GHSA-xc7w-v5x6-cc87
MEDIUMGHSA-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) Missing Authentication vulnerability in openclaw. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
OpenClaw has a webhook auth bypass when gateway is behind a reverse proxy (loopback remoteAddress trust)
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
openclawnpmDescription
Summary
The BlueBubbles webhook handler previously treated any request whose socket remoteAddress was loopback (127.0.0.1, ::1, ::ffff:127.0.0.1) as authenticated. When OpenClaw Gateway is behind a reverse proxy (Tailscale Serve/Funnel, nginx, Cloudflare Tunnel, ngrok), the proxy typically connects to the gateway over loopback, allowing unauthenticated remote requests to bypass the configured webhook password.
This could allow an attacker who can reach the proxy endpoint to inject arbitrary inbound BlueBubbles message/reaction events.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected versions:
< 2026.2.12 - Patched versions:
>= 2026.2.12
Exposure / Configuration
- BlueBubbles is an optional channel plugin (intended to eventually replace the legacy iMessage plugin, which is also optional). It is not enabled by default and is not part of a standard OpenClaw configuration.
- Only deployments with the BlueBubbles webhook endpoint exposed through a reverse proxy are impacted.
Details
The BlueBubbles webhook handler accepts inbound events via an HTTP POST endpoint under the configured BlueBubbles webhook path.
In vulnerable versions, the handler would accept requests as authenticated if req.socket.remoteAddress is loopback, without validating forwarding headers. With common reverse-proxy setups, the gateway sees the proxy as the direct client (loopback), even when the original request is remote.
Fix
- Primary fix (released in
2026.2.12): remove loopback-based authentication bypass and require the configured webhook secret. - Defense-in-depth follow-up (next release after commit below): treat requests with forwarding headers as proxied and never accept passwordless webhooks through a proxy.
Fix Commit(s)
f836c385ffc746cb954e8ee409f99d079bfdcd2f(released in2026.2.12)743f4b28495cdeb0d5bf76f6ebf4af01f6a02e5a(defense-in-depth follow-up)
Mitigations
- Ensure a BlueBubbles webhook password is configured.
- Do not expose the gateway webhook endpoint publicly without authentication.
Thanks @simecek for reporting.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | openclaw | all versions | 2026.2.12 |
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 2026.2.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 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-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 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-xc7w-v5x6-cc87. 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-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xc7w-v5x6-cc87 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.