OpenClaw: Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Kill via SIGKILL in Process Cleanup

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS 4.0

4.3 · CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2026-27486: 0.32% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 25.33 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary OpenClaw CLI process cleanup used system-wide process enumeration and pattern matching to terminate processes without verifying they were owned by the current OpenClaw process. On shared hosts, unrelated processes could be terminated if they matched the pattern. Affected Packages / Versions - Package: openclaw (npm) - Affected: < 2026.2.14 (including the latest published version 2026.2.13) - Fixed: 2026.2.14 (planned next release) Details The CLI runner cleanup helpers could kill processes matched by command-line patterns without validating process ownership. Fix Process cleanup is now scoped to owned processes only by filtering to direct child PIDs of the current process (ppid == process.pid) before sending signals. Hardening follow-ups: - Prefer graceful termination for resume cleanup (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL fallback). - Reduce false negatives from ps argv truncation by preferring wide output (ps -axww) with a fallback. - Tighten command-line token matching to avoid…

Published by the source

18 Feb 2026, 17:41 UTC

Last modified by the source

23 Feb 2026, 22:58 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:42 UTC

1. Revision 3 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8

2. Revision 2 · amended · 24 Oct 2026

   Reviewed OSV alias/range/CVSS4 correction; package source scopes and original publication preserved. No customer finding resolved.

3. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-27486

Advisory: OpenClaw: Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Kill via SIGKILL in Process Cleanup
IDs: CVE-2026-27486, GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-27486 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:42 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: openclaw 2026.2.14. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm openclaw: affected < 2026.2.14; fixed in 2026.2.14

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls openclaw --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on openclaw.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8 (OSV record GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8 lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <2026.2.14 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8 lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <2026.2.14)

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