CVE-2026-53831

Description

### Summary On POSIX nodes, OpenClaw's `system.run` safe-bin checks could approve a command before shell expansion changed how the command was interpreted. A value that appeared to be a safe-bin argument could expand into additional shell words and become a file operand. This issue is limited to paired POSIX node execution through `system.run` with safe-bin or allowlist-style auto-approval. It is not an unauthenticated node takeover. ### Affected configurations This affects deployments where: - a POSIX node is paired to the gateway - `system.run` is reachable by an authenticated operator or agent flow - exec policy uses safe-bin or allowlist-based auto-approval - the approved command contains shell-expanded values that can change argv shape ### Impact A lower-privilege operator flow could cause an approved safe-bin command to read a node-local file that was not intended by the policy. Depending on the local files available to the node process, this could expose OpenClaw configuration data or other node-local information. The issue is a policy-enforcement gap in argv validation, not a general statement that every safe-bin command is unsafe. ### Patched Versions The first stable patched version is `2026.5.18`. ### Mitigations Upgrade to `openclaw@2026.5.18` or later. Before upgrading, avoid broad safe-bin auto-approval for commands that can read arbitrary paths, and prefer explicit approval for node commands that touch local files.

How to fix CVE-2026-53831

To remediate CVE-2026-53831, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.

• —upgrade to 2026.5.18 or later

Is CVE-2026-53831 being exploited?

Low — EPSS is 0.2%, meaning exploitation activity has not been observed at scale.

Affected packages (1)

• from 0, < 2026.5.18