GHSA-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) CWE-427 vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw: Incomplete host-env-security-policy allows untrusted model to substitute compiler binaries via env overrides
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-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 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 377,636 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
Incomplete host-env-security-policy.json allows untrusted model to substitute compiler binaries (CC, CXX, CARGO_BUILD_RUSTC, CMAKE_C_COMPILER) via env overrides on approved host exec requests
Current Maintainer Triage
- Status: narrow
- Normalized severity: medium
- Assessment: Shipped v2026.3.28 host-env policy missed compiler override vars, but exploitation still requires an approved host-exec request inside the existing exec trust domain, so medium not high.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Latest published npm version:
2026.3.31 - Vulnerable version range:
<=2026.3.28 - Patched versions:
>= 2026.3.31 - First stable tag containing the fix:
v2026.3.31
Fix Commit(s)
e277a37f896b5011a1df06e6490c6630074d0afa— 2026-03-30T20:06:32+01:00
OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.3.31npm install openclaw@2026.3.31 |
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 2026.3.31 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 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-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-g8xp-qx39-9jq9. 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-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-g8xp-qx39-9jq9 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.