GHSA-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.8) CWE-436 vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw: system.run approval identity mismatch could execute a different binary than displayed
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-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq.
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-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq 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 377,166 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
system.run approvals in OpenClaw used rendered command text as the approval identity while trimming argv token whitespace. Runtime execution still used raw argv. A crafted trailing-space executable token could therefore execute a different binary than what the approver saw.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected versions:
<= 2026.2.24 - Patched versions:
>= 2026.2.25
Impact
This is an approval-integrity bypass that can lead to unexpected command execution under the OpenClaw runtime user when an attacker can influence command argv and reuse/obtain a matching approval context.
Trust Model Note
OpenClaw does not treat adversarial multi-user sharing of one gateway host/config as a supported security boundary. This finding is still valid in supported deployments because it breaks the operator approval boundary itself (approved display command vs executed argv).
Fix Commit(s)
03e689fc89bbecbcd02876a95957ef1ad9caa176
Release Process Note
patched_versions is pre-set to the release (2026.2.25). Advisory published with npm release 2026.2.25.
OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.25npm install openclaw@2026.2.25 |
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 2026.2.25 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq 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-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq. 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-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-hwpq-rrpf-pgcq across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.