GHSA-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) CWE-829 vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw: shell-env trusted-prefix fallback allowed attacker-controlled binary execution via $SHELL
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-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c.
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-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c 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 379,145 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
shell-env fallback trusted prefix-based executable paths for $SHELL, allowing execution of attacker-controlled binaries in local/runtime-env influence scenarios.
Details
In affected versions, shell selection accepted either:
- a shell listed in
/etc/shells, or - any executable under hardcoded trusted prefixes (
/bin,/usr/bin,/usr/local/bin,/opt/homebrew/bin,/run/current-system/sw/bin).
The selected shell was then executed as a login shell (-l -c 'env -0') for PATH/environment probing.
On systems where a trusted-prefix directory is writable (for example common Homebrew layouts under /opt/homebrew/bin) and runtime $SHELL can be influenced, this enabled attacker-controlled binary execution in OpenClaw process context.
The fix removes the trusted-prefix executable fallback and now trusts only shells explicitly registered in /etc/shells; otherwise it falls back to /bin/sh.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected versions:
>= 2026.2.22, <= 2026.2.22-2 - Latest published vulnerable version:
2026.2.22-2 - Patched versions (released):
>= 2026.2.23
Fix Commit(s)
ff10fe8b91670044a6bb0cd85deb736a0ec8fb55
Release Process Note
This advisory sets patched_versions to the released version (2026.2.23).
This advisory now reflects released fix version 2026.2.23.
OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | ≥ 2026.2.22&&< 2026.2.23 | 2026.2.23npm install openclaw@2026.2.23 |
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 2026.2.23 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c 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-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c. 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-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-p4wh-cr8m-gm6c across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.