GHSA-r39h-4c2p-3jxp
HIGHGHSA-r39h-4c2p-3jxp is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) remote code execution vulnerability in openclaw. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-r39h-4c2p-3jxp is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
OpenClaw vulnerable to arbitrary code execution via attacker-controlled setup-api.js loaded from cwd during env-key resolution
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
openclawnpmDescription
Summary
OpenClaw's bundled plugin setup resolver could fall back to process.cwd() while resolving provider setup metadata. If a user ran an OpenClaw command from an attacker-controlled repository containing extensions/<plugin>/setup-api.js, OpenClaw could load and execute that JavaScript during ordinary provider/model status resolution.
Impact
This is arbitrary JavaScript execution in the OpenClaw process under the current user account. A malicious repository could run code when the user executed commands such as provider/model inspection from that directory. The issue does not require gateway network exposure, but it does require user interaction: the user must run OpenClaw from a directory containing the attacker-controlled setup file.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclawon npm - Affected: versions before
2026.4.23 - Fixed:
2026.4.23 - Latest stable verified fixed:
[email protected], tagv2026.4.23
Fix
OpenClaw now resolves bundled setup fallbacks only from the canonical package/repository root and no longer includes process.cwd() as a trusted setup-api search root. A regression test verifies that a workspace-local extensions/<plugin>/setup-api.js is not loaded through provider setup resolution.
Fix Commit(s)
993781e6e6eaf50f033cfc3e3bf4f47059740707(fix(plugins): ignore cwd setup-api fallback)
Severity
Severity remains high because successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution under the user running OpenClaw. The CVSS vector is local/user-interaction scoped rather than network-only because the victim must run OpenClaw from an attacker-controlled directory.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.4.23 |
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 2026.4.23 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r39h-4c2p-3jxp 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-r39h-4c2p-3jxp 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-r39h-4c2p-3jxp. 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-r39h-4c2p-3jxp in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-r39h-4c2p-3jxp across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.