8.7

CVSS Score

4.0

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

Concerned about an active attack path?

Talk to our security experts and see Miggo in action.

Miggo Vulnerability Database

→

CVE-2026-42435

CVE-2026-42435: OpenClaw 2026.2.22 < 2026.4.12 - Shell-Wrapper Detection Bypass via Environment Variable Assignment Injection

OpenClaw versions from 2026.2.22 before 2026.4.12 contain an insufficient shell-wrapper detection vulnerability allowing attackers to inject environment variable assignments at the argv level. Attackers can bypass exec preflight handling to manipulate high-risk shell variables like SHELLOPTS and PS4, affecting execution semantics and security controls.

(GitHub Advisory)

Miggo Vulnerability Database

→

CVE-2026-42435

CVE-2026-42435:

8.7

CVSS Score

4.0

-

CVSS Score

Basic Information

Is this CVE running in your environment?

Easily map the attack path and prioritize which CVEs are a threat to your organization

Validate Exposure

Technical Details

Package Name	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Versions	First Patched Version
openclaw	npm	>= 2026.2.22, < 2026.4.12	2026.4.12

Technical Details

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI

Root Cause Analysis

The vulnerability lies in the improper detection of shell-wrapper and environment variable assignments within command arguments. The original implementation in unwrapEnvInvocation and scanWrapperInvocation was not robust enough and could be bypassed, allowing for the injection of malicious environment variables like SHELLOPTS and PS4. The patch addresses this by introducing a more sophisticated parsing mechanism with parseEnvInvocationPrelude and extractEnvAssignmentKeysFromDispatchWrappers, and a more accurate shell-wrapper detection with isShellWrapperInvocation. These new functions are used in parseSystemRunPhase to sanitize and validate the command before execution, thus mitigating the vulnerability. The vulnerable functions are unwrapEnvInvocation and the now-removed scanWrapperInvocation as they contained the flawed parsing logic. parseSystemRunPhase is also relevant as it's the entry point for the vulnerable logic.

Vulnerable functions

unwrapEnvInvocation

src/infra/dispatch-wrapper-resolution.ts

The `unwrapEnvInvocation` function was responsible for parsing command arguments to identify and handle environment variable assignments. The original implementation was insufficient and could be bypassed, allowing an attacker to inject environment variables that could alter the execution flow. The function was completely rewritten to properly parse and sanitize the command arguments, preventing the injection.

scanWrapperInvocation

src/infra/dispatch-wrapper-resolution.ts

The `scanWrapperInvocation` function was used by `unwrapEnvInvocation` to parse command arguments. This function contained the flawed logic that failed to correctly identify all forms of environment variable assignments in the command arguments, leading to a bypass of the security controls. The function was removed and replaced with a more secure implementation.

parseSystemRunPhase

src/node-host/invoke-system-run.ts

This function orchestrates the execution of system commands. It was modified to incorporate the new, more secure parsing and validation logic. While not the root cause, this function is a critical part of the exploitation path, as it was responsible for invoking the vulnerable parsing logic and is now responsible for invoking the new, secure logic. An attacker would have to trigger this function to exploit the vulnerability.

Vulnerability Intelligence
Miggo AI

Unlock WAF rules for this CVE

Generate vendor-ready rules for the observed attack patterns, plus reasoning and safe deployment guidance

Get WAF rules

WAF Protection Rules

WAF Rule

W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.W** rul*s *v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.

Reasoning

*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.*v*il**l* *or Mi**o *ustom*rs only.