Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Strict input allowlisting
|
| Impact | This vulnerability presents moderate but meaningful real-world risk based on multiple converging signals. The CVSS score of 6.5 with AV:N (network), AC:L (low complexity), and PR:N (no authentication required) indicates unauthenticated remote attackers can exploit this flaw. However, the attack does not result in confidentiality loss (C:L) or integrity loss (I:L) - it specifically re-enables previously revoked access rather than creating new compromise vectors. The lack of publicly disclosed active exploitation (no KEV status provided) and absence of public proof-of-concept code means this is not yet weaponized, though the relatively straightforward nature of the logic flaw and low attack complexity suggest PoC development would be feasible. From an SSVC perspective, the technical impact is meaningful (permission restoration), but the automatable nature and lack of special conditions make this exploitable by a broad attacker population. Organizations managing access control policies in OpenClaw should prioritize patching, particularly in environments where denying access to specific resources has been explicitly configured. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker with network access to an OpenClaw instance could trigger the settings reconciliation process after an administrator has explicitly configured an empty allowlist to deny all access to a sensitive resource. The attacker exploits the reconciliation logic by interacting with the configuration system in a manner that causes the empty allowlist to be treated as unset, causing OpenClaw to restore the previous access permissions. This could occur repeatedly, allowing the attacker to continuously re-enable access to resources that were intended to be restricted without needing authentication credentials or special system privileges. No public proof-of-concept has been identified at the time of analysis, but the straightforward nature of the logic flaw suggests exploitation would be relatively simple once understood. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 10, 2026
OpenClaw before version 2026.3.22 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass access control denials by exploiting improper handling of empty allowlists during settings reconciliation, silently restoring previously revoked permissions. The vulnerability treats explicitly empty allowlists as unset rather than as explicit deny-all configurations, enabling attackers to undo intended access revocations without authentication. With a CVSS score of 6.5 and network-accessible attack vector, this represents a moderate-severity logic flaw affecting access control enforcement.
RemediationAI
Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.3.22 or later. Vendor-released patch is available; the upstream fixes are documented in GitHub commits 630f1479c44f78484dfa21bb407cbe6f171dac87 and 3cbf932413e41d1836cb91aed1541a28a3122f93. Organizations unable to immediately patch should audit their access control configurations to ensure deny-all allowlists are properly enforced at the application level rather than relying solely on settings reconciliation. Refer to the official GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-pw7h-9g6p-c378 and the VulnCheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-settings-reconciliation-bypass-via-empty-allowlist for detailed mitigation guidance.
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
OpenClaw's settings reconciliation mechanism fails to properly distinguish between an explicitly configured empty allowlist (intended to deny all access) and an unset or missing allowlist configuration. This is classified as CWE-183 (Unspecified Functionality), which encompasses improper handling of configuration state during system operations. The vulnerability lies in the authentication and authorization infrastructure, where the reconciliation process treats both states identically, causing the system to restore default or previously configured permissions when it should maintain the explicit deny-all stance. The affected product is identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:openclaw:openclaw:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, affecting all versions of OpenClaw up to and including 2026.3.22.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
OpenClaw before 2026.3.22 contains a settings reconciliation vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass intended deny-all revocations by exploiting empty allowlist handling. The vulnerability treats explicit empty allowlists as unset during reconciliation, silently undoing intended access control denials and restoring previously revoked permissions.
Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 5 npm packages depend on openclaw (5 direct, 0 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 2026.3.22.
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
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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EUVD-2026-21444
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
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