The affected surface is the OpenClaw macOS app onboarding flow, and the macOS app is currently in beta.
In that beta onboarding flow, Anthropic OAuth used the PKCE code_verifier value as OAuth state, exposing that secret in front-channel URL state.
openclaw (npm)<= 2026.2.24 (latest published npm at triage time)apps/macos)2026.2.25Scope is limited to the macOS beta onboarding OAuth path. Exploitation required obtaining both OAuth authorization artifacts and exposed state values during that flow.
OpenClaw removed Anthropic OAuth sign-in from macOS onboarding and now supports setup-token-only Anthropic subscription auth in this path.
8f3310000a8b0c11eced054c2cdb6fb27803511apatched_versions is pre-set to the release (2026.2.25).
Advisory published with npm release 2026.2.25.2.25` is published, this advisory is published.
OpenClaw thanks @zdi-disclosures for reporting.
A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
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