CVE-2026-32973
Openclaw ≤ 2026.3.11
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/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-2026-32973 is a high-severity Permissive Regular Expression (CWE-625) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 34th 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 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-2026-32973 is an exec allowlist bypass vulnerability in OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.11. The flaw occurs in the matchesExecAllowlistPattern function, which improperly normalizes patterns using lowercasing and glob matching, resulting in overmatching on POSIX paths. Attackers can leverage the ? wildcard to match across path segments, enabling execution of commands or paths not intended by operators. This issue is classified under CWE-625 and was published on 2026-03-29.
The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), making it critically severe due to its network accessibility, low attack complexity, lack of required privileges or user interaction, and high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Remote attackers without authentication can exploit it to bypass exec allowlists and execute arbitrary commands or unintended paths on affected systems.
Mitigation details are provided in advisories from OpenClaw at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-f8r2-vg7x-gh8m and VulnCheck at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-exec-allowlist-pattern-overmatch-via-posix-path-normalization. Upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.11 or later addresses the vulnerability, as prior versions are explicitly affected.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-17011
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw before 2026.3.11 contains an exec allowlist bypass vulnerability where matchesExecAllowlistPattern improperly normalizes patterns with lowercasing and glob matching that overmatches on POSIX paths. Attackers can exploit the ? wildcard matching across path segments to execute commands or paths not…
more
intended by operators.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-10 requires validity checks on inputs, directly stopping permissive regex patterns from being used for validation.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require robust input-validation regex and testing that would prevent permissive patterns.
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 detect permissive regex through fuzzing or negative test cases.
Secure development lifecycle requires validation of input mechanisms, including regex, reducing permissive patterns.
Application security requirements mandate strict input validation rules that would catch overly permissive regex.
Secure coding standards directly prohibit permissive regex and enforce strict pattern validation.