CVE-2026-32032: OpenClaw < 2026.2.22 - Arbitrary Shell Execution via Unvalidated SHELL Environment Variable

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% 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-426

Description

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 contain an arbitrary shell execution vulnerability in shell environment fallback that trusts the unvalidated SHELL path from the host environment. An attacker with local environment access can inject a malicious SHELL variable to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the OpenClaw process.

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/25e89cc86338ef475d26be043aa541dfdb95e52a
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-f8mp-vj46-cq8v
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-arbitrary-shell-execution-via-unvalidated-shell-environment-variable

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