Vulnerability Database

328,409

Total vulnerabilities in the database

OpenClaw shell-env fallback trusted startup env and could execute attacker-influenced login-shell paths

Summary

OpenClaw shell-env fallback trusted startup environment values and could execute attacker-influenced login-shell startup paths before loading env keys.

Affected Packages / Versions

  • Package: openclaw (npm)
  • Affected versions: >= 2026.1.5 and <= 2026.2.21-2
  • Fixed on main: 9363c320d8ffe29290906752fab92621da02c3f7
  • Planned patched release version (pre-set): 2026.2.22

Details

The vulnerable chain was in the shell-env fallback path:

  1. src/infra/shell-env.ts
  • resolveShell(env) trusted env.SHELL when set.
  • execLoginShellEnvZero(...) executed ${SHELL} -l -c "env -0" with inherited runtime env.
  1. src/config/io.ts
  • Config env values were applied before shell fallback execution.
  1. src/config/env-vars.ts / env policy coverage
  • SHELL handling was hardened, but startup-path selectors (HOME, ZDOTDIR) still needed explicit blocking in config env ingestion and sanitization for shell fallback execution.

With env/config influence, this could trigger unintended command execution in shell startup processing on the OpenClaw host process context.

Fix

Mainline hardening now:

  • blocks SHELL, HOME, and ZDOTDIR during config env ingestion used by runtime fallback,
  • sanitizes shell fallback execution env, pinning HOME to the real user home and dropping ZDOTDIR + dangerous startup vars,
  • adds regression tests for config env ingestion and shell fallback/path-probe sanitization.

Fix Commit(s)

  • 9363c320d8ffe29290906752fab92621da02c3f7

Impact

  • Local code-execution risk in environments where attacker-controlled env/config input can reach shell-env fallback.
  • Under OpenClaw trust assumptions (SECURITY.md), this is not a public-remote issue and depends on crossing local trusted-operator boundaries.

Release Process Note

patched_versions is intentionally pre-set to the planned next release (2026.2.22) so once npm release is out, maintainers can publish advisory immediately.

OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Unknown
  • Score:
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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