CVE-2026-41346
Published: 23 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-41346 is a medium-severity Improper Control of Interaction Frequency (CWE-799) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application Exhaustion Flood (T1499.003); ranked at the 35.8th 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly implements denial-of-service protections to prevent resource exhaustion from attackers submitting excessive pairing requests across multiple accounts.
Limits allocation of pending pairing request resources per account to avoid exhaustion of the shared pending window shared across channel files.
Ensures timely remediation of the specific flaw by applying patches like OpenClaw 2026.3.31 that enforce pairing-request caps per account.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
The vulnerability allows remote attackers to submit repeated pairing requests to exhaust the shared pending window, directly enabling application exhaustion flood for denial of service.
NVD Description
OpenClaw 2026.2.26 before 2026.3.31 enforces pending pairing-request caps per channel file instead of per account, allowing attackers to exhaust the shared pending window. Remote attackers can submit pairing requests from other accounts to block new pairing challenges on unaffected accounts,…
more
causing denial of service.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-41346 affects OpenClaw versions 2026.2.26 before 2026.3.31. The vulnerability stems from the application enforces pending pairing-request caps per channel file rather than per account, which allows attackers to exhaust the shared pending window. Published on 2026-04-23, it is rated with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L) and is associated with CWE-799 (Improper Control of Interaction Frequency).
Remote attackers with no privileges required can exploit this issue by submitting pairing requests from other accounts. This action blocks new pairing challenges on unaffected accounts, resulting in a denial of service that prevents legitimate pairing operations.
Advisories and patches are detailed in referenced sources, including a GitHub commit (9bc1f896c8cd325dd4761681e9bdb8c425f69785) that addresses the flaw, the OpenClaw security advisory (GHSA-wwfp-w96m-c6x8), and a VulnCheck advisory on the denial-of-service via improper pending pairing request cap enforcement. Upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.31 or later resolves the issue by enforcing caps per account.
Details
- CWE(s)