Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-35639

Openclaw ≤ 2026.3.22

Public PoC
Published
09 April 2026
Modified
15 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/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:X
EPSS Score 0.0046 38th percentile
Risk Priority 39 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-35639 is a high-severity Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs (CWE-648) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism (T1548); ranked at the 38th 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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-2026-35639 is a privilege escalation vulnerability affecting OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.22, located in the device.pair.approve method. The flaw arises from insufficient scope validation, enabling an operator.pairing approver to approve pending device requests with broader operator scopes than the approver holds. This issue, published on 2026-04-09, is mapped to CWE-648 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An attacker with low-privilege operator.pairing approver access can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. By manipulating the approval process, they can escalate privileges to operator.admin, leading to remote code execution on the Node infrastructure.

Mitigation details are outlined in the OpenClaw GitHub security advisory (GHSA-hf68-49fm-59cq) and fixing commits (630f1479c44f78484dfa21bb407cbe6f171dac87 and fc2d29ea926f47c428c556e92ec981441228d2a4), which address the scope validation deficiency. VulnCheck's advisory (vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-via-device-pair-approve-scope-validation) provides additional analysis. Practitioners should upgrade to OpenClaw 2026.3.22 or later.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw before 2026.3.22 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the device.pair.approve method that allows an operator.pairing approver to approve pending device requests with broader operator scopes than the approver actually holds. Attackers can exploit insufficient scope validation to escalate privileges…

more

to operator.admin and achieve remote code execution on the Node infrastructure.

CWE(s)
CWE-648

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid Privilege Escalation
An adversary may abuse configurations where an application has the setuid or setgid bits set in order to get code running in a different (and possibly more privileged) user’s context.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-35625Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41386Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35663Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41329Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35669Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35645Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32922Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-44997Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-53847Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32916Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.3.22

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V3.5.2
  • V6.4.6

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover incorrect calls to privileged APIs before deployment.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Enforces authorization checks around privileged operations so that an API requiring elevated rights cannot be reached or misused without proper rights.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege assignment directly reduces both the availability of privileged APIs and the blast radius when they are invoked incorrectly.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles include correct use of privileged interfaces and safe invocation patterns that stop the weakness from being introduced.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly enforce correct usage of privileged APIs during development.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect incorrect privileged API calls but does not prevent them at design time.

A.8.18 Use of privileged utility programs partial match
degrades

Restricting privileged utility programs limits the exposure of privileged APIs to misuse.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
degrades

Privileged access rights directly govern the correct use of privileged APIs and reduce misuse.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle includes API usage standards that can prevent incorrect privileged calls.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify correct invocation of privileged APIs.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles guide proper privilege separation and API usage.

References