Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/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-2026-35645 is a medium-severity Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs (CWE-648) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 20th 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 AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — 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-2026-35645 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.25. The flaw exists in the gateway plugin subagent's fallback deleteSession function, which employs a synthetic operator.admin runtime scope. This issue, published on 2026-04-09, is associated with CWEs-648 (Incorrect Usage of Privilege Rights) and CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization), and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).
The vulnerability can be exploited by low-privileged users (PR:L) with network access (AV:N) and low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring no user interaction (UI:N). Attackers trigger session deletion without a request-scoped client, enabling execution of privileged operations under an unintended administrative scope and resulting in high impacts to integrity (I:H) and availability (A:H), with no confidentiality impact (C:N).
Advisories recommend upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.25 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed via the commit at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/b5d785f1a59a56c3471f2cef328f7c9a6c15f3e7. Further details on the issue and remediation are provided in the GitHub security advisory at https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-h4jx-hjr3-fhgc and the VulnCheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-via-synthetic-operator-admin-in-deletesession.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-21142
Vulnerability Data
OpenClaw before 2026.3.25 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the gateway plugin subagent fallback deleteSession function that uses a synthetic operator.admin runtime scope. Attackers can exploit this by triggering session deletion without a request-scoped client to execute privileged operations with…
more
unintended administrative scope.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V3.5.2V6.4.6
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.
AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.
A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.
Developer testing and evaluation can discover incorrect calls to privileged APIs before deployment.
Least-privilege assignment directly reduces both the availability of privileged APIs and the blast radius when they are invoked incorrectly.
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.
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 incorrect privileged API calls but does not prevent them at design time.
Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.
Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.
Restricting privileged utility programs limits the exposure of privileged APIs to misuse.
Privileged access rights directly govern the correct use of privileged APIs and reduce misuse.
Secure development lifecycle includes API usage standards that can prevent incorrect privileged calls.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
- V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
- V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863