CVE-2026-42423: 
OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot or Clawdbot) vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2026-42423 is a security boundary bypass vulnerability in OpenClaw, a Node.js-based local AI assistant, affecting all versions up to and including 2026.4.2. The flaw resides in an approval-timeout fallback mechanism that circumvents the strictInlineEval explicit-approval requirement on gateway and node exec hosts, allowing low-privileged attackers to execute inline eval commands without required user approval. It was published on April 28, 2026, with a patch released in version 2026.4.8. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (High) and a CVSS v4.0 base score of 7.7 (High) (GitHub Advisory, Feedly).

The root cause is classified as CWE-636 (Not Failing Securely / 'Failing Open'): when the approval request times out, the system falls back to permitting execution rather than denying it, effectively bypassing the strictInlineEval security control. An attacker with low-level privileges can trigger this timeout condition over the network to cause inline eval commands to execute on gateway and node exec hosts without the required explicit user approval. The advisory notes that OpenClaw is a user-controlled local assistant and the scope is limited to its trust model rather than a multi-tenant service boundary. The fix, committed at d7c3210cd6f5fdfdc1beff4c9541673e814354d5, was verified with targeted regression tests for the affected security boundary (GitHub Advisory, GitHub Commit).

Successful exploitation allows a low-privileged attacker to execute arbitrary inline eval commands on gateway and node exec hosts without explicit user approval, resulting in high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems. Unauthorized code execution could enable data exfiltration, modification of system state, or disruption of service on the affected OpenClaw host. Because the vulnerability is scoped to OpenClaw's local trust model, the primary risk is to individual deployments rather than multi-tenant environments (GitHub Advisory, Feedly).

As of the time of publication, there is no public proof-of-concept exploit and no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation (Feedly). The EPSS score is approximately 0.04%, indicating a low probability of exploitation in the near term. No threat actor attribution has been reported, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Exploitation requires low-level privileges and the presence of specific attack conditions (attack requirements: PRESENT per CVSS v4.0), which somewhat limits opportunistic exploitation.

The primary remediation is to upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.4.8 or later, which contains the verified fix at commit d7c3210cd6f5fdfdc1beff4c9541673e814354d5 (GitHub Advisory, GitHub Commit). While patching, administrators should review and restrict access controls to minimize the number of users with low-level privileges, monitor gateway and node exec hosts for unexpected inline eval command execution, and implement network segmentation to limit exposure of affected systems (Feedly).

The vulnerability was reported by researchers @zsxsoft and @KeenSecurityLab, who are credited in the official GitHub Security Advisory (GitHub Advisory). Coverage has been limited to automated CVE tracking feeds and aggregator sites, with no notable broader media or researcher commentary identified beyond the initial advisory publication.