Executive brief
OpenClaw is a distributed platform management library used to coordinate commands across paired node devices on trusted networks. An attacker who already has access to a paired node device can spoof platform metadata during reconnection to bypass command policy restrictions and gain access to commands that should be blocked. In multi-platform deployments, this could allow an attacker to escalate from one platform's limited command set to another platform's broader capabilities.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an authentication bypass (CWE-290) and incorrect authorization (CWE-863) issue in OpenClaw's node reconnection flow. When a paired node device reconnects, the platform and deviceFamily metadata fields are accepted from the client but are not cryptographically bound to the device-auth signature, allowing them to be spoofed. An attacker with an already-paired node identity on the trusted network can send forged metadata during reconnection to broaden their command policy eligibility. The attack requires network adjacency and existing paired node credentials (low privilege precondition). The fix adds a v3 device-auth payload that cryptographically signs normalized platform and deviceFamily fields, server-side metadata pinning, and rejection of mismatched reconnect metadata.
Affected products
- OpenClaw openclaw <= 2026.2.25
Timeline
- 2026-03-03: disclosed: Advisory GHSA-r65x-2hqr-j5hf published
- 2026-02-26: patched: Patch released in version 2026.2.26