CVE-2026-22170: OpenClaw BlueBubbles (optional Plugin) Pairing/allowlist Mismatch Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-jwf4-8wf4-jf2m",
  "modified" : "2026-03-18T21:52:51Z",
  "published" : "2026-03-04T19:44:50Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-22170" ],
  "summary" : "OpenClaw: BlueBubbles (optional plugin) pairing/allowlist mismatch when allowFrom is empty",
  "details" : "### Summary\nBlueBubbles is an optional OpenClaw channel plugin. A configuration-sensitive access-control mismatch allowed DM senders to be treated as authorized when `dmPolicy` was `pairing` or `allowlist` and `allowFrom` was empty/unset.\n\n### Severity Rationale (Medium)\nSeverity is set to **medium** because:\n- this affects an optional plugin, not core messaging surfaces;\n- many deployments use owner-controlled/private BlueBubbles identities with limited external reachability;\n- practical exploitability depends on an untrusted sender being able to reach that specific BlueBubbles account identifier.\n\nIn typical personal/self-hosted BlueBubbles setups, the mapped Apple identity is single-owner and not broadly reachable, so this is usually low practical risk.\n\nRisk is higher in deployments where the identifier is publicly reachable and/or agent tool permissions are broad.\n\n### Technical Details\n1. BlueBubbles DM policy defaults to `pairing` (`dmPolicy ?? \"pairing\"`).\n2. Effective allowlist can be empty (`effectiveAllowFrom`).\n3. DM/reaction authorization called `isAllowedBlueBubblesSender(...)`.\n4. That delegated to shared `isAllowedParsedChatSender(...)`, which previously returned `true` for empty allowlists.\n5. Result: unknown senders could bypass intended pairing/allowlist gating when `allowFrom` was empty.\n\n### Affected Packages / Versions\n- Package: `openclaw` (npm)\n- Vulnerable versions: `<= 2026.2.21-2`\n- Planned fixed version: `2026.2.22`\n\n### Fix\nThe shared parsed-chat allowlist helper now fails closed on empty allowlists, restoring expected BlueBubbles DM gating behavior. BlueBubbles inbound gating was also refactored to use one shared DM/group decision helper for both message and reaction paths to reduce future drift.\n\n### Fix Commit(s)\n- `9632b9bcf032c5f2280c3103961fde912ab1f920`\n- `2ba6de7eaad812e5e8603018e14e54e96bdd57dd`\n- `51c0893673de8e5cea64e64351dbfa4680ba0dec`\n- `4540790cb62412676f7b61cfc6e47443f84a251e`\n\nOpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "openclaw"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2026.2.22"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-jwf4-8wf4-jf2m"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22170"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/2ba6de7eaad812e5e8603018e14e54e96bdd57dd"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/4540790cb62412676f7b61cfc6e47443f84a251e"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/51c0893673de8e5cea64e64351dbfa4680ba0dec"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/9632b9bcf032c5f2280c3103961fde912ab1f920"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-bluebubbles-access-control-bypass-via-empty-allowfrom-configuration"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-863" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-03-04T19:44:50Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-03-18T02:16:21Z"
  }
}