AI agent vulnerability · OpenClaw

CVE-2026-22177: OpenClaw's config env vars allowed startup env injection into service runtime

mediumCVSS 4.0 6.9 · 3.1 8.8GHSA-8fmp-37rc-p5g7

Summary OpenClaw allowed dangerous process-control environment variables from env.vars (for example NODEOPTIONS, LD, DYLD) to flow into gateway service runtime environments, enabling startup-time code execution in the OpenClaw process context. Details collectConfigEnvVars() accepted unfiltered keys from config and those values were merged into the daemon install environment in buildGatewayInstallPlan().

Published Mar 3, 2026 · Updated Apr 8, 2026

Affected packages

openclaw

Ecosystem: npm
Affected: < 2026.2.21
Fixed in: 2026.2.21
Check: npm ls openclaw

Advisory details

From the GitHub Advisory Database (CC BY 4.0).

Summary

OpenClaw allowed dangerous process-control environment variables from env.vars (for example NODE_OPTIONS, LD_*, DYLD_*) to flow into gateway service runtime environments, enabling startup-time code execution in the OpenClaw process context.

Details

collectConfigEnvVars() accepted unfiltered keys from config and those values were merged into the daemon install environment in buildGatewayInstallPlan(). Before the fix, startup-control variables were not blocked in this path.

Affected Packages / Versions

Package: openclaw (npm)
Latest published affected version: 2026.2.19-2 (published February 19, 2026)
Affected range (structured): <=2026.2.19-2 || =2026.2.19
Patched version (pre-set for next release): >= 2026.2.21

Fix Commit(s)

2cdbadee1f8fcaa93302d7debbfc529e19868ea4

Release Process Note

patched_versions is pre-set to the planned next release (2026.2.21). Once that npm release is published, this advisory is ready to publish without further content edits.

OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.

Credited to tdjackey.

References

How this page is made: the data panel comes from the GitHub Advisory Database, CISA’s KEV catalog, the NVD and FIRST EPSS, and updates twice a day. No analysis has been written for this entry yet. Methodology

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