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8.3

OpenClaw Telegram Webhook Allows Unauthorized Requests to Eat Up Server Resources

published 7 months ago
Summary

A security issue in OpenClaw versions up to 2026.3.12 allowed unauthorized callers to make the server work hard on requests that should have been rejected. This could cause the server to use up memory and processing power. To fix this, update to OpenClaw 2026.3.13, which checks the authentication token before processing the request body.

What to do
  • Update steipete openclaw to version 2026.3.13.
Affected software
Ecosystem VendorProductAffected versions
npm steipete openclaw < 2026.3.13
Fix: upgrade to 2026.3.13
Original advisory text
OpenClaw Telegram webhook request bodies were read before secret validation, enabling unauthenticated resource exhaustion
### Summary
`openclaw` versions `<= 2026.3.12` read and buffered Telegram webhook request bodies before validating `x-telegram-bot-api-secret-token`. This let unauthenticated callers force up to the configured webhook body limit of pre-auth body I/O and JSON parse work per request.

### Affected Packages / Versions
- Package: `openclaw` (`npm`)
- Affected versions: `<= 2026.3.12`
- Fixed version: `2026.3.13`

### Details
The vulnerable path was the standalone Telegram webhook listener in `src/telegram/webhook.ts`. In affected releases, the request handler accepted `POST` requests, called `readJsonBodyWithLimit(...)`, and only then checked the Telegram secret header. Because the secret validation happened after body reading, an unauthenticated caller could make the server spend memory, socket time, and JSON parse work on requests that should have been rejected before any body processing.

This issue is in scope under OpenClaw's trust model because the Telegram webhook endpoint accepts untrusted network traffic and the secret header is the authentication boundary for that ingress path.

### Fix
`[email protected]` validates the Telegram webhook secret before any body I/O. Current code reads the header, rejects invalid requests immediately with `401`, and only calls `readJsonBodyWithLimit(...)` after `hasValidTelegramWebhookSecret(...)` succeeds.

Regression coverage exists in `src/telegram/webhook.test.ts` (`rejects unauthenticated requests before reading the request body`).

### Fix Commit(s)
- `7e49e98f79073b11134beac27fdff547ba5a4a02`

Thanks @space08 for reporting.
Fix within
Internet-facing 14 days
Internal 60 days
  • Not known to be exploited
  • Can be exploited automatically (estimated)
  • Gives an attacker partial control (estimated)
Severity
8.3 High
Type
CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Timeline
Published16 Mar 2026
Updated16 Mar 2026
First seen16 Mar 2026
Sources
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