GHSA-rv39-79c4-7459 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Missing Authentication vulnerability in openclaw. A fix is available for openclaw — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenClaw's gateway connect could skip device identity checks when auth.token was present but not yet validated
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-rv39-79c4-7459.
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-rv39-79c4-7459 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 377,636 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
The gateway WebSocket connect handshake could allow skipping device identity checks when auth.token was present but not yet validated.
Details
In src/gateway/server/ws-connection/message-handler.ts, the device-identity requirement could be bypassed based on the presence of a non-empty connectParams.auth.token rather than a validated shared-secret authentication result.
Impact
In deployments where the gateway WebSocket is reachable and connections can be authorized via Tailscale without validating the shared secret, a client could connect without providing device identity/pairing. Depending on version and configuration, this could result in operator access.
Deployment Guidance
Per OpenClaw security guidance, the gateway should only be reachable from a trusted network and by trusted users (for example, restrict Tailnet users/ACLs when using Tailscale Serve).
If the gateway WebSocket is only reachable by trusted users, there is typically no untrusted party with network access to exploit this issue.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected:
<= 2026.2.1 - Fixed:
>= 2026.2.2
Fix
Device-identity skipping now requires validated shared-secret authentication (token/password). Tailscale-authenticated connections without validated shared secret require device identity.
Fix Commit(s)
- fe81b1d7125a014b8280da461f34efbf5f761575
Thanks @simecek for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.2npm install openclaw@2026.2.2 |
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 2026.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-rv39-79c4-7459 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-rv39-79c4-7459 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-rv39-79c4-7459. 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-rv39-79c4-7459 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-rv39-79c4-7459 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.