What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-53816: OpenClaw < 2026.5.18 - Exec Lifecycle Event Forgery via Paired Node

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.2 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: 2026-06-11 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-862

Description

OpenClaw before 2026.5.18 contains an insufficient provenance validation vulnerability in node event handling that allows paired nodes to forge exec lifecycle events without system.run authorization. A malicious or compromised paired node can send crafted node.event messages to the gateway, steering target sessions into exec-event paths that expose capabilities the reduced node surface should not provide.

Affected products

• OpenClaw: before 2026.5.18 — fixed in 2026.5.18

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.5.18. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-3c6j-hq33-3jv4
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-exec-lifecycle-event-forgery-via-paired-node

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