GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.8) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw affected by Stored XSS in Control UI via unsanitized assistant name/avatar in inline script injection
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-37gc-85xm-2ww6.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 376,715 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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
Stored XSS in the OpenClaw Control UI when rendering assistant identity (name/avatar) into an inline <script> tag without script-context-safe escaping. A crafted value containing </script> could break out of the script tag and execute attacker-controlled JavaScript in the Control UI origin.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected versions:
<= 2026.2.14 - Fixed in:
>= 2026.2.15(next release; fix is already merged onmain)
Details
The gateway Control UI HTML response previously injected assistantName and assistantAvatar directly into an inline <script> block using JSON.stringify(...). JSON.stringify does not prevent </script> from terminating the script element, enabling stored XSS if an operator/admin sets the assistant identity to a malicious string.
OpenClaw’s Control UI is intended for local use only (see SECURITY.md); this advisory’s CVSS reflects a loopback-only/local-access deployment assumption.
Impact
An attacker with the ability to set assistant identity values (config or agent identity) could cause JavaScript execution for Control UI visitors, enabling token/session theft and privileged actions in the UI.
Fix
- Removed inline script injection and serve bootstrap config from a JSON endpoint.
- Added a restrictive Content Security Policy for the Control UI (
script-src 'self', no inline scripts).
Fix Commit(s)
adc818db4a4b3b8d663e7674ef20436947514e1b3b4096e02e7e335f99f5986ec1bd566e90b14a7e
Release Process Note
This advisory pre-sets the patched version to the planned next release (2026.2.15). Once that version is published to npm, this advisory can be published without further edits.
Thanks @Adam55A-code for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.15npm install openclaw@2026.2.15 |
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 2026.2.15 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 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 GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-37gc-85xm-2ww6 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.