Which versions of OpenClaw are affected by EUVD-2026-28182?

OpenClaw gateway versions prior to 2026.4.15 contain a critical authentication bypass vulnerability that allows attackers with previously valid bearer tokens to maintain unauthorized access to API…. A patch is available.

How to fix or mitigate EUVD-2026-28182?

Within 24 hours: Inventory all OpenClaw gateway deployments and confirm current versions; establish process restart schedule as interim control. Within 7 days: Apply vendor patch to upgrade all affected OpenClaw gateway instances to version 2026.4.15 or later; conduct immediate bearer token audit and force re-issuance of all tokens issued before patch deployment. Within 30 days: Implement continuous secret rotation monitoring, validate that SecretRef changes trigger configuration re-resolution without restart, and conduct forensic review of gateway access logs for token usage patterns post-rotation.

OpenClaw EUVD-2026-28182

Q: What is the CVSS score of EUVD-2026-28182?

EUVD-2026-28182 has a CVSS 4.0 base score of 9.2 (Critical). CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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%.

| CVE-2026-43585 CRITICAL

Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release (CWE-672)

2026-05-06 disclosure@vulncheck.com

GHSA-xmxx-7p24-h892

Authentication Bypass Openclaw

9.2

CVSS 4.0 · NVD

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY

9.2 CRITICAL

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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

High

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Lifecycle Timeline

Patch available

May 06, 2026 - 21:03 EUVD

Source Code Evidence Fetched

May 06, 2026 - 20:34 vuln.today

Analysis Generated

May 06, 2026 - 20:34 vuln.today

CVE Published

May 06, 2026 - 20:16 nvd

CRITICAL 9.2

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact

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

6 npm packages depend on openclaw (6 direct, 0 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 2026.4.15.

DescriptionCVE.org

OpenClaw before 2026.4.15 captures resolved bearer-auth configuration at startup, allowing revoked tokens to remain valid after SecretRef rotation. Gateway HTTP and WebSocket handlers fail to re-resolve authentication per-request, enabling attackers to use rotated-out bearer tokens for unauthorized gateway access.

AnalysisAI

Bearer token revocation bypass in OpenClaw gateway allows attackers to authenticate using rotated-out tokens until process restart. OpenClaw gateway HTTP and WebSocket handlers captured bearer authentication configuration at startup, failing to re-resolve credentials after SecretRef rotation. Attackers possessing a previously valid token can maintain unauthorized gateway access to /v1/* endpoints, /tools/invoke, plugin routes, and canvas upgrade paths even after operators rotate secrets, believing the old token is revoked. Fixed in version 2026.4.15. CVSS 9.2 reflects network-accessible attack with high complexity; no public exploit identified at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability stems from CWE-672 (Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release) in OpenClaw's gateway authentication architecture. The gateway server uses bearer token authentication backed by Kubernetes-style SecretRef configuration that supports runtime rotation through secrets.reload or config hot-reload. At startup, the HTTP server (server-http.ts) and WebSocket upgrade handler captured the resolved bearer authentication state into a closure variable. Subsequent requests validated tokens against this stale snapshot rather than re-resolving credentials from the current runtime secret store. The fix introduces a getResolvedAuth() function that queries the live secret snapshot per-request, ensuring rotated tokens are immediately invalidated across all gateway surfaces: HTTP REST endpoints, WebSocket upgrades, and canvas protocol handlers. The commit diff shows the pattern change from static resolvedAuth captured at initialization to dynamic getResolvedAuth() invoked before each authentication check.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to OpenClaw 2026.4.15 or later immediately, which resolves active gateway authentication from the runtime secret snapshot per-request via the new getResolvedAuth() pattern. The fix is included in commit acd4e0a32f12e1ad85f3130f63b42443ce90f094 and PR #66651. For environments unable to upgrade immediately, implement these compensating controls: (1) Restart all gateway processes immediately after every SecretRef rotation to flush stale authentication state - note this causes brief service interruption and requires coordination with deployment pipelines. (2) Reduce bearer token lifetime to minimize exposure window - trade-off is increased token refresh overhead and potential user session disruption. (3) Monitor gateway access logs for authentication attempts with recently rotated tokens and alert on unexpected matches - requires log aggregation infrastructure and may generate false positives during legitimate rotation windows. (4) Implement network-layer access controls restricting gateway endpoints to known client IP ranges as defense-in-depth - reduces attack surface but does not prevent exploitation by compromised internal clients. Vendor advisory with patch details: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-xmxx-7p24-h892. VulnCheck analysis: https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-bearer-token-validation-bypass-via-stale-secretref-resolution.