Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Resource release
|
| Impact | CVSS 6.1 reflects a local, low-complexity attack requiring low privilege (PR:L) and no user interaction (UI:N) with low confidentiality impact but high availability impact (A:H). EPSS exploitation probability is not provided in available data. The vulnerability is NOT confirmed as actively exploited per CISA KEV status. However, this is a real priority despite the moderate CVSS: the authenticated attack vector (PR:L) is readily available to any user with chat access, the attack is trivial to execute (AC:L), and the consequences are severe-data corruption and loss of cleanup operations can compromise system integrity and security posture. This is not a false-positive high-CVSS issue; the combination of ease of exploitation, authenticated availability, and integrity/availability impact warrants prioritized patching. The incomplete fix status (this is a re-patch of CVE-2026-27486) signals that operational teams must verify the new patch fully resolves the root cause. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An authenticated user with access to OpenClaw's chat interface executes the !stop command targeting a running process. The unpatched killProcessTree function immediately sends SIGKILL to the process tree without allowing graceful SIGTERM shutdown, preventing the application from flushing in-memory buffers, closing database transactions, or running security-sensitive cleanup code. If the targeted process is managing active transactions or holding locks, immediate termination corrupts data state and leaks resources. No public exploit code has been identified, but the attack requires only knowledge of the !stop command syntax and valid chat access-a low barrier for authenticated adversaries. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 10, 2026
OpenClaw before version 2026.3.24 permits authenticated local attackers to trigger improper process termination via the !stop chat command, which uses an unpatched killProcessTree function that sends SIGKILL without graceful SIGTERM shutdown. This incomplete fix for CVE-2026-27486 enables attackers to corrupt data, leak resources, and skip security-sensitive cleanup operations, resulting in integrity compromise and denial of service.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: OpenClaw version 2026.3.24 and later. Users must upgrade to 2026.3.24 or newer to obtain the corrected killProcessTree function that performs graceful SIGTERM shutdown before escalating to SIGKILL. No workarounds are available that mitigate the underlying flaw; patching is mandatory. Review the GitHub Security Advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-3298-56p6-rpw2 for verification of patch completeness and any additional context regarding CVE-2026-27486 remediation.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in npm
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The vulnerability stems from CWE-404 (Improper Resource Validation), specifically in the shell-utils.ts module's killProcessTree function. The function immediately sends SIGKILL signals to processes without first attempting a graceful SIGTERM shutdown sequence. In Unix/Linux process management, SIGTERM allows processes to catch the signal and execute cleanup handlers (flushing buffers, closing file handles, releasing locks), whereas SIGKILL terminates immediately without any opportunity for cleanup. The !stop chat command in OpenClaw exposes this function to authenticated users, allowing them to invoke the flawed process termination logic. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:openclaw:openclaw:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* identifies all versions of OpenClaw as potentially affected until patching.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
OpenClaw before 2026.3.24 contains an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-27486 where the !stop chat command uses an unpatched killProcessTree function from shell-utils.ts that sends SIGKILL immediately without graceful SIGTERM shutdown. Attackers can trigger process termination via the !stop command, causing data corruption, resource leaks, and skipped security-sensitive cleanup operations.
Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 3 npm packages depend on openclaw (3 direct, 0 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 2026.3.24.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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EUVD-2026-21480
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
GitHub
VulDB
Exploit-DB