Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-32028

Access Control in Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.25

Public PoCAccess Control
Published
19 March 2026
Modified
25 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 6.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/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 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-32028 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 10th 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-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — 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 2026.2.25 fail to enforce dmPolicy and allowFrom authorization checks on Discord direct-message reaction notifications, allowing non-allowlisted users to enqueue reaction-derived system events. Attackers can exploit this inconsistency by reacting to bot-authored DM messages to bypass DM…

more

authorization restrictions and trigger downstream automation or tool policies.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
Why these techniques?

Authorization bypass in exposed Discord bot application directly enables remote exploitation of public-facing service to trigger unauthorized actions.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-34506Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32924Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32006Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-31998Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32899Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32021Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35657Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32027Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35673Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-53834Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.2.25

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires enforcement of authorization policies (dmPolicy/allowFrom) on all inputs including reaction events, which the CVE shows were bypassed.

prevent

Enforces information flow rules between Discord DM sources and downstream automation, preventing unauthorized reaction-derived events from propagating.

prevent

Limits privileges so that reaction notifications from non-allowlisted users cannot trigger privileged system events or tool policies.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

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.

prevents

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

References