Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-42424

Path Traversal in Openclaw ≤ 2026.4.8

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
28 April 2026
Modified
30 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 5.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/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 0.0018 8th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-42424 is a medium-severity External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73) vulnerability in Openclaw Openclaw. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 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 map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenClaw before 2026.4.8 treats shared reply MEDIA paths as trusted, allowing crafted references to trigger cross-channel local file exfiltration. Attackers can exploit this by crafting malicious shared reply MEDIA references to cause another channel to read local file paths as…

more

trusted generated media.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
Why these techniques?

Vulnerability enables direct reading and exfiltration of arbitrary local file paths by treating crafted media references as trusted.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2026-27522Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41350Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-41363Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-28459Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-35658Same product: Openclaw Openclaw
CVE-2026-44111Same product: Openclaw Openclaw

Affected Assets

openclaw
openclaw
≤ 2026.4.8

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly validates untrusted MEDIA path references before they are treated as trusted local file paths, blocking the CWE-73 vector at input.

prevent

Enforces that only authorized subjects may read or return file contents, preventing cross-channel exfiltration even if a crafted path is accepted.

prevent

Controls information flows between channels so that one channel cannot cause another to disclose local file data via shared MEDIA references.

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 full match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices include input validation and path sanitization that eliminate this weakness.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Least-privilege file authorization directly limits damage from externally controlled paths.

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.

detects

Security testing can detect path-traversal issues but does not itself implement preventive controls.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent external file/path manipulation.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against untrusted input influencing file operations.

prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe path construction but do not prescribe concrete file-name controls.

prevents

Secure coding standards require canonicalization, allow-listing, and bounds checks on file paths, directly eliminating CWE-73.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, indirectly reducing impact of path manipulation.

References