Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-27522

Path Traversal in Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.24

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
18 March 2026
Modified
18 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/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 0.0037 30th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-27522 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.24 contain a local media root bypass vulnerability in sendAttachment and setGroupIcon message actions when sandboxRoot is unset. Attackers can hydrate media from local absolute paths to read arbitrary host files accessible by the runtime user.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
Why these techniques?

Path traversal (CWE-22) enables direct arbitrary local file read by the runtime user, mapping to T1005.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-44996Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
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CVE-2026-41911Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-53825Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32846Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32061Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32033Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35668Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-3689Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-26329Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.2.24

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly validates message action inputs (paths in sendAttachment/setGroupIcon) to reject absolute paths and traversal sequences when sandboxRoot is unset.

prevent

Enforces access decisions on file resources so that only paths under the intended media root are permitted for hydration operations.

prevent

Limits the runtime user to the minimal set of host files needed, reducing the impact of any successful absolute-path bypass.

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-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

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.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References