Executive brief
OpenClaw is an open-source application with a web-based control UI used to manage assistant media files and metadata. A vulnerability in the assistant-media route allows authenticated trusted-proxy callers to access protected media files without the required operator.read permission, potentially exposing sensitive media content and metadata.
Technical details
This vulnerability is an authorization bypass (CWE-863) in the assistant-media route of OpenClaw's Control UI. The route authenticated trusted-proxy callers but failed to enforce scope checks for operator.read permissions on identity-bearing HTTP auth paths. An attacker with trusted-proxy authentication but lacking operator.read scope can bypass scope validation to retrieve assistant-media files and metadata within allowed media roots. The vulnerability requires successful gateway authentication and media-root checks as preconditions. OpenClaw 2026.4.20 fixes the issue by enforcing operator.read scope requirements on all identity-bearing HTTP auth paths accessing assistant-media resources.
Affected products
- OpenClaw OpenClaw before 2026.4.20
Timeline
- 2026-04-23: disclosed: Advisory published (later withdrawn as duplicate)
- 2026-04-20: patched: Fix released in OpenClaw 2026.4.20