GHSA-48wf-g7cp-gr3m — medium GitHub Advisory (CVE-2026-31992) in npm/openclaw

Description

Summary

In allowlist mode, system.run guardrails could be bypassed through env -S, causing policy-analysis/runtime-execution mismatch for shell wrapper payloads.

Severity Rationale (Medium)

This issue is rated medium because it is a guardrail/policy bypass in OpenClaw's trusted-operator model, not an authentication boundary break.

Authenticated Gateway callers are trusted operators by design.
exec approvals/allowlists are operator safety controls.
The bug still weakens expected safety behavior and can enable unintended command execution when untrusted content influences tool input.

Affected Packages / Versions

Package: openclaw (npm)
Vulnerable versions: <= 2026.2.22-2
Patched versions: >= 2026.2.23

Latest published npm version checked during triage: 2026.2.22-2.

Technical Impact

When /usr/bin/env is allowlisted, env -S 'sh -c ...' could be treated as allowed non-wrapper argv while runtime still executes shell-wrapper semantics.

Fix Commit(s)

a1c4bf07c6baad3ef87a0e710fe9aef127b1f606 (core allowlist/runtime parity hardening)
3f923e831364d83d0f23499ee49961de334cf58b (explicit env -S regressions)

Release Process Note

patched_versions is pre-set to >= 2026.2.23, so this advisory is now public.

OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.

Basic information

Type: reviewed
Severity: medium
Advisory on GitHub: Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory: Open repository advisory ↗
Source code: Browse source ↗
Published (advisory): 2026-03-03 18:00:06 UTC
Updated: 2026-03-20 21:36:25 UTC
GitHub reviewed: 2026-03-03 18:00:06 UTC

Score	Percentile
0.07%	21.61%

CVSS Scores

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector
5.3	4.0	—	`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network. Attack complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable. Attack requirements (AT:N) No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability. Privileges required (PR:L) Low privileges are required. User interaction (UI:N) No user interaction is required. Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:L) Limited confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system. Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:L) Limited integrity impact on the vulnerable system. Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L) Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system. Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N) No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems. Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N) No integrity impact on subsequent systems. Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N) No availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

Type	Value
GHSA	GHSA-48wf-g7cp-gr3m ↗
CVE	CVE-2026-31992 ↗

CWEs

CWE id	Name
CWE-184	Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs
CWE-193	Off-by-one Error

Credits

tdjackey (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	First patched	Vulnerable functions
npm	openclaw	< 2026.2.23	2026.2.23	—

OpenClaw has allowlist exec-guard bypass via env -S