What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-22172: OpenClaw < 2026.3.12 - Scope Elevation in WebSocket Shared-Auth Connections

• Severity: critical (CVSS 9.9 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-03-20 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-862

Description

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.12 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the WebSocket connect path that allows shared-token or password-authenticated connections to self-declare elevated scopes without server-side binding. Attackers can exploit this logic flaw to present unauthorized scopes such as operator.admin and perform admin-only gateway operations.

Affected products

• OpenClaw: before 2026.3.12 — fixed in 2026.3.12

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.3.12. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-rqpp-rjj8-7wv8
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-scope-elevation-in-websocket-shared-auth-connections

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