Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/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-2026-32032 is a high-severity Untrusted Search Path (CWE-426) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 3th 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 CM-6 (Configuration Settings) and CM-7 (Least Functionality) — 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-2026-32032 is an arbitrary shell execution vulnerability in OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22. The flaw occurs in the shell environment fallback mechanism, which trusts the unvalidated SHELL path variable from the host environment without proper validation, corresponding to CWE-426 (Untrusted Search Path). Published on 2026-03-19, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An attacker with local access to the environment and low privileges (PR:L) can exploit the vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. By injecting a malicious SHELL environment variable, the attacker can execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the running OpenClaw process, potentially leading to full compromise of the affected system.
Mitigation is provided in OpenClaw version 2026.2.22 and later, via a fix in GitHub commit 25e89cc86338ef475d26be043aa541dfdb95e52a. Further details on the vulnerability and remediation are available in the GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-f8mp-vj46-cq8v and the VulnCheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-arbitrary-shell-execution-via-unvalidated-shell-environment-variable. Practitioners should upgrade immediately and sanitize environment variables in deployments.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-13312
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 contain an arbitrary shell execution vulnerability in shell environment fallback that trusts the unvalidated SHELL path from the host environment. An attacker with local environment access can inject a malicious SHELL variable to execute arbitrary…
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commands with the privileges of the OpenClaw process.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Secure baseline settings can enforce absolute, organization-controlled paths for critical resources.
Least-functionality configuration can prohibit unapproved directories or executables from being reachable via search paths.
Engineering principles such as trusted paths, complete mediation, and least privilege directly require hard-coded or validated search paths instead of external ones.
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.
Preventing execution of unauthorized code directly blocks the malicious binaries that an untrusted search path would load.
Secure development practices include avoiding or sanitizing externally influenced search paths in application code.
Hardened configuration baselines can enforce safe search paths and restrict environment variables that enable the weakness.
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 can discover search-path issues but does not itself prevent them in production code.
Restricting software installation reduces the chance that untrusted binaries or libraries are placed in search paths.
Secure architecture principles include hard-coded or validated search paths and avoiding reliance on untrusted directories.
Secure coding standards require absolute paths or integrity-checked search paths, directly mitigating CWE-426.
Change-management processes can enforce review of path-handling changes, indirectly lowering risk.