GHSA-q8ff-7ffm-m3r9 CVE-2026-45005

OpenClaw's Webhooks SecretRef route secret remains valid after rotation/reload

Medium npm

Severity: 5.9 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 0.29%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 21.45% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-613 Insufficient Session Expiration
Fix: 2026.4.23; Upgrade openclaw to this version or later

Description

Summary

OpenClaw webhooks allowed route secrets to be backed by SecretRef values, but cached the resolved secret for a route. After an operator rotated the underlying secret and ran openclaw secrets reload, the previous resolved webhook secret could remain valid until the plugin or gateway restarted.

Impact

An attacker who already had a previously valid webhook route secret could continue authenticating webhook requests after the operator rotated the secret and reloaded secrets. This weakened credential rotation for webhook routes and could allow continued invocation of the configured webhook task flow until restart.

Affected Packages / Versions

Package: openclaw on npm
Affected: versions before 2026.4.23
Fixed: 2026.4.23
Latest stable verified fixed: openclaw@2026.4.23, tag v2026.4.23

Fix

Webhook route authentication now resolves SecretRef-backed route secrets on each request. A rotated secret becomes effective after openclaw secrets reload without requiring a gateway or plugin restart, and the old secret is rejected.

Fix Commit(s)

36c4a372a0ad5dca8bfc0d93f7aab9c2f2de66fa (fix(webhooks): reload route secrets per request)

Severity

Severity remains medium. The attack requires possession of a previously valid route secret, but the stale credential can continue to authorize webhook actions after rotation.

Affected versions

npm

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
openclaw	`< 2026.4.23`	`2026.4.23`

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 → `2026.4.23`

npm

npm install openclaw@2026.4.23

yarn

yarn add openclaw@2026.4.23

pnpm

pnpm add openclaw@2026.4.23

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 5.9

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:L/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: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: Present
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Confidentiality (vulnerable system): Low
Integrity (vulnerable system): High
Availability (vulnerable system): Low
Confidentiality (subsequent systems): None
Integrity (subsequent systems): None
Availability (subsequent systems): None
Exploit maturity: Not defined
Scope: X

CVSS 3.1 6.0

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

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

Weakness

CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration

According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."

How to prevent it

Implementation: Set sessions/credentials expiration date.

References

Advisories

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45005

Packages

github.com/openclaw/openclaw

Timeline

May 5, 2026 Published
Jun 17, 2026 Last updated by the source
Oct 31, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-3x84-qq85-fj65 OpenClaw: Browser CDP discovery could accept blocked WebSocket URLs	High	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-9c3v-684m-579c OpenClaw MCP SSE redirects could forward Authorization headers	Medium	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-f397-5vjw-v2c2 OpenClaw: Shell inline-command parsing could miss an allowlist check	High	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-rx78-29qr-5hq8 OpenClaw: Workspace-derived service PATH could influence trash command selection	High	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-ccwh-wwpp-6wg5 OpenClaw: Host environment sanitizer missed two Node.js control variables	High	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-985f-72mj-8gf7 OpenClaw: Tool group policy callers could accept unvalidated group IDs	Medium	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-9v8j-9c9g-w66c OpenClaw: Bootstrap token replay could widen pending pairing scopes	Medium	Also affects openclaw
GHSA-c226-q6fx-6j6c OpenClaw: macOS Swift exec allowlist missed combined POSIX inline flags	Medium	Also affects openclaw

Is this in your code?

MergeHarbor checks every repository's dependencies against this database, ranks what matters by exploitability and reachability, routes it to the owning team and opens the fix pull request.

Check your repos with MergeHarbor