Executive brief
OpenClaw is a library used for managing asynchronous execution tasks. A vulnerability in its heartbeat monitoring system allows certain background tasks to finish without properly downgrading their security permissions. This could allow untrusted code to continue running with higher privileges than intended, potentially leading to unauthorized system modifications.
Technical details
A privilege management vulnerability (CWE-269) exists in OpenClaw due to the heartbeat owner-downgrade mechanism missing local async execution completion events. When a background execution completes, the system may fail to recognize the event, causing the process to remain in a more privileged context than intended after processing untrusted content. The attack requires low privileges and specific timing (Attack Requirements: Present) but can be triggered over a network. The fix, implemented in version 2026.4.10, expands execution-completion detection to include local background formats.
Affected products
- openclaw openclaw >= 2026.3.31 < 2026.4.10
Timeline
- 2026-04-16: patched: Initial fix published in version 2026.4.10
- 2026-04-17: advisory: GitHub Advisory GHSA-g375-h3v6-4873 published