A critical command injection vulnerability in OpenClaw allows authenticated attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution by bypassing command allowlist protections.

This is a command injection vulnerability (CWE-78) occurring in the system.run function, which fails to sanitize HOME and ZDOTDIR environment variables. An attacker with low privileges can inject malicious shell startup files to execute arbitrary commands before the system allowlist is enforced.

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the application, potentially leading to a full system compromise. Given the CVSS score of 7.5, this high-severity flaw poses a significant risk to data integrity and system availability, necessitating immediate attention to prevent unauthorized access or system takeover.

Immediate Action: Update the OpenClaw package to version 2026.2.22 or later immediately to incorporate the necessary sanitization logic.

Proactive Monitoring: Monitor system logs for unexpected shell process spawning or anomalous modifications to user-level configuration files such as .bash_profile or .zshenv.

Compensating Controls: Implement strict environment variable controls and utilize security-hardened containers to restrict the impact of command injection if immediate patching is not feasible.

Public Exploit Available: Unknown

The vulnerability represents a significant risk to the security of the host environment due to the potential for arbitrary code execution. Organizations utilizing OpenClaw must prioritize the upgrade to version 2026.2.22 to eliminate the underlying command injection flaw. Failure to apply this update leaves the system exposed to attackers who can manipulate the shell environment to bypass established security policies.