OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 on macOS contain a path validation bypass vulnerability in the exec-approval allowlist mode that allows local attackers to execute unauthorized binaries by exploiting basename-only allowlist entries. Attackers can execute same-name local binaries ./echo without approval when security=allowlist and ask=on-miss are configured, bypassing intended path-based policy restrictions.

OpenClaw before 2026.4.22 derives loopback MCP owner context from spoofable server-issued bearer tokens in request headers. Non-owner loopback clients can present themselves as owner to bypass owner-gated operations by manipulating the sender-owner header metadata.

OpenClaw before 2026.4.8 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing previously paired nodes to reconnect with exec-capable commands without the operator.admin scope requirement. Attackers can bypass re-pairing authentication to execute privileged commands on the local assistant system.

OpenClaw through 2026.2.22 contains a symlink traversal vulnerability in agents.create and agents.update handlers that use fs.appendFile on IDENTITY.md without symlink containment checks. Attackers with workspace access can plant symlinks to append attacker-controlled content to arbitrary files, enabling remote code execution via crontab injection or unauthorized access via SSH key manipulation.

OpenClaw before 2026.3.25 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where silent local shared-auth reconnects auto-approve scope-upgrade requests, widening paired device permissions from operator.read to operator.admin. Attackers can exploit this by triggering local reconnection to silently escalate privileges and achieve remote code execution on the node.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.24 contain a policy bypass vulnerability in the safeBins allowlist evaluation that trusts static default directories including writable package-manager paths like /opt/homebrew/bin and /usr/local/bin. An attacker with write access to these trusted directories can place a malicious binary with the same name as an allowed executable to achieve arbitrary command execution within the OpenClaw runtime context.

OpenClaw versions 2026.1.21 prior to 2026.2.19 contain a path hijacking vulnerability in tools.exec.safeBins that allows attackers to bypass allowlist checks by controlling process PATH resolution. Attackers who can influence the gateway process PATH or launch environment can execute trojan binaries with allowlisted names, such as jq, circumventing executable validation controls.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.25 contain a symlink traversal vulnerability in browser trace and download output path handling that allows local attackers to escape the managed temp root directory. An attacker with local access can create symlinks to route file writes outside the intended temp directory, enabling arbitrary file overwrite on the affected system.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.19 contain a command injection vulnerability in the Lobster extension tool execution that uses Windows shell fallback with shell: true after spawn failures. Attackers can inject shell metacharacters in command arguments to execute arbitrary commands when subprocess launch fails with EINVAL or ENOENT errors.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 contain an arbitrary shell execution vulnerability in shell environment fallback that trusts the unvalidated SHELL path from the host environment. An attacker with local environment access can inject a malicious SHELL variable to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the OpenClaw process.

OpenClaw version 2026.2.19-2 prior to 2026.2.21 contains a command injection vulnerability in systemd unit file generation where attacker-controlled environment values are not validated for CR/LF characters, allowing newline injection to break out of Environment= lines and inject arbitrary systemd directives. An attacker who can influence config.env.vars and trigger service install or restart can execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the OpenClaw gateway service user.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.19 contain a local command injection vulnerability in Windows scheduled task script generation due to unsafe handling of cmd metacharacters and expansion-sensitive characters in gateway.cmd files. Local attackers with control over service script generation arguments can inject arbitrary commands by providing metacharacter-only values or CR/LF sequences that execute unintended code in the scheduled task context.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.1 fail to properly handle authentication bootstrap errors during startup, allowing browser-control routes to remain accessible without authentication. Local processes or loopback-reachable SSRF paths can exploit this to access browser-control routes including evaluate-capable actions without valid credentials.

OpenClaw versions 2026.1.5 prior to 2026.2.12 fail to enforce mandatory authentication on the /agent/act browser-control HTTP route, allowing unauthorized local callers to invoke privileged operations. Remote attackers on the local network or local processes can execute arbitrary browser-context actions and access sensitive in-session data by sending requests to unauthenticated endpoints.

OpenClaw is a personal AI assistant. Prior to version 2026.2.15, OpenClaw embedded the current working directory (workspace path) into the agent system prompt without sanitization. If an attacker can cause OpenClaw to run inside a directory whose name contains control/format characters (for example newlines or Unicode bidi/zero-width markers), those characters could break the prompt structure and inject attacker-controlled instructions. Starting in version 2026.2.15, the workspace path is sanitized before it is embedded into any LLM prompt output, stripping Unicode control/format characters and explicit line/paragraph separators. Workspace path resolution also applies the same sanitization as defense-in-depth.

OpenClaw version 2026.2.22 prior to 2026.2.23 contains an arbitrary code execution vulnerability in shell-env that allows attackers to execute attacker-controlled binaries by exploiting trusted-prefix fallback logic for the $SHELL variable. An attacker can influence the $SHELL environment variable on systems with writable trusted-prefix directories such as /opt/homebrew/bin to execute arbitrary binaries in the OpenClaw process context.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.19 contain a command injection vulnerability in Windows Scheduled Task script generation where environment variables are written to gateway.cmd using unquoted set KEY=VALUE assignments, allowing shell metacharacters to break out of assignment context. Attackers can inject arbitrary commands through environment variable values containing metacharacters like &, |, ^, %, or ! to achieve command execution when the scheduled task script is generated and executed.

OpenClaw versions 2026.2.26 prior to 2026.3.1 on Windows contain a current working directory injection vulnerability in wrapper resolution for .cmd/.bat files that allows attackers to influence execution behavior through cwd manipulation. Remote attackers can exploit improper shell execution fallback mechanisms to achieve command execution integrity loss by controlling the current working directory during wrapper resolution.

OpenClaw before 2026.4.23 contains an arbitrary code execution vulnerability in the bundled plugin setup resolver that loads setup-api.js from process.cwd() during provider setup metadata resolution. Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript under the current user account by placing a malicious extensions/<plugin>/setup-api.js file in a repository and convincing a user to run OpenClaw commands from that directory.

OpenClaw before 2026.3.31 contains an incomplete host-env-security-policy.json that fails to restrict compiler binary environment variables, allowing untrusted models to substitute CC, CXX, CARGO_BUILD_RUSTC, and CMAKE_C_COMPILER via environment overrides. Attackers with approved host-exec requests can override compiler binaries to execute arbitrary code during build processes.

OpenClaw versions 2026.1.5 prior to 2026.2.14 contain a vulnerability in the Gateway in which it does not sufficiently constrain configured hook module paths before passing them to dynamic import(), allowing code execution. An attacker with gateway configuration modification access can load and execute unintended local modules in the Node.js process.

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.14 contain a command hijacking vulnerability that allows attackers to execute unintended binaries by manipulating PATH environment variables through node-host execution or project-local bootstrapping. Attackers with authenticated access to node-host execution surfaces or those running OpenClaw in attacker-controlled directories can place malicious executables in PATH to override allowlisted safe-bin commands and achieve arbitrary command execution.

A privilege escalation vulnerability in the McAfee Agent prior to 5.7.5. McAfee Agent uses openssl.cnf during the build process to specify the OPENSSLDIR variable as a subdirectory within the installation directory. A low privilege user could have created subdirectories and executed arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges by creating the appropriate pathway to the specifically created malicious openssl.cnf file.

A misconfiguration in the node default path allows for local privilege escalation from a lower privileged user to the Splunk user in Splunk Enterprise versions before 8.1.1 on Windows.

An uncontrolled search path element vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Apex One and Apex One as a Service could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is similar but not identical to CVE-2021-42103.

An uncontrolled search path element vulnerabilities in Trend Micro Apex One and Apex One as a Service agents could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIPO.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIPO.DLL, which is then loaded when the executable starts, resulting in execution of attacker-controlled code with the privileges of the process.

Rapid7 Insight Agent, versions 3.0.1 to 3.1.2.34, suffer from a local privilege escalation due to an uncontrolled DLL search path. Specifically, when Insight Agent versions 3.0.1 to 3.1.2.34 start, the Python interpreter attempts to load python3.dll at "C:\DLLs\python3.dll," which normally is writable by locally authenticated users. Because of this, a malicious local user could use Insight Agent's startup conditions to elevate to SYSTEM privileges. This issue was fixed in Rapid7 Insight Agent 3.1.2.35. This vulnerability is a regression of CVE-2019-5629.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIPC.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIPC.DLL, which is then loaded on execution, resulting in attacker-controlled code running with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAISP.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAISP.DLL, which is then loaded on execution, resulting in attacker-controlled code running with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIAM.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIAM.DLL, which is then loaded on execution, resulting in attacker-controlled code running with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIDP.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIDP.DLL, which is then loaded on execution, resulting in attacker-controlled code running with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIMF.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIMF.DLL, which is then loaded when the executable starts, resulting in execution of attacker-controlled code with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAIAU.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAIAU.DLL, which is then loaded on execution, resulting in attacker-controlled code running with the privileges of the process.

MailEnable versions prior to 10.54 contain an unsafe DLL loading vulnerability that can lead to local arbitrary code execution. The MailEnable administrative executable attempts to load MEAISM.DLL from its installation directory without sufficient integrity validation or a secure search order. A local attacker with write access to that directory can plant a malicious MEAISM.DLL, which is then loaded when the executable starts, resulting in execution of attacker-controlled code with the privileges of the process.

Use of an insecure temporary directory in the Windows License plugin for the Checkmk Windows Agent allows Privilege Escalation. This issue affects Checkmk: from 2.4.0 before 2.4.0p13, from 2.3.0 before 2.3.0p38, from 2.2.0 before 2.2.0p46, and all versions of 2.1.0 (EOL).

Uncontrolled search path in some Intel(R) oneAPI Toolkit and component software installers before version 4.3.2 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

VIPRE Advanced Security PMAgent Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of VIPRE Advanced Security. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Patch Management Agent. The issue results from loading a file from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-22316.

Uncontrolled search path element in some Intel(R) VTune(TM) Profiler software before version 2024.0 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

Delta Electronics DIALink versions 1.2.4.0 and prior insecurely loads libraries, which may allow an attacker to use DLL hijacking and takeover the system where the software is installed.

Delta Electronics DIALink versions 1.2.4.0 and prior default permissions give extensive permissions to low-privileged user accounts, which may allow an attacker to modify the installation directory and upload malicious files.

Uncontrolled search path in the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector before version 2020 update 3 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.

Dell Peripheral Manager 1.3.1 or greater contains remediation for a local privilege escalation vulnerability that could be potentially exploited to gain arbitrary code execution on the system with privileges of the system user.

** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED ** A vulnerability was found in Captura up to 8.0.0. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects unknown code in the library CRYPTBASE.dll. The manipulation leads to uncontrolled search path. Attacking locally is a requirement. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitation appears to be difficult. The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-230668. NOTE: This vulnerability only affects products that are no longer supported by the maintainer.

Adobe ColdFusion Update 5 and earlier versions, ColdFusion 11 Update 13 and earlier versions have an exploitable Insecure Library Loading vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to local privilege escalation.

A vulnerability in the interprocess communication (IPC) channel of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a DLL hijacking attack on an affected device if the VPN Posture (HostScan) Module is installed on the AnyConnect client. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of resources that are loaded by the application at run time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted IPC message to the AnyConnect process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected machine with SYSTEM privileges. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needs valid credentials on the Windows system.

An uncontrolled search path vulnerability was reported in the Lenovo Universal Device Client (UDC) that could allow an attacker with local access to execute code with elevated privileges.

Multiple vulnerabilities in the install, uninstall, and upgrade processes of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to hijack DLL or executable files that are used by the application. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected device with SYSTEM privileges. To exploit these vulnerabilities, the attacker must have valid credentials on the Windows system. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

CyberGhostVPN Windows Client before v8.3.10.10015 was discovered to contain a DLL injection vulnerability via the component Dashboard.exe.

sharkdp BAT before 0.18.2 executes less.exe from the current working directory.