Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-32067

Access Control in Openclaw ≤ 2026.2.26

Public PoCAccess Control
Published
21 March 2026
Modified
26 May 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 2.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/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 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 15 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-32067 is a low-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 2.0 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 6th 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-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — 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-2026-32067, published on 2026-03-21, is an authorization bypass vulnerability (CWE-863) in the pairing-store access control for the direct message pairing policy in OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.26. The flaw enables attackers to reuse pairing approvals across multiple accounts, allowing a sender approved in one account to be automatically accepted in another without explicit approval, thus bypassing authorization boundaries.

Exploitation is possible over the network (AV:N) by an attacker with low privileges (PR:L) in a multi-account deployment, but requires high attack complexity (AC:H) and user interaction (UI:R). Successful attacks result in low impacts on confidentiality and integrity (C:L/I:L), with no availability impact (A:N) and no scope change (S:U), yielding a CVSS v3.1 base score of 3.7.

Mitigation is provided in OpenClaw version 2026.2.26 and later, with fixes implemented in GitHub commits a0c5e28f3bf0cc0cd9311f9e9ec2ca0352550dcf and bce643a0bd145d3e9cb55400af33bd1b85baeb02. Additional details are available in the GitHub security advisory at GHSA-vjp8-wprm-2jw9 and the VulnCheck advisory at www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-cross-account-authorization-bypass-in-dm-pairing-store.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.26 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the pairing-store access control for direct message pairing policy that allows attackers to reuse pairing approvals across multiple accounts. An attacker approved as a sender in one account can…

more

be automatically accepted in another account in multi-account deployments without explicit approval, bypassing authorization boundaries.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
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.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-41375Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-33578Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32028Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-44110Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-42422Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-62217Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32059Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-27183Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-62192Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35673Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.2.26

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

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

AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.

AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.

A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.

Least-privilege assignments shrink the set of authorizations that must be checked correctly, limiting exposure to flawed checks.

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.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863

References