OpenclawApplication

CVE-2026-43585

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2026.4.15 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 before 2026.4.15 captures resolved bearer-auth configuration at startup, allowing revoked tokens to remain valid after SecretRef rotation. Gateway HTTP and WebSocket handlers fail to re-resolve authentication per-request, enabling attackers to use rotated-out bearer tokens for unauthorized gateway access.

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 · moderate confidence

OpenClaw captures bearer-auth configuration at application startup and does not re-resolve authentication credentials on each request. When SecretRef rotation occurs, previously revoked tokens remain valid because the gateway HTTP and WebSocket handlers continue to use the cached/stale configuration instead of re-querying the authentication source per-request.

MitigationUpgrade to OpenClaw version 2026.4.15 or later, which implements per-request bearer token re-resolution to ensure rotated secrets are respected immediately.

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:< 2026.4.15

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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. Check installed OpenClaw version
    Run 'openclaw --version' or check the application binary/version file to determine the running version
    Affected if Version is lower than 2026.4.15
  2. Identify bearer-auth configuration
    Review OpenClaw gateway configuration files or API definitions for authentication settings containing 'bearer-auth', 'SecretRef', or similar token-based authentication references
    Affected if Bearer authentication with SecretRef is configured and in use
  3. Inspect authentication caching behavior
    Examine gateway configuration for settings controlling credential refresh, such as 'cacheCredentials', 'staticAuthConfig', or similar options that prevent per-request re-resolution
    Affected if Authentication configuration lacks per-request re-resolution or explicitly caches credentials at startup

A user is affected if they run OpenClaw version below 2026.4.15 and use bearer-auth with SecretRef configuration, where rotated secrets are not being respected due to cached authentication credentials.

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 2026.4.15 or later
Fixed in 2026.4.15
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to OpenClaw version 2026.4.15 or later, which implements per-request bearer token re-resolution to ensure rotated secrets are respected immediately.

Recommended fix High confidence

2026.4.15 or later

  1. 1. Identify all OpenClaw deployments running versions prior to 2026.4.15
  2. 2. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  3. 3. Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.4.15 or later by updating the deployment configuration
  4. 4. After upgrade, verify that authentication is re-resolved per-request by testing token rotation: create a bearer token, confirm it works, then rotate the SecretRef, and confirm the old token is rejected
  5. 5. Monitor gateway access logs to ensure rotated tokens are no longer accepted

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

Fix this in Openclaw Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,320
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,712.

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-2026-43585 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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