Executive brief
OpenClaw is a self-hosted application platform that exposes canvas routes for rendering and interaction. In deployments where canvas routes are exposed beyond localhost (such as on a LAN or tailnet), insufficient authentication controls could allow users to bypass intended access boundaries and access resources beyond their authorization level. This risk is highest in network-visible or multi-user environments.
Technical details
The vulnerability involves improper authorization on canvas routes (CWE-1021, CWE-79) that could enable users to circumvent access controls in mixed-trust or network-visible deployments. The root cause was reliance on shared-IP fallback paths and insufficient token/session-capability validation for canvas access. The attack requires network access to the exposed canvas routes and user interaction, but does not require authentication in the default fallback behavior. The fix tightens authorization by requiring explicit token or session-capability authorization, removes shared-IP fallback paths, and implements fail-closed behavior on gateway bind fallback. Patched in version 2026.2.21; versions <= 2026.2.19-2 are affected.
Affected products
- OpenClaw OpenClaw <= 2026.2.19-2
Timeline
- 2026-03-03: disclosed
- 2026-02-21: patched: Fix committed to main; patch release 2026.2.21 targeted