Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-41378

HighPublic PoC

Published: 28 April 2026

Published
28 April 2026
Modified
01 May 2026
KEV Added
—
Patch
—
CVSS Score 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0025 48.0th percentile
Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Description

OpenClaw before 2026.3.31 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing paired nodes with role=node to dispatch node.event agent requests with unrestricted gateway-side tool access. Attackers with trusted paired node credentials can escalate privileges by leveraging unrestricted agent.request dispatch to achieve remote…

more

code execution on the gateway.

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match
prevent

Directly enforces approved authorizations for node.event agent requests from paired nodes, addressing the missing authorization (CWE-862) that enables privilege escalation.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match
prevent

Applies least privilege to paired nodes with role=node, preventing unrestricted gateway-side tool access and subsequent remote code execution.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Remediates the specific flaw by applying the OpenClaw 2026.3.31 patch that restricts agent.request dispatch.

Security SummaryAI

CVE-2026-41378 is a privilege escalation vulnerability affecting OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.31. The flaw enables paired nodes assigned the role=node to dispatch node.event agent requests, resulting in unrestricted gateway-side tool access. It is classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) and was published on 2026-04-28.

An attacker with trusted paired node credentials can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and low privileges required, without user interaction. By leveraging the unrestricted agent.request dispatch, they can escalate privileges to achieve remote code execution on the gateway, with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Mitigation is provided in OpenClaw 2026.3.31. Patch details are available in the GitHub commit at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/a77928b1087e90f2a8903f8e5aca6dec9237ac62, along with the GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-gjm7-hw8f-73rq and the Vulncheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-to-remote-code-execution-via-unrestricted-node-event-agent-dispatch.

Details

CWE(s)
CWE-862

Affected Products

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.3.31

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability is a privilege escalation flaw (CWE-862) allowing low-privileged paired node credentials to achieve remote code execution on the gateway via unrestricted agent requests, directly mapping to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068) and Exploitation of Remote Services (T1210).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

References