GHSA-3xfw-4pmr-4xc5 OpenClaw safeBins grep -e File Read Bypass (stdin-only policy bypass)

• npm openclaw: < 2026.2.21 → fixed in 2026.2.21

Summary OpenClaw `tools.exec.safeBins` had a stdin-only policy bypass for `grep`. If pattern input was supplied through `-e` / `--regexp`, the validator consumed the pattern as a flag value and still allowed one positional operand. That positional could be a bare filename like `.env`. Affected Packages / Versions • Package: `openclaw` (npm) • Latest published vulnerable version: `2026.2.19-2` • Structured vulnerable range: `= 2026.2.21` Exploit Preconditions • `tools.exec.safeBins` must include `grep` (this is opt-in; `grep` is not in the default safe-bin list). • An actor must be able to invoke exec tooling under that profile. Technical Details `src/infra/exec-safe-bin-policy.ts` configured `grep` with `maxPositional: 1` and allowed `-e` / `--regexp` value flags. Because `-e` consumes the pattern in flag-value position, the remaining positional budget could be used for a file operand. Example accepted input in vulnerable builds: ```bash grep -e SECRET .env ``` That violated the intended stdin-only guarantee for safe bins. Impact With `grep` opt-in enabled, callers could read bare-relative files from the working directory (for example `.env`, `credentials.txt`) in flows expected to be stdin-only. Severity Rationale CVSS v3.1 is set to: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` (5.3, Medium) `AC:H` is used because exploitation depends on a non-default configuration (`grep` must be explicitly added to safe bins) in addition to normal low-privilege tool-invocation capability. Fix Commit(s) • `c6ee14d60e4cbd6a82f9b2d74ebeb1e8ee814964` Release Process Note `patched_versions` is pre-set to `>= 2026.2.21` so this advisory is ready to publish after the `2026.2.21` npm release is live. OpenClaw thanks @athuljayaram for reporting.