CVE-2026-22177
Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.21
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XSummary
CVE-2026-22177 is a medium-severity External Control of System or Configuration Setting (CWE-15) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 6.9 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception by PATH Environment Variable (T1574.007); ranked at the 30th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-22177 affects OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.21, where the software fails to filter dangerous process-control environment variables from configuration environment variables. This vulnerability, classified under CWE-15 (External Control of System or Configuration Setting), enables startup-time code execution in the OpenClaw gateway service runtime context. Attackers can inject variables such as NODE_OPTIONS or LD_* through configuration to execute arbitrary code. The issue received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.1 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L) and was published on 2026-03-18.
Local attackers with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious environment variables into OpenClaw configurations. Exploitation requires local access and low complexity with no user interaction, allowing arbitrary code execution at service startup within the gateway's runtime context. This results in high integrity impact and low availability impact, but no confidentiality impact, as the scope remains unchanged.
Mitigation details are provided in GitHub Security Advisories GHSA-8fmp-37rc-p5g7 and GHSA-w9j9-w4cp-6wgr, a patch commit at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/2cdbadee1f8fcaa93302d7debbfc529e19868ea4, and a VulnCheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-environment-variable-injection-via-config-env-vars. Updating to OpenClaw version 2026.2.21 or later addresses the filtering failure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-12720
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.21 fail to filter dangerous process-control environment variables from config env.vars, allowing startup-time code execution. Attackers can inject variables like NODE_OPTIONS or LD_* through configuration to execute arbitrary code in the OpenClaw gateway service runtime context.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
—
—
- 4 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
—
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces approved authorizations for logical access to configuration resources so external parties cannot alter them.
Enforces documented access restrictions on all changes to system configuration, directly blocking unauthorized external control of settings.
Limits privileges to the minimum needed, reducing the set of users who can externally modify configuration.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Hardened configuration baselines and change controls directly limit external manipulation of settings.
Formal change and exception management catches externally driven configuration alterations.
Least-privilege access policies reduce unauthorized external modification of configuration values.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Configuration management directly prevents external tampering with system settings.
Access rights assignment determines who may change system settings.
Privileged access rights reduce the number of users who can alter configuration.
Information access restriction limits who can view or modify configuration data.
Change management enforces controlled, authorized modifications to settings.
Access control policies underpin the technical restrictions on configuration changes.