Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.11 let a logged-in operator with write access step outside the workspace they were meant to be limited to. By supplying crafted values through the gateway agent, they can read, write, or run programs anywhere the OpenClaw process can reach on the host, undermining the trust boundary between operators and the underlying system.
Executive priority
High priority: patch scheduled within the next standard maintenance window, sooner if OpenClaw gateways are internet-facing or shared across teams. Business impact is potential unauthorized access to host files and command execution by trusted-but-limited operators, which can enable data exposure, tampering, or lateral movement.
Technical view
The gateway agent RPC accepts attacker-controlled spawnedBy and workspaceDir parameters without enforcing the configured workspace boundary. Authenticated principals holding operator.write can override those fields to redirect file and exec operations to any directory the OpenClaw process can access. CVSS 3.1 is 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and the weakness is classified as CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere).
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations running OpenClaw gateway agents earlier than 2026.3.11 where operator accounts with operator.write exist. Internet-reachable gateways and multi-tenant deployments face the greatest risk; single-operator or isolated lab installs are less exposed but still vulnerable if credentials leak.
Exploitation context
No cited source reports active exploitation and the CVE is not listed in CISA KEV. Exploitation requires authenticated access with operator.write; there is no user interaction and the attack is network-reachable, so any operator token compromise or malicious insider could trigger the bypass. Treat as a credential-adjacent privilege escalation risk.
Researcher notes
CWE-668 aligns with the pattern: server-side trust of client-supplied path and identity parameters. Look for the RPC handler that consumes spawnedBy and workspaceDir and verify the fix enforces server-side workspace resolution rather than client-provided values. No KEV listing, no PoC referenced in the bundle; treat as credible pre-exploit fix. Evidence is limited to the vendor GHSA and VulnCheck advisory — deeper code diff review is recommended before drawing conclusions about downstream forks.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade OpenClaw to 2026.3.11 or later on all gateway agent hosts.
- Review and tighten which accounts hold operator.write until upgrade completes.
- Rotate any operator credentials or tokens suspected of exposure.
- Restrict gateway agent network reachability to trusted management networks.
- Run the OpenClaw process under a least-privilege user with constrained filesystem access.
- Monitor vendor advisory GHSA-2rqg-gjgv-84jm for follow-up guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenClaw deployments and record installed versions against 2026.3.11.
- Confirm patched builds by verifying version strings after upgrade on each gateway.
- Audit RPC and agent logs for spawnedBy or workspaceDir values referencing paths outside the configured workspace.
- List accounts with operator.write and validate each is still required.
- Test that a non-privileged operator cannot influence workspace paths post-patch.
- Re-scan hosts with an authenticated vulnerability scanner once fixes are applied.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-668: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupFile access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references file access or upload behavior, so file telemetry and web shell review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-33573 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9VulnCheckCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
8.7HighVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-2rqg-gjgv-84jm)CVE reference, VulnCheck · vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: OpenClaw < 2026.3.11 - Workspace Boundary Bypass via Agent RPC ParametersCVE reference, VulnCheck · third-party-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere
Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.