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Medium, CVSS 6.9amended

OpenClaw: Symlink Traversal via IDENTITY.md appendFile in agents.create/update (Incomplete Fix for CVE-2026-32013)

CVE-2026-35632GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5

What to do

Vendor response not established. Follow the primary source's mitigation guidance and check back for a fix.

This page has no inventory attached, so it cannot say whether you are affected. A vendor fix is not proof that your deployment is fixed.

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Affected packages

  • npm openclaw

    Affected
    <= 2026.2.22
    Fixed in
    no fixed version recorded

Sources

Severity and exploitation
Exploitation
No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.
CVSS 4.0
6.9 · CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N · score source
EPSS
  • CVE-2026-35632: 0.42% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 35.94 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.
Source description

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary The patch for CVE-2026-32013 introduced symlink resolution and workspace boundary enforcement for agents.files.get and agents.files.set. However, two other handlers in the same file (agents.create and agents.update) still use raw fs.appendFile on the IDENTITY.md file without any symlink containment check. An attacker who can place a symlink in the agent workspace can hijack the IDENTITY.md path to append attacker-controlled content to arbitrary files on the system. Details In src/gateway/server-methods/agents.ts, the agents.create handler constructs the identity path and appends agent metadata without verifying symlinks: The agents.update handler has the same issue at line 348-349: fs.appendFile follows symlinks by default. If the IDENTITY.md file in the workspace is a symlink pointing to a sensitive file (e.g., /etc/crontab, ~/.bashrc, or ~/.ssh/authorizedkeys), calling agents.create will append the agent identity metadata to that file. The ensureAgentWorkspace function…

Dates and revisions
Published by the source
Last modified by the source
Source last checked
  1. Revision 3 · amended ·

    Amended from ghsa record GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5

  2. Revision 2 · amended ·

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

  3. Revision 1 · created ·

    Published from osv record GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5

Agent brief

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-35632

Advisory: OpenClaw: Symlink Traversal via IDENTITY.md appendFile in agents.create/update (Incomplete Fix for CVE-2026-32013)
IDs: CVE-2026-35632, GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-35632 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:48 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.9)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor response not established. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm openclaw: affected <= 2026.2.22

## 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
No complete vendor fix is recorded. Follow the primary source's mitigation guidance and check this record again before closing anything.

## 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-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5 (OSV record GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5 lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <=2026.2.22)
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-7xr2-q9vf-x4r5 lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <=2026.2.22)

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