OpenClaw/Clawdbot/Moltbot up to 2026.2.14 Working Directory command injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in OpenClaw, Clawdbot and Moltbot up to 2026.2.14. Affected is an unknown function of the component Working Directory Handler. The manipulation leads to command injection. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-27001. Local access is required to approach this attack. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in OpenClaw, Clawdbot and Moltbot up to 2026.2.14 and classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component Working Directory Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a command injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-77. The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-27001 since 02/17/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1202 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299798 (OpenClaw < 2026.2.15 Multiple Vulnerabilities), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 2026.2.15 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (299798) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0459). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source OpenClaw

Productinfo

Type

• Artificial Intelligence Software

Name

• Clawdbot
• Moltbot
• OpenClaw

Version

• 2026.2.0
• 2026.2.1
• 2026.2.2
• 2026.2.3
• 2026.2.4
• 2026.2.5
• 2026.2.6
• 2026.2.7
• 2026.2.8
• 2026.2.9
• 2026.2.10
• 2026.2.11
• 2026.2.12
• 2026.2.13
• 2026.2.14

Website

• Product: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/

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Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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