Executive brief
OpenClaw is a platform for managing workflow automation and integrations. The vulnerability allows attackers who previously obtained a valid webhook route secret to continue using that secret to authenticate and invoke configured webhook tasks even after the secret has been rotated by an administrator, until the gateway or plugin is manually restarted. This weakens the effectiveness of credential rotation and could enable unauthorized automated actions.
Technical details
OpenClaw caches resolved webhook route secrets that are backed by SecretRef values. When an administrator rotates the underlying secret and executes the `openclaw secrets reload` command, the previously resolved webhook secret remains cached and continues to validate incoming webhook requests until the gateway or plugin process is restarted. The vulnerability stems from insufficient session expiration and credential invalidation (CWE-613). An attacker with a previously valid webhook route secret can continue authenticating and invoking webhook task flows without reauthorization. The attack requires that the attacker already possessed a valid route secret and has network access to the webhook endpoint. The fix resolves SecretRef-backed route secrets on each request rather than caching them, making rotated secrets effective immediately after the reload command without requiring a restart.
Affected products
- OpenClaw OpenClaw before 2026.4.23
Timeline
- 2026-04-24: disclosed
- 2026-04-23: patched: Version 2026.4.23 fixes the vulnerability
- 2026-05-11: advisory: GHSA-v8j2-5f9p-fmh4 published
- 2026-05-18: other: GHSA-v8j2-5f9p-fmh4 withdrawn as duplicate of GHSA-q8ff-7ffm-m3r9