OpenClaw: Scoped chat.send route inheritance could bypass admin command scope gates

Exploitation

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

CVSS

8.8 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

• CVE-2026-35674: 0.25% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 16.89 (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 Some internal command handlers require operator.approvals or operator.admin scopes. In affected releases, a scoped Gateway chat.send request delivered through an inherited external route could be evaluated as an external-channel command while still carrying the lower Gateway client scopes. This issue affects scoped Gateway clients. It does not apply to shared-secret bearer HTTP compatibility endpoints, which are documented as full operator surfaces under OpenClaw's trust model. Affected configurations This affects deployments where a scoped Gateway caller with operator.write can use chat.send with delivery into a session that has an inherited external delivery route. Impact Commands that should have required operator.approvals or operator.admin could run with only operator.write in this routed context. Affected command families included approval resolution and selected administrative commands such as plugin, config, MCP, allowlist, and ACP mutations. Patched Versions The…

Published by the source

2 Jul 2026, 16:06 UTC

Last modified by the source

8 Jul 2026, 07:35 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:56 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-35674

Advisory: OpenClaw: Scoped chat.send route inheritance could bypass admin command scope gates
IDs: CVE-2026-35674, GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-35674 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:56 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: openclaw 2026.5.18. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm openclaw: affected < 2026.5.18; fixed in 2026.5.18

## 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-hw9r-h9mr-4jff (OSV record GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <2026.5.18 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-hw9r-h9mr-4jff lists affected ranges: npm openclaw >=0 <2026.5.18)

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