Openclaw CVE-2026-22169

Requires OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 with sort explicitly added to tools.exec.safeBins configuration. Attacker needs high-privilege local access to invoke the compress-program parameter. No victim interaction needed.

The CVSS 3.1 score of 6.4 reflects a moderate but non-trivial risk profile characterized by a local attack vector (AV:L), high attack complexity (AC:H), high privilege requirement (PR:H), and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). The CVSS vector indicates this is not an easily exploitable vulnerability; it requires the attacker to already have high-privilege access to the system and must navigate increased technical complexity. However, the presence of a vendor patch, active disclosure by VulnCheck, and GitHub security advisory (GHSA-vmqr-rc7x-3446) suggest this is a real vulnerability with concrete proof of concept. The high-privilege requirement significantly lowers real-world risk for most deployments, as it means an attacker must already be deeply embedded in the system; however, for environments where multiple users or services share elevated privileges, this represents a meaningful privilege escalation or capability expansion path. SSVC perspective: exploitation is likely automatable once access is achieved, technical impact is complete system compromise, and the likelihood of exploitation depends on whether sort is present in the safeBins configuration—making this a conditional but serious vulnerability for affected configurations.

A system administrator with high-privilege access to an OpenClaw instance could deliberately or inadvertently include sort in the safeBins allowlist. An attacker who has gained high-privilege credentials (e.g., through social engineering, insider threat, or credential theft) could then craft a malicious job submission that exploits the compress-program parameter to invoke unauthorized external programs such as shell commands, thereby achieving code execution with the privileges of the OpenClaw process. The moderate attack complexity indicates the attacker must have specific knowledge of the OpenClaw configuration and the presence of sort in safeBins to succeed, but once achieved, the impact is complete system compromise.