OpenclawApplication

CVE-2026-32048

CRITICAL · 9.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2026.3.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.1 fail to enforce sandbox inheritance during cross-agent sessions_spawn operations, allowing sandboxed sessions to create child processes under unsandboxed agents. An attacker with a sandboxed session can exploit this to spawn child runtimes with sandbox.mode set to off, bypassing runtime confinement restrictions.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.1 contain a sandbox inheritance flaw in cross-agent session_spawn operations. When a sandboxed session spawns a child process targeting an agent, the sandbox mode is not properly inherited, allowing the child runtime to be launched with sandbox.mode disabled. This enables sandboxed sessions to escape confinement by spawning unsandboxed child processes.

MitigationUpgrade to OpenClaw 2026.3.1 or later, which enforces sandbox inheritance for all session_spawn operations. As a compensating control, disable session_spawn functionality for untrusted agents until patching is complete.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
OpenclawApplication
Affected:< 2026.3.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify OpenClaw installation version
    Run the OpenClaw version command or inspect the package metadata to determine the installed version of OpenClaw
    Affected if The installed version is before 2026.3.1
  2. Confirm sessions_spawn feature is in use
    Review application logs, configuration, or runtime behavior to determine whether sessions_spawn operations are being performed to spawn child processes from sandboxed sessions
    Affected if sessions_spawn is used to create child processes from a sandboxed parent session
  3. Inspect child runtime sandbox configuration
    Examine the runtime configuration or process attributes of child processes spawned via sessions_spawn to verify the sandbox.mode setting applied to those child runtimes
    Affected if The child process runtime shows sandbox.mode set to 'off' while the parent session had sandboxing enabled

A system is affected if it runs OpenClaw version before 2026.3.1 AND uses sessions_spawn to create child processes from sandboxed sessions, resulting in child runtimes with sandbox.mode disabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2026.3.1 or later
Fixed in 2026.3.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to OpenClaw 2026.3.1 or later, which enforces sandbox inheritance for all session_spawn operations. As a compensating control, disable session_spawn functionality for untrusted agents until patching is complete.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

2026.3.1

  1. Identify the current OpenClaw version in use
  2. Consult the official OpenClaw release notes or GitHub repository for upgrade instructions
  3. Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.3.1 or later
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful and the sandbox inheritance is now properly enforced

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Openclaw Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-32048 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data