Openclaw cli: OpenClaw: Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Kill via SIGKILL in Process Cleanup (CVE-2026-27486)
Description
OpenClaw CLI versions before 2026.2.14 have a vulnerability in their process cleanup routine where the tool may kill unrelated processes on shared hosts due to unvalidated PID termination based on pattern matching. This occurs because the cleanup did not verify process ownership before sending SIGKILL signals. The issue is fixed in version 2026.2.14 by restricting termination to child processes owned by the current process and improving matching logic.
CVSS v4.0
Affected software
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AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The OpenClaw CLI process cleanup used system-wide process enumeration and pattern matching to terminate processes without verifying they were owned by the current OpenClaw process. This allowed unrelated processes matching the pattern to be terminated on shared hosts. The vulnerability affects openclaw CLI versions >=2026.1.29 and <2026.2.14. The fix scopes process cleanup to direct child PIDs of the current process before sending signals and improves termination logic to prefer graceful termination and reduce false matches.
Potential Impact
On shared hosts, unrelated processes could be terminated inadvertently if their command-line matched the pattern used by OpenClaw CLI's cleanup routine. This could cause denial of service or disruption of unrelated applications. The impact is limited to local privilege level and requires user-level access to the system. No remote or network vector is indicated.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available in OpenClaw CLI version 2026.2.14 which restricts process termination to owned child processes only and improves matching logic. Users should upgrade to version 2026.2.14 once released. Until then, avoid running OpenClaw CLI on shared hosts where process termination could affect unrelated processes.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BREW-openclaw-cli-CVE-2026-27486
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.7.3
- Ecosystems
- ["Homebrew"]
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
Threat ID: 6ac245cc12601ec6a3167f35
Added to database: 10/04/2026, 12:25:48 UTC
Last enriched: 10/04/2026, 13:12:32 UTC
Last updated: 10/04/2026, 16:08:37 UTC
Views: 2
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