What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-43578: OpenClaw 2026.3.31 < 2026.4.10 - Privilege Escalation via Missed Async Exec Completion Events in Heartbeat Owner Downgrade

• Severity: critical (CVSS 9.1 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-05-06 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-184

Description

OpenClaw versions 2026.3.31 before 2026.4.10 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability where heartbeat owner downgrade detection misses local background async exec completion events. Attackers can exploit this by providing untrusted completion content to leave a run in a more privileged context than intended.

Affected products

• OpenClaw: from 2026.3.31 before 2026.4.10 — fixed in 2026.4.10

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.4.10. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/19a2e9ddb5a8a494abcba812bb11f51075026a27
• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-g375-h3v6-4873
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-via-missed-async-exec-completion-events-in-heartbeat-owner-downgrade

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