Which versions of Openclaw are affected by CVE-2026-43578?

OpenClaw versions 2026.3.31 through 2026.4.9 contain a critical privilege escalation vulnerability (CVSS 9.1) that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to maintain elevated system privileges by…. A patch is available.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-43578?

Within 24 hours: Identify all systems running OpenClaw versions 2026.3.31-2026.4.9 and isolate them from production if feasible; verify current deployed version across infrastructure. Within 7 days: Apply vendor-released patch to upgrade all affected instances to OpenClaw 2026.4.10 or later; test patches in staging environment before production deployment. Within 30 days: Complete patch deployment across all environments; validate privilege de-escalation mechanisms are functioning correctly post-upgrade; conduct access logs review for suspicious privilege elevation patterns during vulnerability window.

Openclaw CVE-2026-43578

Q: What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-43578?

CVE-2026-43578 has a CVSS 4.0 base score of 9.1 (Critical). CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.1%.

EUVD-2026-28168 CRITICAL

Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs (CWE-184)

2026-05-06 disclosure@vulncheck.com

Privilege Escalation Openclaw

9.1

CVSS 4.0 · NVD

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY

9.1 CRITICAL

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Lifecycle Timeline

Patch available

May 06, 2026 - 21:03 EUVD

Source Code Evidence Fetched

May 06, 2026 - 20:33 vuln.today

Analysis Generated

May 06, 2026 - 20:33 vuln.today

CVE Published

May 06, 2026 - 20:16 nvd

CRITICAL 9.1

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact

† from your stack dependencies † transitive graph · vuln.today resolves 4-path depth

1 npm packages depend on openclaw (1 direct, 0 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 2026.3.31.

DescriptionCVE.org

OpenClaw versions 2026.3.31 before 2026.4.10 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability where heartbeat owner downgrade detection misses local background async exec completion events. Attackers can exploit this by providing untrusted completion content to leave a run in a more privileged context than intended.

AnalysisAI

Privilege escalation in OpenClaw 2026.3.31 through 2026.4.9 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to maintain elevated execution context by injecting malicious async completion events that bypass heartbeat owner-downgrade detection. The flaw stems from incomplete pattern matching in local background exec completion filtering, enabling attackers to submit untrusted completion content that prevents proper privilege de-escalation after operations complete. Vendor-released patch available in version 2026.4.10 and later. No evidence of active exploitation (not in CISA KEV) or public exploit code at time of analysis, but CVSS 9.1 critical rating reflects network-accessible attack surface with no authentication required.