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Vulnerability Database

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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.

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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. Risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

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Use a repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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328,409

Total vulnerabilities in the database

OpenClaw's `system.run` env override filtering allowed dangerous helper-command pivots

Summary

system.run env override sanitization allowed dangerous override-only helper-command pivots to reach subprocesses. A caller who could invoke system.run with env overrides could bypass allowlist/approval intent by steering an allowlisted tool through helper-command or config-loading environment variables such as GIT_SSH_COMMAND, editor/pager hooks, and GIT_CONFIG_* / NPM_CONFIG_*.

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, src/infra/host-env-security.ts blocked only a narrow set of override-only environment variables. Dangerous request-scoped overrides such as GIT_SSH_COMMAND and prefix families such as GIT_CONFIG_* and NPM_CONFIG_* could still survive sanitizeSystemRunEnvOverrides(...) / sanitizeHostExecEnv(...) and reach the spawned process.

That mattered for system.run allowlist and approval flows because approval evaluation was tied to the reviewed binary/argv, while the launched process could still inherit attacker-controlled env overrides that changed helper-command execution or config resolution. For allowlisted tools such as git, this allowed behavior outside the reviewed command semantics.

The fix extends the shared TypeScript and macOS policy to block dangerous override-only exact keys and prefixes while preserving trusted inherited base-environment behavior.

Impact

This is a real protection-bypass issue, but exploitation requires an already tool-enabled caller who can invoke system.run and supply env overrides. In affected deployments, that caller could bypass allowlist/approval intent and trigger helper-command execution or config-loading behavior that is not represented by the approved command line. Maintainer severity is set to medium because the bug still requires that existing execution capability; the vulnerability is the mismatch between reviewed command semantics and the actual spawned-process behavior.

Fix Commit(s)

e27bbe4982439da6864160fd1b66445058f74801

Release Process Note

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

Thanks @tdjackey and @SnailSploit for reporting.

Published: Mar 9, 2026
Updated: Mar 10, 2026
GHSA: GHSA-j425-whc4-4jgc
Severity: Medium
Exploit:

CVSS v3:

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

CWEs:

OWASP TOP 10:

A5 - Broken Access Control

Affected Software
References

Software	From	Fixed in
openclaw	-	2026.3.7

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Vulnerability (CVE) and why does it matter?

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.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.