CVE-2026-44995 OpenClaw < 2026.4.20 - Arbitrary Code Execution via MCP stdio Environment Variables

What is CVE-2026-44995?

CVE-2026-44995 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw, published on 11 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

OpenClaw before 2026.4.20 contains an improper environment variable validation vulnerability in MCP stdio server configuration that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code. Malicious workspace configurations can pass dangerous startup variables like NODE_OPTIONS, LD_PRELOAD, or BASH_ENV to spawned MCP server processes, enabling code injection when operators start sessions using those servers.

Weakness: CWE-829

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44995?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including openclaw. It affects 1 product.

Products include Openclaw Openclaw.

How do I fix CVE-2026-44995?

Upgrade openclaw to 2026.4.20 or later.

Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.

Is CVE-2026-44995 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44995 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Openclaw Openclaw

• CVE-2026-28363 Security feature bypass in OpenClaw Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-30741 Code injection in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-33579 OpenClaw < 2026.3.28 - Privilege Escalation via Missing Caller Scope Validation in Device Pair Approval Critical 9.4
• CVE-2026-32922 OpenClaw < 2026.3.11 - Privilege Escalation via Unvalidated Scope in device.token.rotate Critical 9.4
• CVE-2026-32978 OpenClaw < 2026.3.11 - Approval Bypass via Unrecognized Script Runners Critical 9.4

All Openclaw Openclaw vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-mj59-h3q9-ghfh, MINI-5mjg-p4w9-wrmp, MINI-rvgr-g98r-p2mv.