What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-53836: OpenClaw < 2026.5.12 - Allowlist Bypass via PowerShell Encoded-Command Aliases

• Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 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: 2026-06-12 · updated 2026-07-23
• Weakness: CWE-184

Description

OpenClaw before 2026.5.12 contains an allowlist bypass vulnerability in PowerShell encoded-command handling that allows attackers to execute encoded commands using abbreviated flag aliases not recognized by the allowlist parser. Remote authenticated operators can bypass execution allowlist checks by using unrecognized encoded-command alias forms to execute arbitrary PowerShell content.

Affected products

• OpenClaw: before 2026.5.12 — fixed in 2026.5.12

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenClaw 2026.5.12. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-j472-gf56-x589
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-allowlist-bypass-via-powershell-encoded-command-aliases

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