Openclaw cli: OpenClaw affected by denial of service via unbounded URL-backed media fetch (CVE-2026-29609)
Description
OpenClaw CLI versions prior to 2026.2.14 have a denial of service vulnerability caused by unbounded memory allocation when fetching URL-backed media. The issue arises because the entire response payload is buffered in memory before enforcing the maximum allowed size, allowing attackers to exhaust memory with oversized responses. This can lead to availability loss. A patch is available in version 2026.2.14.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.5high
Affected software
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AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability in OpenClaw CLI (CVE-2026-29609) occurs in the URL-backed media fetch handling code, specifically in the fetchWithGuard function within src/media/input-files.ts. When the HTTP response lacks a correct content-length header, the code buffers the entire response payload in memory using response.arrayBuffer() before checking if the size exceeds maxBytes. This allows an attacker to serve an oversized response that causes memory exhaustion and denial of service. The issue affects openclaw versions >=2026.1.29 and <2026.2.14 and clawdbot versions <=2026.1.24-3. The vulnerability is fixed in openclaw version 2026.2.14.
Potential Impact
An attacker can cause a denial of service by sending a large response payload to the URL-backed media fetch functionality, leading to memory exhaustion and loss of availability of the affected application. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available in openclaw version 2026.2.14. Users should upgrade to this version to remediate the vulnerability. Until the patch is applied, it is recommended to disable URL-backed media inputs or restrict them to a strict hostname allowlist and use conservative maxBytes limits to reduce the risk of memory exhaustion.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BREW-openclaw-cli-CVE-2026-29609
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.7.3
- Ecosystems
- ["Homebrew"]
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
Threat ID: 6ac245c412601ec6a31670b7
Added to database: 10/04/2026, 12:25:40 UTC
Last enriched: 10/04/2026, 13:07:48 UTC
Last updated: 10/04/2026, 16:08:37 UTC
Views: 1
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