OpenClaw: `operator.write` chat.send could reach admin-only config writes

Summary

A gateway client authenticated with operator.write could route /config set or /config unset through chat.send and reach persistent config mutation even though direct config RPC methods are admin-scoped.

Affected Packages / Versions

• Package: openclaw (npm)
• Latest published vulnerable version: 2026.3.2
• Affected range: <= 2026.3.2
• Patched in: 2026.3.7

Details

Before the fix, chat.send ran slash commands in an internal gateway-chat context with CommandAuthorized: true, and /config write paths only checked command authorization plus commands.config / channels.<provider>.configWrites gates. That allowed an authenticated operator.write gateway client to bridge into persistent config writes even though direct config.* RPC methods remain operator.admin scoped.

The fix keeps command functionality intact while restoring the intended scope boundary:
- persistent /config set|unset writes routed through gateway chat.send now require operator.admin
- read-only /config show remains available to normal write-scoped gateway clients
- normal messaging-channel /config behavior remains unchanged

Impact

This is a real authorization mismatch, but exploitability requires an already authenticated gateway client with operator.write, chat.send access, and /config command support enabled. Maintainer severity is set to medium because the bug is a scoped control-plane privilege mismatch rather than a broad unauthenticated or generic remote compromise. The main consequence is unintended persistent config mutation.

Fix Commit(s)

• 5f8f58ae25e2a78f31b06edcf26532d634ca554e

Release Process Note

npm 2026.3.7 was published on March 8, 2026. This advisory is fixed in the released package.

Thanks @tdjackey for reporting.