Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/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:XSummary
CVE-2026-28391 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 9.2 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 40th 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-2026-28391 is a command injection vulnerability (CWE-78) affecting OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.2, specifically in non-default configurations that use allowlist-gated exec requests on Windows. The flaw arises from improper validation of cmd.exe metacharacters, enabling attackers to bypass command approval restrictions. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and was published on 2026-03-05.
Remote, unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting command strings incorporating shell metacharacters such as & or %...%, allowing execution of arbitrary commands beyond the allowlisted operations. No privileges, user interaction, or special access are required, making it highly accessible over the network with critical impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Advisories recommend upgrading to OpenClaw version 2026.2.2 or later to mitigate the issue, as detailed in the GitHub security advisory (GHSA-qj77-c3c8-9c3q) and the associated fix commit (a7f4a53ce80c98ba1452eb90802d447fca9bf3d6). Additional analysis is available from VulnCheck's advisory on the cmd.exe parsing bypass.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-9891
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.2 fail to properly validate Windows cmd.exe metacharacters in allowlist-gated exec requests (non-default configuration), allowing attackers to bypass command approval restrictions. Remote attackers can craft command strings with shell metacharacters like & or %...% to execute…
more
unapproved commands beyond the allowlisted operations.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.2.5V1.2.8V15.2.5
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'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.
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.
Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.