Executive brief
OpenClaw is a chat command automation tool that allows users to run bash scripts via chat commands like !stop. A previous security fix introduced safer process termination with a graceful shutdown sequence, but an identical vulnerable function remains in another code file that the !stop command still uses. When users invoke !stop to terminate background processes, those processes are killed instantly without a chance to clean up, potentially causing data loss, resource leaks, and skipped security operations like erasing in-memory secrets or completing audit logs.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-27486 affecting unsafe process termination. The root cause is code duplication: a patched killProcessTree function exists in src/process/kill-tree.ts that implements graceful shutdown (SIGTERM → grace period → SIGKILL fallback), but an identical unpatched copy remains in src/agents/shell-utils.ts that sends SIGKILL immediately without SIGTERM. The bash-command.ts handler for the !stop command imports from the unpatched shell-utils.ts rather than the patched kill-tree.ts. The !stop command is invoked via chat interaction and requires the attacker to have user privileges on the OpenClaw instance. An attacker with permissions to use the !stop command can exploit this to force immediate termination of background processes, bypassing their graceful shutdown handlers and potentially causing data corruption (CWE-404: Improper Resource Shutdown or Release). The fix is available in OpenClaw 2026.3.24, which corrects the import to use the patched killProcessTree function.
Affected products
- OpenClaw openclaw <= 2026.3.14
Timeline
- 2026-03-30: disclosed: GHSA-3298-56p6-rpw2 published
- 2026-03-24: patched: Fixed in OpenClaw 2026.3.24