What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-28460: OpenClaw < 2026.2.22 - Allowlist Bypass via Shell Line-Continuation Command Substitution in system.run

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-03-19 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-78

Description

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 contain an allowlist bypass vulnerability in system.run that allows attackers to execute non-allowlisted commands by splitting command substitution using shell line-continuation characters. Attackers can bypass security analysis by injecting $\\ followed by a newline and opening parenthesis inside double quotes, causing the shell to fold the line continuation into executable command substitution that circumvents approval boundaries.

Affected products

• OpenClaw: before 2026.2.22 — fixed in 2026.2.22

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.2.22. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/3f0b9dbb36c86e308267924c0d3d4a4e1fc4d1e9
• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-9868-vxmx-w862
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-allowlist-bypass-via-shell-line-continuation-command-substitution-in-system-run

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