Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-32056

RCE in Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.22

Published
21 March 2026
Modified
23 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/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:X
EPSS Score 0.0056 44th percentile
Risk Priority 31 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-32056 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 7.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 44th 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-2026-32056 is an OS command injection vulnerability (CWE-78) in OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22. The issue resides in the system.run function, which fails to sanitize shell startup environment variables HOME and ZDOTDIR. This flaw enables attackers to bypass the application's command allowlist protections by manipulating these variables.

The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating network accessibility with high attack complexity, low privilege requirements, and no user interaction needed. Remote attackers with low privileges can inject malicious startup files, such as .bash_profile or .zshenv, into the controlled environment. This leads to arbitrary code execution occurring before any allowlist-evaluated commands are processed.

Mitigation is addressed in OpenClaw version 2026.2.22 and later. The GitHub commit c2c7114ed39a547ab6276e1e933029b9530ee906 implements the fix by properly sanitizing the relevant environment variables. Additional details are available in the GitHub security advisory GHSA-xgf2-vxv2-rrmg and the VulnCheck advisory on remote code execution via shell startup environment variable injection.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 fail to sanitize shell startup environment variables HOME and ZDOTDIR in the system.run function, allowing attackers to bypass command allowlist protections. Remote attackers can inject malicious startup files such as .bash_profile or .zshenv to achieve…

more

arbitrary code execution before allowlist-evaluated commands are executed.

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-2026-22169Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28460Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-29607Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-31996Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-22176Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32917Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-22179Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28391Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28463Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32003Same 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