Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-22179

RCE in Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.22

Published
18 March 2026
Modified
25 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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:X
EPSS Score 0.0063 47th percentile
Risk Priority 29 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-22179 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 47th 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2026-22179 is an allowlist bypass vulnerability (CWE-78) in OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22, affecting the system.run component within the macOS node-host. The issue arises from improper parsing of command substitution tokens inside double-quoted text, which allows remote attackers to execute non-allowlisted commands by crafting malicious shell payloads.

Attackers with high privileges (PR:H) can exploit this remotely (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N), as reflected in its CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.2 (C:H/I:H/A:H, S:U). Successful exploitation enables bypassing security restrictions to run arbitrary commands on the system.

Mitigation is addressed in the referenced GitHub commit (90a378ca3a9ecbf1634cd247f17a35f4612c6ca6) and security advisory (GHSA-9p38-94jf-hgjj), with OpenClaw 2026.2.22 or later resolving the improper parsing. Further details on the allowlist bypass via command substitution are provided in the VulnCheck advisory.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 in macOS node-host system.run contain an allowlist bypass vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute non-allowlisted commands by exploiting improper parsing of command substitution tokens. Attackers can craft shell payloads with command substitution syntax within…

more

double-quoted text to bypass security restrictions and execute arbitrary commands on the system.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-28391Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28463Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28460Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-22169Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-31996Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-31999Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32917Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-29607Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32003Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32000Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.2.22

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.

finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References