CVE-2026-44996 OpenClaw < 2026.4.15 - Arbitrary Local File Read via Webchat Audio Embedding

What is CVE-2026-44996?

CVE-2026-44996 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw, published on 11 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

OpenClaw before 2026.4.15 contains an arbitrary local file read vulnerability in the webchat audio embedding helper that fails to apply local media root containment checks. Attackers can influence agent or tool-produced ReplyPayload.mediaUrl parameters to resolve absolute local paths or file URLs, read audio-like files, and embed them base64-encoded into webchat responses.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44996?

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

Products include Openclaw Openclaw.

How do I fix CVE-2026-44996?

Upgrade openclaw to 2026.4.15 or later.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2026-44996 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44996 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
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-gfg9-5357-hv4c, GHSA-prp6-v677-xqhq, MINI-5ffh-567p-xr2j, MINI-rqw2-2hhm-r3x5.