Executive brief
OpenClaw is a Slack integration library that processes Slack events and enforces access controls via allowlists (e.g., blocking direct messages from unauthorized users or restricting channel access). A flaw in the member and message event handlers bypassed these authorization checks, allowing unauthorized Slack users to trigger system events that should have been blocked. This could result in unauthorized data access or message manipulation for deployments relying on sender-based access policies.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an incorrect authorization check (CWE-863) in OpenClaw's Slack event handlers. Specifically, the handlers in src/slack/monitor/events/members.ts and src/slack/monitor/events/messages.ts process member_* and message subtype system events (message_changed, message_deleted, thread_broadcast) without enforcing sender authorization before enqueueing events. The handlers performed channel-level checks but did not validate sender identity against dmPolicy/allowFrom (DM allowlists) or per-channel user allowlists. An authenticated Slack user can exploit this by triggering system events from an allowlisted channel even if their user ID is not authorized. The fix (commit 3d30ba18...) routes handlers through authorizeAndResolveSlackSystemEventContext(...) to perform sender validation and fail closed if identity cannot be resolved. The patch is available in version 2026.2.26.
Affected products
- OpenClaw openclaw <= 2026.2.25
Timeline
- 2026-03-12: disclosed
- 2026-02-26: patched: Patch version 2026.2.26 pre-set for publish-readiness