CVE-2026-22176: Openclaw OpenClaw Has A Command Injection Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph",
  "modified" : "2026-03-20T21:35:48Z",
  "published" : "2026-03-03T21:50:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-22176" ],
  "summary" : "OpenClaw has a Command Injection via unescaped environment assignments in Windows Scheduled Task script generation",
  "details" : "### Summary\nA command injection vulnerability existed in Windows Scheduled Task script generation for OpenClaw. Environment values were written into `gateway.cmd` using unquoted `set KEY=VALUE`, which allowed Windows shell metacharacters in config-provided environment variables to break out of assignment context.\n\n### Affected Packages / Versions\n- Package: `openclaw` (npm)\n- Affected versions: `<= 2026.2.17`\n- Patched version: `>= 2026.2.19`\n- Latest published vulnerable version at review time (2026-02-19): `2026.2.17`\n\n### Practical Risk Context\nFor a single-user, localhost-only setup on a personally controlled machine, practical risk is typically low.\n\nThis issue becomes materially relevant when configuration or environment values are sourced from less-trusted inputs, for example:\n- shared/team config templates,\n- copied config snippets,\n- setup scripts, automation, or repos that write config,\n- any workflow where another party can influence env values before `gateway install`/reinstall.\n\nIn those scenarios, it provides a reliable config-to-command-execution path when the scheduled task script is generated and run.\n\n### Details\nOn Windows, gateway service installation writes a helper batch script and then registers it via Scheduled Task (`schtasks`).\nBefore the fix, env lines were rendered as `set KEY=VALUE` in `src/daemon/schtasks.ts`, so values containing metacharacters (for example `&`, `|`, `^`, `%`, `!`) could alter command behavior in `cmd.exe`.\n\nThe fix now renders quoted assignments (`set \"KEY=VALUE\"`) with explicit escaping for cmd metacharacters, updates parser compatibility for quoted assignments, and adds regression tests for metacharacter handling and round-trip parsing.\n\n### Fix Commit(s)\n- `dafe52e8cf1a041d898cfb304a485fa05e5f58fb`\n\nOpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "openclaw"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2026.2.19"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 2026.2.17"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22176"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/dafe52e8cf1a041d898cfb304a485fa05e5f58fb"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-command-injection-via-unescaped-environment-variables-in-windows-scheduled-task"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-78" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-03-03T21:50:05Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}