Executive brief
OpenClaw is a popular Node.js application framework that manages user sessions and stores transcript logs of those sessions. A vulnerability allowed session transcript files to be created with overly broad permissions, enabling other local users on a shared system to read sensitive information—including secrets and tool output—that should have been restricted to the session owner. This is a particular risk in multi-user hosting environments.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an incorrect default file permission issue (CWE-276/CWE-732) in OpenClaw's session transcript file creation logic. Session transcript JSONL files were created without forced user-only (0o600) permissions, allowing other local processes and users to read their contents. The vulnerability affects OpenClaw versions up to and including 2026.2.15 and requires local file system access. An attacker with local system access can read transcript files to extract sensitive information, including secrets from tool output. The fix, deployed in version 2026.2.17, enforces 0o600 permissions on new transcript files during creation (verified in src/config/sessions/transcript.ts:82) and includes a security audit remediation for existing files with incorrect permissions.
Affected products
- OpenClaw OpenClaw <= 2026.2.15
Timeline
- 2026-03-14: disclosed
- 2026-02-17: patched: Fix deployed in version 2026.2.17
- 2026-03-29: advisory
- 2026-04-06: other: Advisory withdrawn as duplicate of GHSA-vr7j-g7jv-h5mp