CVE-2026-32922
Published: 29 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-32922 is a critical-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 9.4 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 41.2th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-32922 is a privilege escalation vulnerability (CWE-266) in OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.11. The flaw exists in the device.token.rotate function, which permits callers possessing the operator.pairing scope to mint new tokens with broader scopes. This occurs due to a failure to constrain the scopes of newly minted tokens to the caller's existing scope set.
Attackers require low privileges (PR:L), specifically the operator.pairing scope, along with network access (AV:N) to exploit the vulnerability remotely without user interaction (UI:N). Exploitation allows obtaining operator.admin tokens for paired devices, enabling remote code execution on connected nodes via the system.run function or unauthorized gateway-admin access. The issue has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.9 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H), reflecting its critical impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability in a scope-changed context.
Advisories from the OpenClaw GitHub security page (GHSA-4jpw-hj22-2xmc) and VulnCheck detail the vulnerability and recommend upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.11 or later to mitigate the issue, as earlier versions remain affected.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-17003
Vulnerability details
OpenClaw before 2026.3.11 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in device.token.rotate that allows callers with operator.pairing scope to mint tokens with broader scopes by failing to constrain newly minted scopes to the caller's current scope set. Attackers can obtain operator.admin tokens…
more
for paired devices and achieve remote code execution on connected nodes via system.run or gain unauthorized gateway-admin access.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Privilege escalation vulnerability allowing low-privileged remote callers to mint admin tokens, directly mapping to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068) and Exploitation of Remote Services (T1210).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the principle of least privilege by requiring that token minting in device.token.rotate is restricted to the caller's existing scope set, directly preventing privilege escalation to operator.admin.
Mandates enforcement of approved authorizations in access control mechanisms, ensuring device.token.rotate constrains newly minted token scopes to those authorized for the caller.
Requires validation of inputs to device.token.rotate to reject requests for scopes broader than the caller's current set, mitigating the failure to constrain minted token privileges.