contains the fix.

Patches

The fix requires a concrete owner identity or internal operator-admin scope when a plugin enforces owner-only commands. Wildcard channel allowFrom no longer implies wildcard command ownership.

Fix commits:

  • 2aa93d44a1b2c7058c371f261fda2b5d4de4a882 on main
  • 995febb7b1e811ff6a1df5b18c22de94103f4c9f in the 2026.4.21 release line

Workarounds

Upgrade to [email protected] or later. Before upgrading, avoid wildcard/open-DM sender policy on owner-enforced channels, or configure commands.ownerAllowFrom to the intended owner identities.

Credits

OpenClaw thanks @zsxsoft for reporting.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
📦npmopenclawall versions2026.4.21npm install openclaw@2026.4.21

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. 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.

  2. Fix

    Update openclaw to 2026.4.21 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-44991 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. 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.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-44991 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to CVE-2026-44991. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

## Impact OpenClaw deployments before `2026.4.21` could treat a non-owner sender as authorized for owner-enforced slash commands when all of the following were true: - a channel plugin declared `commands.enforceOwnerForCommands: true`; - the channel accepted wildcard inbound senders with `allowFrom: ["*"]`; - no explicit `commands.ownerAllowFrom` was configured. In that state, `src/auto-reply/command-auth.ts` reused the channel inbound wildcard as part of the command-owner decision. A sender who was not the owner could therefore pass the owner-command gate for commands such as `/send`, `/co
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2026-44991 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds CVE-2026-44991 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
CVE-2026-44991: openclaw | O3 Security