GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq OpenClaw's owner-only gateway tool access checks were incomplete in specific authenticated DM flows
Authenticated non-owners can bypass owner-only restrictions to invoke privileged gateway tools in specific DM flows.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq?
GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq is a missing authorization vulnerability in openclaw, published on 3 Mar 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Summary
In authenticated non-owner DM sessions, a narrow tool-invocation path could reach broader-than-intended owner-only gateway actions.
Impact
This requires an authenticated non-owner sender in a DM session and a specific tool invocation path. No unauthenticated access is involved, and this does not provide direct code execution by itself.
Root Cause
- Some gateway call paths were still using broader default scopes instead of method-level least-privilege scopes.
- Owner-only enforcement depended on tool-name checks and was not consistently metadata-driven across all call paths.
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Affected:
<= 2026.2.17(latest published npm version as of February 19, 2026) - Patched:
2026.2.19
Remediation
- Refactored gateway method scope mapping to a data-driven table and added guard tests to ensure all exposed core gateway methods stay classified.
- Centralized owner-only enforcement in tool policy wrappers and tool metadata.
- Marked owner-only tools explicitly (
cron,gateway,whatsapp_login) and removed duplicated per-tool owner checks. - Refactored gateway call path internals into smaller helpers while preserving behavior and coverage.
Fix Commit(s)
a40c10d3e24568b1e2947c104484be74bf66b8d22777d8ad91ef1e8a7c6f5b4b18f8507be7d029143d7ad1cfca4daaa84cd553e843e0e08fa6201349
OpenClaw thanks @Adam55A-code for reporting.
Which versions are affected by GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including openclaw.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
openclaw npm | All versions | 2026.2.19 |
openclaw npm | All versions | 2026.2.19 |
How do I fix GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq?
Upgrade openclaw to 2026.2.19 or later.
Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.
Is GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of GHSA-2hm8-rqrm-xfjq in the wild and no public exploit code.