GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-289 vulnerability in openclaw. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
OpenClaw has gateway plugin auth bypass via encoded dot-segment traversal in protected /api/channels paths
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
openclawnpmDescription
Summary
Gateway plugin route auth protection for /api/channels could be bypassed using encoded dot-segment traversal (for example ..%2f) in path variants that plugin handlers normalize.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package: npm
openclaw - Latest published vulnerable version:
2026.2.25 - Vulnerable version range:
<= 2026.2.25 - Patched version:
2026.2.26(planned next release)
Impact
Under affected versions, crafted alternate paths could bypass gateway auth checks for protected plugin channel routes when plugin handlers decode/canonicalize the incoming path and then route to /api/channels/... handlers.
Fix Commit(s)
258d615c45527ffda37cecd08cd268f97461bde0
Release Process Note
patched_versions is pre-set to the planned next release (2026.2.26). After npm publish, maintainers only need to publish the advisory.
OpenClaw thanks @zpbrent for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.26 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openclaw. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update openclaw to 2026.2.26 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj. 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-mwxv-35wr-4vvj in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.