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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-53816: OpenClaw · Paired nodes could forge exec lifecycle events without system.run provenance

Affects openclaw-cliSource GCVE Database

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.2 High : upgrade to 2026.5.18 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.2High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 27% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 2026.5.18
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 13 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade openclaw-cli to 2026.5.18.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Homebrewopenclaw-clipkg:brew/openclaw-cliOther threatsAffected
  • >=2026.1.29 <2026.5.18
Fixed in
  • 2026.5.18

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

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.

References

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