Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-41299

Openclaw ≤ 2026.3.28

Public PoC
Published
21 April 2026
Modified
27 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/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:X
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 34 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-41299 is a high-severity Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision (CWE-807) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 10th 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 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-2026-41299 is an authorization bypass vulnerability (CWE-807) affecting OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.28. The issue resides in the chat.send gateway method, where ACP-only provenance fields are protected solely by self-declared client metadata from the WebSocket handshake, rather than the verified authorization state. This allows manipulation during connection establishment, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N), indicating network accessibility, low attack complexity, low privileges required, and primarily high integrity impact.

Authenticated operator clients can exploit this vulnerability by spoofing ACP identity labels and injecting reserved provenance fields meant exclusively for the ACP bridge. Attackers with operator-level access manipulate client metadata in the WebSocket handshake to bypass gates, enabling unauthorized injection of privileged data into chat.send operations.

Advisories recommend upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.28 or later to mitigate the issue, as detailed in the GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-6xg4-82hv-cp6f) and VulnCheck advisory on client identity spoofing in chat.send gateway provenance guards.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw before 2026.3.28 contains an authorization bypass vulnerability in the chat.send gateway method where ACP-only provenance fields are gated by self-declared client metadata from WebSocket handshake rather than verified authorization state. Authenticated operator clients can spoof ACP identity labels and…

more

inject reserved provenance fields intended only for the ACP bridge by manipulating client metadata during connection.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2026-32057Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-32898Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41403Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35617Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41380Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35670Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.3.28

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 1 hardening rule · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Explicitly requires that every access decision be based on authoritative, protected decision data rather than caller-supplied inputs.

Input validation can reject malformed or attacker-controlled values before they reach a security decision point.

Access enforcement requires decisions to be made from trusted policy data rather than modifiable client-supplied inputs.

Information-flow enforcement applies rules to validated, internal attributes instead of untrusted external values.

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.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Strong authentication mechanisms directly prevent security decisions from depending on modifiable, untrusted inputs.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

Verification and protection of identity assertions stops reliance on attacker-controlled values for authorization decisions.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

Proper management of identities/credentials reduces the chance that security decisions will be driven by untrusted inputs.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Policy-driven, least-privilege authorization reduces opportunities to bypass controls via tampered inputs.

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.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prohibit using untrusted inputs for security-critical decisions.

finds

Security testing in development catches input-validation flaws before deployment.

finds

Monitoring can detect exploitation but does not stop the underlying weakness.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for validation of inputs used in security decisions.

prevents

Secure architecture principles mandate treating all external inputs as untrusted.

prevents

Access-control rules can be bypassed if they rely on untrusted inputs.

References