Monitor vulnerabilities like this one.
Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.
OpenClaw Gateway Plugin Authentication Bypass in Certain Paths
GHSA-mwxv-35wr-4vvj
Summary
A security issue in OpenClaw allows attackers to bypass authentication checks for certain paths in the gateway plugin, potentially allowing unauthorized access to protected channels. This issue affects versions of OpenClaw up to 2026.2.25. To protect against this, update to the latest version, OpenClaw 2026.2.26, as soon as it is released.
What to do
- Update openclaw to version 2026.2.26.
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fix available |
|---|---|---|---|
| – | openclaw | <= 2026.2.25 | 2026.2.26 |
Original title
OpenClaw has gateway plugin auth bypass via encoded dot-segment traversal in protected /api/channels paths
Original description
### Summary
Gateway plugin route auth protection for `/api/channels` could be bypassed using encoded dot-segment traversal (for example `..%2f`) in path variants that plugin handlers normalize.
### Affected Packages / Versions
- Package: npm `openclaw`
- Latest published vulnerable version: `2026.2.25`
- Vulnerable version range: `<= 2026.2.25`
- Patched version: `2026.2.26` (planned next release)
### Impact
Under affected versions, crafted alternate paths could bypass gateway auth checks for protected plugin channel routes when plugin handlers decode/canonicalize the incoming path and then route to `/api/channels/...` handlers.
### Fix Commit(s)
- `258d615c45527ffda37cecd08cd268f97461bde0`
### Release Process Note
`patched_versions` is pre-set to the planned next release (`2026.2.26`). After npm publish, maintainers only need to publish the advisory.
OpenClaw thanks @zpbrent for reporting.
Gateway plugin route auth protection for `/api/channels` could be bypassed using encoded dot-segment traversal (for example `..%2f`) in path variants that plugin handlers normalize.
### Affected Packages / Versions
- Package: npm `openclaw`
- Latest published vulnerable version: `2026.2.25`
- Vulnerable version range: `<= 2026.2.25`
- Patched version: `2026.2.26` (planned next release)
### Impact
Under affected versions, crafted alternate paths could bypass gateway auth checks for protected plugin channel routes when plugin handlers decode/canonicalize the incoming path and then route to `/api/channels/...` handlers.
### Fix Commit(s)
- `258d615c45527ffda37cecd08cd268f97461bde0`
### Release Process Note
`patched_versions` is pre-set to the planned next release (`2026.2.26`). After npm publish, maintainers only need to publish the advisory.
OpenClaw thanks @zpbrent for reporting.
Vulnerability type
CWE-289
Published: 3 Mar 2026 · Updated: 7 Mar 2026 · First seen: 6 Mar 2026