CVE-2026-35652
Published: 10 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-35652 is a medium-severity Incorrect Behavior Order (CWE-696) 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 33.5th 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-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-35652 is an authorization bypass vulnerability in OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.22. The flaw exists in the interactive callback dispatch mechanism, which permits non-allowlisted senders to execute action handlers. Attackers can exploit this by dispatching callbacks before normal security validation completes, thereby evading sender authorization checks and enabling unauthorized actions. The vulnerability is associated with CWE-696 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L).
Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low attack complexity, requiring no privileges, user interaction, or special setup. By timing callback dispatches to precede validation, non-allowlisted entities gain the ability to trigger action handlers, resulting in low-impact integrity and availability disruptions but no confidentiality loss.
Mitigation requires upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.22 or later. Patches addressing the issue are available in GitHub commits 630f1479c44f78484dfa21bb407cbe6f171dac87 and a47722de7e3c9cbda8d5512747ca7e3bb8f6ee66. Further details on the vulnerability and remediation are provided in the GitHub security advisory GHSA-8883-9w57-vwv6 and the VulnCheck advisory.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-21450
Vulnerability details
OpenClaw before 2026.3.22 contains an authorization bypass vulnerability in interactive callback dispatch that allows non-allowlisted senders to execute action handlers. Attackers can bypass sender authorization checks by dispatching callbacks before normal security validation completes, enabling unauthorized actions.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Authorization bypass in network-accessible OpenClaw allows remote unauthenticated attackers to execute action handlers by evading validation, directly enabling exploitation of public-facing applications for unauthorized actions.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Mandates enforcement of approved authorizations for access to system resources, directly countering the authorization bypass in interactive callback dispatch.
Requires a reference monitor mechanism to enforce access control policies for all subjects and objects, addressing the flawed sender validation timing in callback handling.
Applies least privilege to limit the scope and impact of unauthorized action handlers triggered by non-allowlisted senders.