# CVE-2026-28452: OpenClaw denial of service through unguarded archive extraction

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-28452-openclaw-denial-of-service-through-unguarded-archive-extraction  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-02-18. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-28452 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2026-02-18

OpenClaw is a package utility that extracts ZIP and TAR archives during installation and updates. An attacker can craft malicious archives with high compression ratios or excessive file counts that consume excessive CPU, memory, and disk space, causing the application to become unresponsive or crash during archive extraction.

Technologies: [clawdbot (npm)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/clawdbot), [Openclaw](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/openclaw). Vendors: [npm](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/npm), [Openclaw](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/openclaw).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-28452 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-28452 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-28452?** Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 18 February 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** clawdbot (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,last_affected=2026.1.24-3; Openclaw <=2026.2.13.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-28452?** A patch was published on 2026-02-18: Patches available in openclaw v2026.2.14 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-28452 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-28452?** Check whether you run clawdbot (npm) or Openclaw at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability is a resource exhaustion (CWE-400) and uncontrolled resource consumption (CWE-770) flaw in the extractArchive function in src/infra/archive.ts. The archive extraction logic lacks proper resource budgets, allowing specially crafted ZIP or TAR archives with extreme expansion ratios to consume excessive system resources. An attacker can trigger this by providing a malicious archive file during installation or update flows, which do not require authentication. The fix implements enforced resource budgets including entry count limits, extracted byte limits, and for ZIP archives, a compressed size limit. Patches are available in openclaw v2026.2.14 and later.

## Affected products

- OpenClaw openclaw <=2026.2.13
- OpenClaw clawdbot <=2026.1.24-3

## Identifiers

- CVE-2026-28452
- GHSA-h89v-j3x9-8wqj

## Timeline

- 2026-02-18: disclosed: Advisory published on GitHub and OSV
- 2026-02-18: patched: Patches available in openclaw v2026.2.14

## References

- [https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-h89v-j3x9-8wqj](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-h89v-j3x9-8wqj)

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