Four OpenClaw Flaws Could Enable Data Theft, Privilege Escalation and Persistence
Summary
Cyera disclosed four linked OpenClaw flaws, dubbed Claw Chain, that could enable sandbox escapes, sensitive-file access, privilege escalation and persistence. OpenClaw fixed them in version 2026.4.22.
Key points
- Cyera disclosed four linked vulnerabilities in OpenClaw, collectively called Claw Chain.
- CVE-2026-44112 and CVE-2026-44113 are OpenShell TOCTOU flaws that can enable writes or reads outside the intended sandbox mount root.
- CVE-2026-44115 can bypass allowlist validation using shell expansion tokens in heredoc bodies to run unapproved commands.
- CVE-2026-44118 could let non-owner loopback clients impersonate an owner and control gateway configuration, cron scheduling and the execution environment.
- Cyera said the flaws could be chained to expose credentials and sensitive files, gain owner-level control, and establish persistence.
- OpenClaw addressed all four flaws in version 2026.4.22; users are advised to update.
Article Details
- Vulnerability Types
- Time-of-check/time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition
- Incomplete disallowed-input validation allowing shell expansion tokens in heredocs to bypass allowlist checks
- Improper access control
- Severity
- CVSS scores reported: CVE-2026-44112 9.6/6.3; CVE-2026-44113 7.7/6.3; CVE-2026-44115 8.8; CVE-2026-44118 7.8.
- Exploitation Status
- unknown
- Exploit Availability
- unknown
- Patch Status
- available