Executive brief
OpenClaw is a popular Node.js library used to manage cloud infrastructure and service configurations. A privilege escalation vulnerability allowed users with standard operator permissions to modify Matrix profile settings that should have required administrator-level access. An attacker with operator credentials could alter system profile configurations, potentially affecting service availability and security policies.
Technical details
This is an incorrect authorization vulnerability (CWE-863) in OpenClaw's operator.write message-tool handler. The Matrix profile config persistence mechanism was reachable from standard operator message tools without proper privilege checks, allowing write-scoped callers to mutate persistent profile configurations normally restricted to admin users. The vulnerability was network-reachable and required authentication (operator-level credentials) but no additional user interaction. An attacker could leverage this to bypass intended administrative access controls and modify critical profile settings. The fix, released in v2026.4.10, gates Matrix profile updates to non-owner message-tool runs and prevents write-scoped callers from modifying persistent profile configuration.
Affected products
- <UNKNOWN> OpenClaw < 2026.4.10
Timeline
- 2026-04-17: disclosed
- 2026-04-10: patched: Fix released in v2026.4.10