CVE-2026-34426
Openclaw ≤ 2026.4.2
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:L/VI:H/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:XSummary
CVE-2026-34426 is a medium-severity Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs (CWE-184) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 6.9 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 18th 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-2026-34426 is an approval bypass vulnerability affecting OpenClaw versions prior to commit b57b680. The issue stems from inconsistent environment variable normalization between the approval and execution paths, which allows attackers to inject attacker-controlled environment variables into execution without undergoing approval system validation. By exploiting differing normalization logic, non-portable keys are discarded during approval processing but accepted at execution time. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.6 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N) and is associated with CWE-184 (Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs). It was published on 2026-04-02.
Attackers with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L), though it requires user interaction (UI:R), such as tricking an operator into approving a malicious request. Successful exploitation bypasses operator review, enabling injection of environment variables that alter runtime behavior, including the execution of attacker-controlled binaries. This results in high integrity impact (I:H) with changed scope (S:C), low confidentiality impact (C:L), and no availability impact (A:N).
Advisories and patches recommend updating to OpenClaw commit b57b680 or later, as detailed in the fixing commit at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/b57b680c0c34de907d57f60c38fb358e82aef8f7 and associated pull request https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pull/59182. The GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-98ch-45wp-ch47 and VulnCheck analysis at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-approval-bypass-via-environment-variable-normalization provide further details on the fix, which aligns normalization logic to prevent the bypass.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-18491
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw versions prior to commit b57b680 contain an approval bypass vulnerability due to inconsistent environment variable normalization between approval and execution paths, allowing attackers to inject attacker-controlled environment variables into execution without approval system validation. Attackers can exploit differing normalization…
more
logic to discard non-portable keys during approval processing while accepting them at execution time, bypassing operator review and potentially influencing runtime behavior including execution of attacker-controlled binaries.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
—
—
- 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
V3.5.2V4.4.2V16.2.5
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-10 requires validity checks on inputs, which structurally replaces incomplete deny-lists with complete allow-list or sanitization logic.
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 complete, positive input validation instead of incomplete denylists.
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 discover missing input checks, but does not prevent the weakness during development.
Application security requirements can mandate complete input validation rules, but the control itself does not prescribe how to build those rules.
Secure architecture principles include robust input validation design, yet the control is broader than this single weakness.
Secure coding standards directly require exhaustive allow-lists or complete deny-lists for inputs, addressing the root cause of incomplete disallowed-input lists.