GHSA-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw has a path traversal in browser trace/download output paths may allow arbitrary file writes
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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-gq9c-wg68-gwj2.
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-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 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 377,333 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
OpenClaw’s browser control API accepted user-supplied output paths for trace/download files without consistently constraining writes to OpenClaw-managed temporary directories.
Impact
If an attacker can access the browser control API, they could attempt to write trace/download output files outside intended temp roots, depending on process filesystem permissions.
Affected versions
openclaw < 2026.2.13
Fixed versions
openclaw >= 2026.2.13
Remediation
Upgrade to 2026.2.13 or later.
What changed
The fix constrains output paths for:
POST /trace/stopPOST /wait/downloadPOST /download
All three now enforce OpenClaw temp-root boundaries and reject traversal/escape paths.
Credits
Thanks to Adnan Jakati (@jackhax) of Praetorian for responsible disclosure.
Fix shipped in PR #15652 and merged to main on February 13, 2026 (7f0489e4731c8d965d78d6eac4a60312e46a9426).
Fix commit 7f0489e4731c8d965d78d6eac4a60312e46a9426 confirmed on main and in v2026.2.14. Upgrade to openclaw >= 2026.2.13.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.13npm install openclaw@2026.2.13 |
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 2026.2.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 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-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-gq9c-wg68-gwj2. 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-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-gq9c-wg68-gwj2 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.