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GHSA-9r9j-3r2w-fg3v

Duplicate Advisory: OpenClaw: Workspace dotenv could override runtime-control environment variables

High Withdrawn May 11, 2026 npm
Severity
0.0 / 10
High · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS)
—
No score published
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-184 Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs
Fix
2026.4.20
Upgrade openclaw to this version or later

Description

Duplicate Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-hxvm-xjvf-93f3. This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

OpenClaw before 2026.4.20 fails to properly reserve the OPENCLAW_ runtime-control environment namespace in workspace dotenv files, allowing attackers to override critical runtime variables. Malicious workspaces can set variables like OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR to manipulate trusted OpenClaw runtime behavior during source-update or installer flows.

Affected versions

npm

PackageVulnerableFixed in
openclaw
< 2026.4.20
2026.4.20

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

openclaw npm → 2026.4.20

npm
npm install openclaw@2026.4.20
yarn
yarn add openclaw@2026.4.20
pnpm
pnpm add openclaw@2026.4.20

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Passive
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
High
Integrity (vulnerable system)
High
Availability (vulnerable system)
High
Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
None
Integrity (subsequent systems)
None
Availability (subsequent systems)
None
Exploit maturity
Not defined
Scope
X

CVSS 3.1 7.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-184: Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs

The product implements a protection mechanism that relies on a list of inputs (or properties of inputs) that are not allowed by policy or otherwise require other action to neutralize before additional processing takes place, but the list is incomplete.

How to prevent it
  • Implementation: Do not rely exclusively on detecting disallowed inputs. There are too many variants to encode a character, especially when different environments are used, so there is a high likelihood of missing some variants. Only use detection of disallowed inputs as a mechanism for detecting suspicious activity. Ensure that you are using other protection mechanisms that only identify "good" input - such as lists of allowed inputs - and ensure that you are properly encoding your outputs.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Withdrawn
  3. Last updated by the source
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