CVE-2026-27486: OpenClaw Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8
Share
CWE-283
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-27486 is a MODERATE process safety - unvalidated pid vulnerability (CWE-283: Unverified Ownership) affecting OpenClaw libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves process safety - unvalidated pid kill via sigkill in process cleanup. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2026.2.14.

CVE-2026-27486 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-27486
GHSA Identifier GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-283: Unverified Ownership
Affected Product OpenClaw
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2026-27486

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected OpenClaw dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

openclaw fixed: 2026.2.14 
npm install openclaw@2026.2.14
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

npm ls openclaw

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2026-27486, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls openclaw

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of OpenClaw in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2026.2.14), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls openclaw command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-283: Unverified Ownership, where the product does not properly verify that a critical resource is owned by the proper entity. In OpenClaw, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

## Summary OpenClaw CLI process cleanup used system-wide process enumeration and pattern matching to terminate processes without verifying they were owned by the current OpenClaw process. On shared hosts, unrelated processes could be terminated if they matched the pattern. ## Affected Packages / Versions - Package: `openclaw` (npm) - Affected: `< 2026.2.14` (including the latest published version `2026.2.13`) - Fixed: `2026.2.14` (planned next release) ## Details The CLI runner cleanup helpers could kill processes matched by command-line patterns without validating process ownership. ## Fix Process cleanup is now scoped to owned processes only by filtering to direct child PIDs of the current process (`ppid == process.pid`) before sending signals. Hardening follow-ups: - Prefer graceful termination for resume cleanup (`SIGTERM`, then `SIGKILL` fallback). - Reduce false negatives from `ps` argv truncation by preferring wide output (`ps -axww`) with a fallback. - Tighten command-line token matching to avoid substring matches. ## Fix Commit(s) - 6084d13b956119e3cf95daaf9a1cae1670ea3557 - eb60e2e1b213740c3c587a7ba4dbf10da620ca66 ## Release Process Note This advisory is pre-set with patched version `2026.2.14`. After `2026.2.14` is published to npm, the remaining step should be to publish this advisory. Thanks @aether-ai-agent for reporting.

CVE-2026-27486 Affected OpenClaw Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2026.2.14
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
openclaw
npm/openclaw
npm
< 2026.2.14
2026.2.14

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8
NVD — CVE-2026-27486 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-27486
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/6084d13b956119e3cf95daaf9a1cae1670ea3557
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/eb60e2e1b213740c3c587a7ba4dbf10da620ca66
OpenClaw Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw
OpenClaw Release RELEASE
https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases/tag/v2026.2.14

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-27486?
CVE-2026-27486 is a security vulnerability in OpenClaw involving Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Kill via SIGKILL in Process Cleanup under CWE-283: Unverified Ownership.
Which OpenClaw versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2026.2.14 across affected packages: openclaw.
What version fixes CVE-2026-27486?
Upgrading to 2026.2.14 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is openclaw affected?
Yes, openclaw is affected in releases prior to 2026.2.14. Upgrade your dependency to 2026.2.14 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-27486?
CVE-2026-27486 is classified under CWE-283: Unverified Ownership (The product does not properly verify that a critical resource is owned by the proper entity.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2026-27486?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls openclaw'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8",
  "modified" : "2026-02-23T22:28:47Z",
  "published" : "2026-02-18T17:41:09Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-27486" ],
  "summary" : "OpenClaw: Process Safety - Unvalidated PID Kill via SIGKILL in Process Cleanup",
  "details" : "## Summary\n\nOpenClaw CLI process cleanup used system-wide process enumeration and pattern matching to terminate processes without verifying they were owned by the current OpenClaw process. On shared hosts, unrelated processes could be terminated if they matched the pattern.\n\n## Affected Packages / Versions\n\n- Package: `openclaw` (npm)\n- Affected: `< 2026.2.14` (including the latest published version `2026.2.13`)\n- Fixed: `2026.2.14` (planned next release)\n\n## Details\n\nThe CLI runner cleanup helpers could kill processes matched by command-line patterns without validating process ownership.\n\n## Fix\n\nProcess cleanup is now scoped to owned processes only by filtering to direct child PIDs of the current process (`ppid == process.pid`) before sending signals.\n\nHardening follow-ups:\n- Prefer graceful termination for resume cleanup (`SIGTERM`, then `SIGKILL` fallback).\n- Reduce false negatives from `ps` argv truncation by preferring wide output (`ps -axww`) with a fallback.\n- Tighten command-line token matching to avoid substring matches.\n\n## Fix Commit(s)\n\n- 6084d13b956119e3cf95daaf9a1cae1670ea3557\n- eb60e2e1b213740c3c587a7ba4dbf10da620ca66\n\n## Release Process Note\n\nThis advisory is pre-set with patched version `2026.2.14`. After `2026.2.14` is published to npm, the remaining step should be to publish this advisory.\n\nThanks @aether-ai-agent for reporting.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "openclaw"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2026.2.14"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-jfv4-h8mc-jcp8"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-27486"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/6084d13b956119e3cf95daaf9a1cae1670ea3557"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/eb60e2e1b213740c3c587a7ba4dbf10da620ca66"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases/tag/v2026.2.14"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-283" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-02-18T17:41:09Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-02-21T10:16:12Z"
  }
}