GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm
GHSA-xvhf-x56f-2hpp OpenClaw exec approvals: safeBins could bypass stdin-only constraints via shell expansion
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-28463
- Ecosystem
- npm
- Packages
- openclaw
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-78
- Reviewed
- 2026-02-18
Affected packages
• npm openclaw: < 2026.2.14 → fixed in 2026.2.14
Description
Summary
OpenClaw's exec-approvals allowlist supports a small set of "safe bins" intended to be stdin-only (no positional file arguments) when running `tools.exec.host=gateway|node` with `security=allowlist`.
In affected configurations, the allowlist validation checked pre-expansion argv tokens, but execution used a real shell (`sh -c`) which expands globs and environment variables. This allowed safe bins like `head`, `tail`, or `grep` to read arbitrary local files via tokens such as `*` or `$HOME/...` without triggering approvals.
This issue is configuration-dependent and is not exercised by default settings (default `tools.exec.host` is `sandbox`).
Affected Packages / Versions
• Package: `openclaw` (npm)
• Affected: `= 2026.2.14` (planned; publish the advisory after the npm release is out)
Impact
An authorized but untrusted caller (or prompt-injection) could cause the gateway/node process to disclose files readable by that process when host execution is enabled in allowlist mode.
Fix
Safe-bins executions now force argv tokens to be treated as literal text at execution time (single-quoted), preventing globbing and `$VARS` expansion from turning "safe" tokens into file paths.
Fix Commit(s)
• 77b89719d5b7e271f48b6f49e334a8b991468c3b
Release Process Note
`patched_versions` is pre-set for the next planned release (`>= 2026.2.14`) so publishing is a single click once that npm version is available.
Thanks @christos-eth for reporting.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-28463 OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.14 contain an arbitrary file read vulnerability in the exec-approvals allowlist validation that checks… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command weakness
References
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-xvhf-x56f-2hpp web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-28463 advisory
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/77b89719d5b7e271f48b6f49e334a8b991468c3b web
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw package
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases/tag/v2026.2.14 web
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-arbitrary-file-read-via-shell-expansion-in-safe-bins-allowlist web