Executive brief
OpenClaw is a gateway service that records session transcripts. An authenticated attacker can manipulate the sessionFile path parameter to write transcript data to arbitrary locations on the server, potentially corrupting configuration files or exhausting disk space and causing service denial. This requires existing authentication credentials but does not provide direct code execution.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a path traversal issue (CWE-23, CWE-73) in OpenClaw's gateway component. The gateway failed to properly validate the sessionFile path when resolving the location for writing session transcripts, allowing an authenticated client to specify paths outside the intended sessions directory. An attacker with valid gateway credentials can exploit this by supplying a malicious sessionFile path to cause arbitrary file creation and repeated data appends, leading to filesystem corruption, configuration tampering, or denial of service. The fix constrains the transcript path to the sessions directory via path containment checks in resolveSessionFilePath(). Patches are available in versions 2026.2.12 and later.
Affected products
- OpenClaw OpenClaw < 2026.2.12
Timeline
- 2026-02-17: disclosed
- 2026-02-12: patched: Patched in version 2026.2.12
- 2026-02-14: advisory: GitHub security advisory published