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OpenclawApplication

CVE-2026-53857

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2026.5.3 or later.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
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 before 2026.5.3 contains a policy enforcement vulnerability where Zalo contacts with mutable display metadata could match allowFrom policy entries through display name changes. Attackers with mutable display names could receive agent responses intended for different Zalo identities when the feature is enabled.

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 before 2026.5.3 has a policy enforcement flaw where the allowFrom feature matches Zalo contacts by their display name rather than a stable identifier. Since display names are mutable, an attacker can change their display name to match an authorized contact's name and receive agent responses intended for that identity.

MitigationUpgrade to OpenClaw 2026.5.3 or later, which implements stable identifier-based policy matching instead of relying on mutable display names.

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:< 2026.5.3

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify OpenClaw installation and version
    Locate the OpenClaw application on your system and check its version number (typically found in the application metadata, about screen, or version file in the installation directory)
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 2026.5.3
  2. Locate OpenClaw configuration files
    Find the configuration directory where OpenClaw stores its policy settings (commonly in the config or settings subdirectory of the OpenClaw installation)
    Affected if Configuration files exist and contain policy definitions
  3. Check if allowFrom policy is enabled for Zalo contacts
    Inspect the configuration files for entries containing 'allowFrom' and 'Zalo' or 'zalo' to determine if the policy feature is active
    Affected if allowFrom policy entries for Zalo contacts are present and enabled
  4. Examine Zalo contact policy entries
    Review the displayName or name fields in Zalo-related policy configurations to see if they rely on user-provided display names rather than immutable identifiers
    Affected if Policy entries use display names (user-editable) rather than immutable Zalo user IDs or account identifiers

Your environment is affected if OpenClaw version is below 2026.5.3 and the allowFrom policy feature is enabled for Zalo contacts using display name matching.

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 2026.5.3 or later
Fixed in 2026.5.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to OpenClaw 2026.5.3 or later, which implements stable identifier-based policy matching instead of relying on mutable display names.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

2026.5.3

  1. 1. Back up your current OpenClaw configuration and data directory
  2. 2. Download OpenClaw version 2026.5.3 from the official GitHub repository (github.com)
  3. 3. Stop the currently running OpenClaw service
  4. 4. Install the upgraded version (2026.5.3) following standard upgrade procedures
  5. 5. Review and re-apply any custom configuration settings if needed
  6. 6. Restart the OpenClaw service
  7. 7. Verify that the allowFrom policy enforcement is working correctly with the fixed version
  8. 8. Test that Zalo contacts can no longer bypass policy by changing display names

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

Fix this in Openclaw Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,200
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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-2026-53857 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