Openclaw CVE-2026-22179

Requires OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 on macOS with node-host system.run module enabled. Attacker must have high-privilege access (PR:H) and craft shell payloads exploiting command substitution parsing within double-quoted text to bypass the allowlist and execute arbitrary commands.

The CVSS v3.1 score of 6.6 (Medium) with vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H presents a moderate but nuanced risk profile. The attack vector is network-accessible, but attack complexity is high and privilege requirements are high, meaning an attacker must already possess administrative or high-privilege credentials to exploit the flaw. The impact is severe (high confidentiality, integrity, and availability) once exploited. However, the high privilege requirement (PR:H) significantly constrains real-world exploitability compared to unauthenticated attacks. The vulnerability is likely not in the CISA KEV catalog given the privilege requirement barrier. Without disclosed EPSS data or active POC exploitation in the wild, this represents a credential-holder lateral privilege escalation or privilege abuse scenario rather than a primary infection vector. Organizations should prioritize patching in environments where high-privilege accounts may be compromised or where insider threats are a concern, but this is not a critical emergency compared to network-accessible unauthenticated RCE vulnerabilities. The existence of a vendor patch (commit 90a378ca3a9ecbf1634cd247f17a35f4612c6ca6) and public advisories indicates responsible disclosure.

An attacker with administrative credentials on a macOS system running vulnerable OpenClaw attempts to execute a data exfiltration command that is not on the allowlist. Instead of directly calling the forbidden command, they craft a payload such as system.run('echo "$(cat /etc/passwd)"'), which appears to be an allowlisted echo command but executes cat through command substitution. The parsing flaw in the allowlist validator fails to detect the embedded $() syntax, allowing the password file to be read and exfiltrated. The high-complexity CVSS rating reflects the attacker's need to already possess administrative access and the requirement for careful payload crafting to evade the allowlist.