GHSA-4jpw-hj22-2xmc: OpenClaw: Pairing-scoped device tokens could mint `operator.admin` and reach node RCE

Should you act?

• Only if you depend on one of the packages below, directly or transitively, in a vulnerable version. Check your lockfile with npm audit (or: npm ls <package>).
• No CVE has been assigned, so it will not appear in CVE-based scanners that ignore GitHub advisories. npm audit, pip-audit and Dependabot do read GitHub advisories.

Affected packages

Details

Summary In affected versions of openclaw, a caller holding only operator.pairing could use device.token.rotate to mint a new token with broader scopes for an already paired device. If the target device was approved for operator.admin, the attacker could obtain an administrative token without already holding administrative scope.

Impact This is a critical authorization flaw. On deployments with connected node hosts or companion apps that expose system.run, the escalated token could then modify node execution approvals and reach real remote code execution on the node. Even without nodes, the flaw still granted unauthorized gateway-admin access.

Affected Packages and Versions - Package: openclaw (npm) - Affected versions:

Technical Details device.token.rotate accepted caller-supplied target scopes and validated them against the target device's approved scopes, but it did not constrain the newly minted scopes to the caller's own current scope set. That allowed a pairing-scoped caller to mint a broader token for an already paired administrative device.

Fix OpenClaw now enforces caller-scope subsetting in device.token.rotate, preventing callers from minting device tokens broader than the scopes they already hold. The fix shipped in openclaw@2026.3.11.

Workarounds Upgrade to 2026.3.11 or later.

CVSS: 9.9 (v3.1) CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Sources and references

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-4jpw-hj22-2xmc github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com

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