Vulnerability in Openclaw
CVE-2026-35638
OpenClaw before 2026.3.22 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the Control UI that allows unauthenticated sessions to retain self-declared privileged scopes without device identity verification. Attackers can exploit the device-less allow path in the trusted-proxy mechanism to maintain elevated permissions by declaring arbitrary scopes, bypassing device identity requirements.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.005 (43.4th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 43rd percentile — 43.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.002
Affected products
- Openclaw — versions 0, 2026.3.22
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-48vw-m3qc-wr99 (vendor-advisory, Vendor Advisory, third-party-advisory)
- github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/630f1479c44f78484dfa21bb407cbe6f171dac87 (Patch, patch)
- github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/ccf16cd8892402022439346ae1d23352e3707e9e (Patch, patch)
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-privilege-escalation-via-self-declared-sc… (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-35638?
- CVE-2026-35638 is a high-severity vulnerability in Openclaw, classified under CWE-286. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-04-09.
- How severe is CVE-2026-35638?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.