GHSA-9mph-4f7v-fmvh
OpenClaw has agent avatar symlink traversal in gateway session metadata
Summary
A crafted local avatar path could follow a symlink outside the agent workspace and return arbitrary file contents as a base64 data: URL in gateway responses.
Impact
- Confidentiality impact: local file read in the gateway process context.
- Exfiltration path:
agents.listcan return the resultingavatarUrlpayload.
Affected Components
src/gateway/session-utils.ts(resolveIdentityAvatarUrl)
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Introduced:
v2026.1.21 - Affected published versions:
<= 2026.2.21-2 - Planned patched version:
2026.2.22
Remediation
- Resolve workspace and avatar paths with
realpathand enforce realpath containment. - Open files with
O_NOFOLLOWwhen available. - Compare pre-open and opened file identity (
dev/ino) to block swap races. - Add regression tests for outside-workspace symlink rejection and in-workspace symlink allowance.
Fix Commit(s)
3d0337504349954237d09e4d957df5cb844d5e77
OpenClaw thanks @aether-ai-agent for reporting.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
What each source reports
GitHub Advisories Score used
OpenClaw has agent avatar symlink traversal in gateway session metadata
Summary
A crafted local avatar path could follow a symlink outside the agent workspace and return arbitrary file contents as a base64 data: URL in gateway responses.
Impact
- Confidentiality impact: local file read in the gateway process context.
- Exfiltration path:
agents.listcan return the resultingavatarUrlpayload.
Affected Components
src/gateway/session-utils.ts(resolveIdentityAvatarUrl)
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Introduced:
v2026.1.21 - Affected published versions:
<= 2026.2.21-2 - Planned patched version:
2026.2.22
Remediation
- Resolve workspace and avatar paths with
realpathand enforce realpath containment. - Open files with
O_NOFOLLOWwhen available. - Compare pre-open and opened file identity (
dev/ino) to block swap races. - Add regression tests for outside-workspace symlink rejection and in-workspace symlink allowance.
Fix Commit(s)
3d0337504349954237d09e4d957df5cb844d5e77
OpenClaw thanks @aether-ai-agent for reporting.
- Record
GHSA-9mph-4f7v-fmvh- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
OpenClaw has agent avatar symlink traversal in gateway session metadata
Summary
A crafted local avatar path could follow a symlink outside the agent workspace and return arbitrary file contents as a base64 data: URL in gateway responses.
Impact
- Confidentiality impact: local file read in the gateway process context.
- Exfiltration path:
agents.listcan return the resultingavatarUrlpayload.
Affected Components
src/gateway/session-utils.ts(resolveIdentityAvatarUrl)
Affected Packages / Versions
- Package:
openclaw(npm) - Introduced:
v2026.1.21 - Affected published versions:
<= 2026.2.21-2 - Planned patched version:
2026.2.22
Remediation
- Resolve workspace and avatar paths with
realpathand enforce realpath containment. - Open files with
O_NOFOLLOWwhen available. - Compare pre-open and opened file identity (
dev/ino) to block swap races. - Add regression tests for outside-workspace symlink rejection and in-workspace symlink allowance.
Fix Commit(s)
3d0337504349954237d09e4d957df5cb844d5e77
OpenClaw thanks @aether-ai-agent for reporting.
- Record
GHSA-9mph-4f7v-fmvh- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
openclawnpm |
before 2026.2.22 | 2026.2.22 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | GitHub Advisories, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
GHSA-9mph-4f7v-fmvh is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.9) in openclaw, published March 4, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. Fixed in openclaw 2026.2.22.