CVE-2026-32913
Published: 23 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-32913 is a critical-severity Insufficiently Protected Credentials (CWE-522) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steal Application Access Token (T1528); ranked at the 13.0th 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 are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-15 (Information Output Filtering).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates the CVE by identifying, reporting, and correcting the improper header validation flaw in the fetchWithSsrFGuard function via patching to OpenClaw 2026.3.7.
Requires validation of information inputs such as custom authorization headers and redirect origins to prevent forwarding sensitive headers across cross-origin redirects.
Filters critical information outputs like X-Api-Key and Private-Token headers in outgoing requests to block leakage to attacker-controlled origins during redirects.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability directly enables interception and theft of API keys/Private-Tokens in authorization headers via malicious cross-origin redirects, matching the definition of stealing application access tokens for unauthorized API access.
NVD Description
OpenClaw before 2026.3.7 contains an improper header validation vulnerability in fetchWithSsrFGuard that forwards custom authorization headers across cross-origin redirects. Attackers can trigger redirects to different origins to intercept sensitive headers like X-Api-Key and Private-Token intended for the original destination.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-32913 is an improper header validation vulnerability (CWE-522) affecting OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.7, specifically in the fetchWithSsrFGuard function. This flaw causes the software to forward custom authorization headers across cross-origin redirects, enabling attackers to intercept sensitive headers such as X-Api-Key and Private-Token that were meant for the original destination. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N), indicating critical severity due to high confidentiality impact with changed scope.
Remote attackers require no privileges or user interaction to exploit this issue over the network with low complexity. By triggering redirects to attacker-controlled origins, they can capture and exfiltrate sensitive authorization headers from requests initiated by OpenClaw, potentially gaining unauthorized access to APIs or services protected by those tokens.
Mitigation is addressed in OpenClaw 2026.3.7 via a patch documented in GitHub commit 46715371b0612a6f9114dffd1466941ac476cef5. Security advisories from GitHub (GHSA-6mgf-v5j7-45cr) and VulnCheck detail the issue and recommend upgrading to the fixed version to prevent header leakage across cross-origin redirects.
Details
- CWE(s)