Executive brief
OpenClaw is a Telegram bot authorization framework used to control who can interact with bots via allowlists. The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass identity controls by exploiting the fact that Telegram usernames are mutable and recyclable—when a user changes their username or abandons it, another user can claim it, gaining unauthorized access to the bot if an allowlist was based on the old username rather than the immutable numeric ID.
Technical details
The vulnerability exists in OpenClaw's Telegram allowlist authorization mechanism, which incorrectly accepted mutable @username identifiers (CWE-284: Improper Access Control, CWE-290: Authentication Bypass by Spoofing). The root cause is a logic flaw in how the allowlist matched incoming messages: it matched against @username instead of immutable numeric Telegram sender IDs. An attacker could register a username previously used by an allowlisted user and gain unauthorized access to the bot. The fix requires numeric Telegram IDs only; the patched versions reject @username entries and provide a migration tool (openclaw doctor --fix) to convert legacy configs. Patches are available in openclaw >= 2026.2.14 and clawdbot >= 2026.1.24-4.
Affected products
- OpenClaw openclaw <=2026.2.13
- OpenClaw clawdbot <=2026.1.24-3
Timeline
- 2026-02-18: disclosed: Advisory GHSA-mj5r-hh7j-4gxf published
- 2026-02-18: patched: openclaw 2026.2.14 released with fixes