GHSA-2fgq-7j6h-9rm4 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.6) vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw has system.run shell-wrapper env injection via SHELLOPTS/PS4 can bypass allowlist intent (RCE)
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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 GHSA-2fgq-7j6h-9rm4.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-2fgq-7j6h-9rm4 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
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.
openclawnpmDescription
Summary
system.run allowed SHELLOPTS + PS4 environment injection to trigger command substitution during bash -lc xtrace expansion before the allowlisted command body executed.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected:
<= 2026.2.21-2(includes latest published npm version at triage time) - Patched (planned next release):
2026.2.22
Impact
In allowlist mode, an attacker who can invoke system.run with request-scoped env could execute additional shell commands outside the intended allowlisted command body.
Root Cause
Host exec env sanitization blocked startup-file vectors (BASH_ENV, ENV, etc.) but did not block SHELLOPTS/PS4. For shell wrappers (bash|sh|zsh ... -c/-lc), request env overrides were passed through and bash evaluated PS4 under xtrace, enabling command substitution.
Fix
- Block
SHELLOPTSandPS4in host exec env sanitizers (Node + macOS). - For shell wrappers (
bash|sh|zsh ... -c/-lc), reduce request-scoped env overrides to an explicit allowlist (TERM,LANG,LC_*,COLORTERM,NO_COLOR,FORCE_COLOR). - Add regression tests for TS and macOS paths.
Fix Commit(s)
e80c803fa887f9699ad87a9e906ab5c1ff85bd9a
Release Process Note
patched_versions is pre-set to the planned next release (2026.2.22). Once npm release 2026.2.22 is published, advisory publication is a final state action only.
Severity Rationale
This advisory is rated medium because exploitation requires a caller that can already invoke system.run with request-scoped env.
Under OpenClaw's documented trust model (SECURITY.md), authenticated Gateway callers are treated as trusted operators, and adversarial multi-operator / prompt-injection scenarios are out of scope.
The bug remains a real allowlist-intent bypass, but it does not cross a separate trust boundary in the documented deployment assumptions.
OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.22npm install openclaw@2026.2.22 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 2026.2.22 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2fgq-7j6h-9rm4 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2fgq-7j6h-9rm4 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.