CVE-2026-43566: OpenClaw 2026.4.7 < 2026.4.14 - Privilege Escalation via Untrusted Webhook Wake Events

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-05 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-184

Description

OpenClaw versions 2026.4.7 before 2026.4.14 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability where heartbeat owner downgrade logic skips webhook wake events carrying untrusted content. Attackers can exploit this by sending untrusted webhook wake events to preserve owner-like execution context when the run should have been downgraded.

Affected products

OpenClaw: from 2026.4.7 before 2026.4.14 — fixed in 2026.4.14

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.4.14. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/31281bc92f55796817a92bc43f722cba1e77ab42
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-g2hm-779g-vm32
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-via-untrusted-webhook-wake-events

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