DEV Community

CVE Reports
CVE Reports

Posted on • Originally published at cvereports.com

GHSA-H4JX-HJR3-FHGC: GHSA-H4JX-HJR3-FHGC: Privilege Escalation via Synthetic Administrator Scopes in OpenClaw Gateway Plugin Subagent

#security #cve #cybersecurity #ghsa

GHSA-H4JX-HJR3-FHGC: Privilege Escalation via Synthetic Administrator Scopes in OpenClaw Gateway Plugin Subagent

Vulnerability ID: GHSA-H4JX-HJR3-FHGC
CVSS Score: 8.8
Published: 2026-03-29

The OpenClaw platform versions up to 2026.3.24 contain a high-severity incorrect authorization vulnerability within the Gateway Plugin Subagent runtime. A hardcoded synthetic scope grants administrative privileges to the deleteSession method, allowing any plugin to bypass authorization and delete arbitrary session data across the instance.

TL;DR

OpenClaw Gateway Plugin Subagent improperly injects an administrative scope during session deletion, allowing low-privileged plugins to delete arbitrary sessions.

⚠️ Exploit Status: POC

Technical Details

  • CWE ID: CWE-266
  • Attack Vector: Network
  • Privileges Required: Low
  • CVSS Base Score: 8.8
  • Impact: High (Data Destruction & Privilege Escalation)
  • Exploit Status: Functional PoC Available

Affected Systems

  • OpenClaw Gateway
  • OpenClaw Plugin Subagent Runtime
  • openclaw: <= 2026.3.24 (Fixed in: 2026.3.25)

Code Analysis

Commit: b5d785f

Gateway: require caller scope for subagent session deletion (#55281)

Mitigation Strategies

  • Upgrade the openclaw package to version 2026.3.25.
  • Audit custom plugin code for improper usage of syntheticScopes.
  • Implement monitoring for abnormal sessions.delete API calls in gateway logs.

Remediation Steps:

  1. Identify all deployments utilizing the openclaw npm package.
  2. Verify the current installed version using npm list openclaw.
  3. Update the package to 2026.3.25 using npm install openclaw@2026.3.25.
  4. Restart the OpenClaw gateway and associated subagents to apply the patched runtime.
  5. Review gateway audit logs for unauthorized session deletion events prior to the patch application.

References

Read the full report for GHSA-H4JX-HJR3-FHGC on our website for more details including interactive diagrams and full exploit analysis.

Top comments (0)