CVE-2026-53816
OpenClaw: Paired nodes could forge exec lifecycle events without system.run provenance
Description
### Summary OpenClaw nodes send lifecycle events back to the gateway. In affected releases, a paired node could send an exec lifecycle event that was accepted without enough provenance tying it to an authorized `system.run` request. This issue affects the node event boundary. It does not allow an unauthenticated caller to reach the gateway; the attacker must already control a paired node connection. ### Affected configurations This affects deployments with a paired node where that node can send crafted `node.event` messages to the gateway and the target agent/session can process exec lifecycle events. ### Impact A malicious or compromised paired node could make the gateway treat attacker-supplied event data as an exec lifecycle result. In the vulnerable flow, that could steer the target session into an exec-event path that exposed capabilities the reduced node surface should not have provided. The issue is a missing provenance check for node-originated lifecycle events. ### Patched Versions The first stable patched version is `2026.5.18`. ### Mitigations Upgrade to `openclaw@2026.5.18` or later. Pair nodes only from trusted environments, and remove/re-pair nodes that may have been compromised.
How to fix CVE-2026-53816
To remediate CVE-2026-53816, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.
- —upgrade to 2026.5.18 or later
Is CVE-2026-53816 being exploited?
Low — EPSS is 0.3%, meaning exploitation activity has not been observed at scale.
Affected packages (1)
- from 0, < 2026.5.18