CVE-2026-53851
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 · uneditedOpenClaw before 2026.5.12 contains a notification bypass vulnerability allowing Slack reaction events to enter the agent pipeline despite disabled reaction notifications. Attackers can trigger unintended agent processing by sending reaction events when the feature is enabled, potentially leading to unauthorized processing of lower-trust input.
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 confidenceOpenClaw before 2026.5.12 fails to properly respect disabled reaction notification settings, allowing Slack reaction events to bypass the notification toggle and enter the agent pipeline. Attackers can exploit this by sending reaction events to trigger unauthorized agent processing of lower-trust input when reaction notifications are ostensibly disabled.
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< 2026.5.12= 2026.5.12CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed OpenClaw versionRun the command to display the OpenClaw version (for example: openclaw --version, or check the package.json/VERSION file in the installation directory)Affected if The installed version is any version before 2026.5.12, or exactly 2026.5.12 (the fix was released in this version but the version listed may be the initial patch release)
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Locate the reaction notification configurationFind the configuration file or settings area where notification preferences are stored for Slack reaction eventsAffected if Reaction notifications are set to disabled or 'off' but the configuration exists
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Verify if reaction events are entering the agent pipelineMonitor or inspect the agent pipeline logs/input queue to see if reaction events are being processed when reaction notification settings are disabledAffected if Reaction events are observed being processed by the agent pipeline despite notification settings being disabled
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Check for unexpected agent processing triggered by reactionsReview agent execution logs or audit trails for instances where reaction-based events initiated agent processing on messagesAffected if Agent processing was triggered by reaction events when reaction notifications were intended to be disabled
You are affected if your OpenClaw version is below 2026.5.12 and you have reaction notifications disabled but reaction events are still reaching the agent pipeline.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped2026.5.12
Upgrade to OpenClaw version 2026.5.12 or later which contains the fix for this notification bypass vulnerability.
2026.5.12
- 1. Backup your current OpenClaw installation and configuration data
- 2. Download OpenClaw version 2026.5.12 or later from the official GitHub repository
- 3. Stop the OpenClaw service or application
- 4. Replace the existing OpenClaw files with the new version
- 5. Verify that reaction notification settings are properly enforced after upgrade
- 6. Restart the OpenClaw service
- 7. Test that disabled Slack reaction notifications now properly block reaction events from entering the agent pipeline
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-53851 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-53851 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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