GHSA-4gc7-qcvf-38wg is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
In OpenClaw, manually adding sort to tools.exec.safeBins could bypass allowlist approval via --compress-program
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-4gc7-qcvf-38wg.
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-4gc7-qcvf-38wg 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 379,145 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
This issue applies to a non-default configuration only.
If sort is manually added to tools.exec.safeBins, OpenClaw could treat sort --compress-program=<prog> as valid safe-bin usage.
In security=allowlist + ask=on-miss, this could satisfy allowlist checks and skip operator approval, while GNU sort may invoke an external program via --compress-program.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Ecosystem: npm
- Package:
openclaw - Affected:
<= 2026.2.21-2 - Patched (planned next release):
>= 2026.2.22
Default Installations
Default installs are not impacted by this specific path because sort is not included in default tools.exec.safeBins.
Impact
- Type: approval/allowlist bypass in optional safe-bin configuration
- Scope: deployments that explicitly include
sortintools.exec.safeBinsand useallowlist + ask=on-miss - Consequence: an external program may run under the OpenClaw process context without expected approval
Technical Details
sortsafe-bin profile allowed--compress-programas a value flag.- Safe-bin satisfaction could therefore mark allowlist checks as satisfied.
- In
ask=on-miss, satisfied allowlist checks skip approval prompts.
Fix
- Block
--compress-programin safe-bin sort policy. - Add unit and e2e regression coverage for
sort --compress-programdenial in safe-bin mode.
Fix Commit(s)
57fbbaebca4d34d17549accf6092ae26eb7b605c
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-4gc7-qcvf-38wg 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-4gc7-qcvf-38wg can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-4gc7-qcvf-38wg. 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-4gc7-qcvf-38wg in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-4gc7-qcvf-38wg across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.