OpenClaw: The "Helpful" Path to Remote Code Execution

Vulnerability ID: GHSA-JQPQ-MGVM-F9R6
CVSS Score: 7.8
Published: 2026-02-18

OpenClaw, an open-source platform for agent-based automation, suffered from a critical set of design flaws centered around how it handled the system PATH variable. By prioritizing local directories over system paths and allowing request-scoped environment overrides, the platform opened the door to classic binary hijacking and arbitrary code execution. This analysis covers the three distinct vectors: unsafe bootstrapping, relative command resolution, and environment injection.

TL;DR

OpenClaw versions prior to v2026.2.14 are vulnerable to Local Privilege Escalation and RCE via PATH manipulation. The software automatically trusted local node_modules binaries over system executables and allowed external agents to override the PATH environment variable during execution. Attackers can hijack commands to execute arbitrary code.

⚠️ Exploit Status: POC

Technical Details

• CWE ID: CWE-427 / CWE-78
• Attack Vector: Local & Network
• CVSS Score: 7.8 (High)
• Exploit Maturity: Proof-of-Concept
• Impact: Arbitrary Code Execution
• Patch Status: Fixed in v2026.2.14

Affected Systems

• OpenClaw Agent Hosts
• OpenClaw CLI environments
• CI/CD pipelines using OpenClaw
• openclaw/openclaw: < 2026.2.14 (Fixed in: 2026.2.14)

Code Analysis

Commit: 013e8f6

fix(security): prevent path hijacking and unsafe env overrides

SANITIZED_DIFF_CONTENT

Exploit Details

• GitHub Advisory: Advisory containing PoC logic

Mitigation Strategies

• Upgrade to OpenClaw v2026.2.14 immediately.
• Disable OPENCLAW_ALLOW_PROJECT_LOCAL_BIN unless strictly necessary.
• Restrict write permissions on directories where OpenClaw is executed.

Remediation Steps:

1. Run npm install openclaw@latest or yarn upgrade openclaw.
2. Verify the version with openclaw --version.
3. Check your configuration files for any unsafe environment variable overrides.

References

• GHSA-JQPQ-MGVM-F9R6

Read the full report for GHSA-JQPQ-MGVM-F9R6 on our website for more details including interactive diagrams and full exploit analysis.