Privilege Escalation in openclaw (CVE-2026-32922)
Summary
Vulnerability in openclaw (CVE-2026-32922). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Exploitable via openclaw. Mitigation: upgrade to 2026.3.11 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Summary
In affected versions of openclaw, a caller holding only operator.pairing could use device.token.rotate to mint a new token with broader scopes for an already paired device. If the target device was approved for operator.admin, the attacker could obtain an administrative token without already holding administrative scope.
Impact
This is a critical authorization flaw. On deployments with connected node hosts or companion apps that expose system.run, the escalated token could then modify node execution approvals and reach real remote code execution on the node. Even without nodes, the flaw still granted unauthorized gateway-admin access.
Affected Packages and Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected versions:
<= 2026.3.8 - Fixed in:
2026.3.11
Technical Details
device.token.rotate accepted caller-supplied target scopes and validated them against the target device's approved scopes, but it did not constrain the newly minted scopes to the caller's own current scope set. That allowed a pairing-scoped caller to mint a broader token for an already paired administrative device.
Fix
OpenClaw now enforces caller-scope subsetting in device.token.rotate, preventing callers from minting device tokens broader than the scopes they already hold. The fix shipped in openclaw@2026.3.11.
Workarounds
Upgrade to 2026.3.11 or later.
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-32922 has been found in openclaw.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like openclaw over the network to misuse the product.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
What to do: upgrade openclaw to 2026.3.11 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "openclaw CVE-2026-32922" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-32922 (openclaw) — CWE-269
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Attack surface: openclaw / operator.pairing / device.token.rotate / operator.admin
Patched: 2026.3.11 — apply immediately
Workaround: Upgrade to 2026.3.11 or later.
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-269) exists in openclaw. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via openclaw.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of openclaw. Attack surface: openclaw / operator.pairing / device.token.rotate / operator.admin.
Severity: ?. Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 2026.3.11.
Workaround: Upgrade to 2026.3.11 or later.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'openclaw' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'openclaw' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
openclawを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply temporary workaround mitigate
Upgrade to `2026.3.11` or later.パッチが適用されるまでの応急処置として、Upgrade to
2026.3.11or later. を実施。回避策の副作用 (機能低下) を確認した上で。 -
3Apply patch patch
Upgrade openclaw to 2026.3.11ステージング環境で 2026.3.11 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
4Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- package github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com