GHSA-vhwf-4x96-vqx2 CVE-2026-33574

OpenClaw's skills-install-download can be redirected outside the tools root by rebinding the validated base path

Medium npm

Severity: 0.0 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 0.09%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 0.36% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
Fix: 2026.3.8; Upgrade openclaw to this version or later

Description

OpenClaw's skills download installer validated the intended per-skill tools root lexically, but later reused that mutable path while downloading and copying the archive into place. If a local attacker could rebind that tools-root path between validation and the final write, the installer could be redirected to write outside the intended tools directory.

The fix pins the canonical per-skill tools root immediately after validation and derives later download/copy paths from that canonical root, so rebinding the lexical path fails closed instead of redirecting the write.

Affected Packages / Versions

Package: openclaw (npm)
Latest published vulnerable version: 2026.3.7
Affected range: <= 2026.3.7
Fixed in released version: 2026.3.8

Fix Commit(s)

9abf014f3502009faf9c73df5ca2cff719e54639

Release Verification

Verified fixed in GitHub release v2026.3.8 published on March 9, 2026.
Verified npm view openclaw version resolves to 2026.3.8.
Verified the release contains the regression test covering tools-root rebinding and that the test passes against the v2026.3.8 tree.

Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.

Affected versions

npm

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
openclaw	`< 2026.3.8`	`2026.3.8`

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 → `2026.3.8`

npm

npm install openclaw@2026.3.8

yarn

yarn add openclaw@2026.3.8

pnpm

pnpm add openclaw@2026.3.8

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: None
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Confidentiality (vulnerable system): None
Integrity (vulnerable system): Low
Availability (vulnerable system): None
Confidentiality (subsequent systems): None
Integrity (subsequent systems): None
Availability (subsequent systems): None

CVSS 3.1 4.7

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

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

Weakness

CWE-367: Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.

How to prevent it

Implementation: The most basic advice for TOCTOU vulnerabilities is to not perform a check before the use. This does not resolve the underlying issue of the execution of a function on a resource whose state and identity cannot be assured, but it does help to limit the false sense of security given by the check.
Implementation: When the file being altered is owned by the current user and group, set the effective gid and uid to that of the current user and group when executing this statement.
Architecture and Design: Limit the interleaving of operations on files from multiple processes.
Implementation, Architecture and Design: If you cannot perform operations atomically and you must share access to the resource between multiple processes or threads, then try to limit the amount of time (CPU cycles) between the check and use of the resource. This will not fix the problem, but it could make it more difficult for an attack to succeed.
Implementation: Recheck the resource after the use call to verify that the action was taken appropriately.
Architecture and Design: Ensure that some environmental locking mechanism can be used to protect resources effectively.
Implementation: Ensure that locking occurs before the check, as opposed to afterwards, such that the resource, as checked, is the same as it is when in use.

References

Advisories

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33574

Packages

github.com/openclaw/openclaw

Timeline

Mar 12, 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

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