OpenClaw: Message action attachment hydration bypasses local media root checks when sandboxRoot is unsetGHSA-fqcm-97m6-w7rm
Fix: openclaw/openclaw@270ab03GHSA-fqcm-97m6-w7rm is a Path Traversal vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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 GHSA-fqcm-97m6-w7rm.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
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
Impact
sendAttachment and setGroupIcon message actions could hydrate media from local absolute paths when sandboxRoot was unset, bypassing intended local media root checks. This could allow reads of arbitrary host files reachable by the runtime user when an authorized message-action path was triggered.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Latest published npm version at triage:
2026.2.23 - Vulnerable:
<= 2026.2.23 - Patched in code:
>= 2026.2.24(planned next release)
Remediation
Upgrade to openclaw 2026.2.24 or later once published.
Fix Commit(s)
- 270ab03e379f9653e15f7033c9830399b66b7e51
Release Process Note
patched_versions is pre-set to the planned next release (>= 2026.2.24). Once that npm release is published, this advisory can be published without further field edits.
OpenClaw thanks @GCXWLP for reporting.
Publication Update (2026-02-25)
[email protected] is published on npm and contains the fix commit(s) listed above. This advisory now marks >= 2026.2.24 as patched.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.24npm install openclaw@2026.2.24 |
Affected Products
openclawopenclawDetection & 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 2026.2.24 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-fqcm-97m6-w7rm is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-fqcm-97m6-w7rm in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.