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Fencer Intel
medium 4.3

GHSA-hfpr-jhpq-x4rm json

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

published 8mo ago modified 8mo ago

cvss
4.3
version 3.1, GitHub
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
—
no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

### 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.

Patch / fix

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CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
GitHub 3.1 4.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm openclaw
<2026.3.7
2026.3.7

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

The maintainers of openclaw/openclaw published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.