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OpenClaw exec allowlist bypass via unquoted heredoc shell expansion

IdentifiersCVE-2026-44115CWE-184· Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs

CVE-2026-44115 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenClaw affecting versions before 2026.4.22. The flaw is described as an exec allowlist analysis vulnerability caused by a gap between command validation and actual shell execution. Specifically, OpenClaw's validation logic can treat a command as safe while failing to account for shell expansion tokens embedded inside an unquoted here-document (heredoc) body. At runtime, the shell expands those tokens, allowing an attacker to bypass the allowlist and cause execution of commands that were not approved during validation. Reported effects include leakage of environment variables and secrets such as API keys, tokens, and credentials through commands that appear benign at validation time.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a low-privileged attacker to bypass OpenClaw's command allowlist and execute unapproved shell behavior at runtime. This can expose environment variables and other sensitive process secrets, including API keys, tokens, and credentials. In the broader Claw Chain context, the flaw can be used to support credential theft and sensitive data exposure, and may contribute to further compromise when chained with other OpenClaw vulnerabilities. The provided CVSS v3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, restrict who can invoke OpenClaw command-execution features, reduce privileges available to OpenClaw users and agents, and avoid passing sensitive secrets through environment variables where possible. Limit network exposure of OpenClaw instances behind authentication and firewall controls, and monitor for suspicious heredoc-based shell invocations or unexpected shell expansion behavior in agent-executed commands. These measures are mitigations only; the definitive fix is upgrading to 2026.4.22 or later.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.4.22 or later. The content states that all affected versions released before April 23, 2026 were patched, and references the fixing advisory GHSA-x3h8-jrgh-p8jx and commit b2e8b7d4bb2f22eaa16f5c4b07547774e90b65a5. Because the flaw can leak credentials and environment-resident secrets, rotate potentially exposed API keys, tokens, and credentials after patching.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

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VendorProductType
OpenclawOpenclawapplication

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What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

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Social activity8

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