A critical allowlist bypass vulnerability in OpenClaw allows authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands by manipulating system.run approval states.

This vulnerability, categorized as CWE-706, involves an allowlist bypass in the system.run approval process. By utilizing an unregistered /usr/bin/time wrapper, an authenticated attacker can bypass executable binding restrictions and reuse approval states for unauthorized inner commands.

Successful exploitation of this flaw allows an attacker with low privileges to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying host, potentially leading to a full system compromise. Given the CVSS score of 8.8, this vulnerability represents a high risk to organizational data integrity and system availability. Organizations relying on OpenClaw for automated task execution are particularly susceptible to privilege escalation and unauthorized system operations.

Immediate Action: Update the OpenClaw package to version 2026.3.22 or later immediately to resolve the allowlist logic flaw.

Proactive Monitoring: Monitor system logs for unusual process execution patterns, specifically looking for unexpected invocations of /usr/bin/time or unauthorized commands triggered by the OpenClaw service.

Compensating Controls: Implement strict environment-level execution policies that limit the binaries accessible to the service account running OpenClaw.

Public Exploit Available: Unknown

The vulnerability in OpenClaw presents a significant risk to environment security by circumventing intended command allowlisting. Security teams should prioritize the deployment of the 2026.3.22 update to all affected instances to restore proper execution validation. Failure to patch this issue could allow an attacker to leverage legitimate system functions to execute malicious payloads.