CVE-2026-35669: OpenClaw privilege escalation in gateway plugin HTTP routes

Executive brief

OpenClaw is a software framework that uses a gateway plugin to manage authenticated web traffic. A security flaw in this plugin incorrectly grants full administrator privileges to any user who connects through the gateway, regardless of their actual permissions. This could allow a standard user to perform restricted administrative actions, potentially leading to unauthorized data access or system configuration changes.

Technical details

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in OpenClaw's Gateway Plugin due to incorrect privilege assignment (CWE-266) and incorrect authorization (CWE-863). The 'gateway' authentication mechanism for plugin HTTP routes was found to 'mint' or automatically include the 'operator.admin' runtime scope for all callers, bypassing intended scope boundaries and the principle of least privilege. An attacker with low-privileged network access can exploit this to gain full administrative control over the affected runtime environment. The issue was addressed in version 2026.3.25 by ensuring runtime scopes are restricted to those explicitly granted to the caller.

Affected products

• OpenClaw openclaw <= 2026.3.24

Timeline

• 2026-03-26: patched: Fixed on main branch via commit ec2dbcf
• 2026-03-27: advisory: GitHub Advisory GHSA-qm2m-28pf-hgjw published

References

• https://api.github.com/users/zpbrent
• https://github.com/zpbrent
• https://api.github.com/users/zpbrent/gists%7B/gist_id%7D
• https://api.github.com/users/zpbrent/repos
• https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/834641?v=4
• https://api.github.com/users/zpbrent/events%7B/privacy%7D