Privilege escalation via silent shared-auth reconnect
Published Apr 9, 2026 · Updated Apr 9, 2026
Privilege escalation in OpenClaw before 2026.3.25 allows local users to gain operator.admin access through a shared-auth reconnect. The Gateway WebSocket connection handler treated a silent pairing request on local shared authentication as approved, even when the requested scopes exceeded the device's operator.read grant. A paired device identity and the shared authentication secret are required; the widened operator.admin scope enables command execution on the node.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in OpenClaw before 2026.3.25 allows local users to gain operator.admin access through a shared-auth reconnect. The Gateway WebSocket connection handler treated a silent pairing request on local shared authentication as approved, even when the requested scopes exceeded the device's operator.read grant. A paired device identity and the shared authentication secret are required; the widened operator.admin scope enables command execution on the node.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-35625
- Published
- Apr 9, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 9, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenClaw Foundation
- Product
- OpenClaw
- Classifications
- CWE-648, CWE-863, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 9, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 9, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <2026.3.25
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Upstream silent scope-upgrade reconnect proof-of-concept testproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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