Vulnerability · Published Apr 28, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck

CVE-2026-42429OpenClaw < 2026.4.8 - Privilege Escalation via Gateway Plugin HTTP Authentication

High 7.1

In plain English

A high-severity incorrect authorization in OpenClaw from OpenClaw. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 15% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.1High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 84.9% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

OpenClaw before 2026.4.8 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the gateway plugin HTTP authentication mechanism that escalates identity-bearing operator.read requests to runtime operator.write permissions. Attackers can exploit this by sending read-scoped requests through the gateway auth route to gain unauthorized write access to runtime operations.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
npm	openclaw	2026.4.8	GHSA-4f8g-77mw-3rxc

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
OpenClaw	OpenClaw	0 – before 2026.4.8

Weakness: CWE-863 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N

References

GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-4f8g-77mw-3rxc) vendor-advisory
Patch Commit patch
VulnCheck Advisory: OpenClaw < 2026.4.8 - Privilege Escalation via Gateway Plugin HTTP Authentication third-party-advisory