Executive Summary

CVE-2026-41404 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.31. It occurs in the trusted-proxy authentication mode due to an incomplete scope-clearing mechanism. Attackers with limited privileges can declare operator scopes on non-Control-UI clients, causing these self-declared scopes to persist on authentication paths that carry real user identities. This persistence allows attackers to escalate their privileges to operator.admin level.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows attackers who have some level of access to escalate their privileges to operator.admin, which is a higher and more powerful privilege level. This can lead to unauthorized administrative control over the system, potentially allowing attackers to perform sensitive operations, modify configurations, or access restricted data.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate the CVE-2026-41404 vulnerability, you should upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.3.31 or later, as this version contains the fix that properly clears operator scopes in trusted-proxy authentication mode.

• Apply the patch introduced in commit 8b88b927cb0747ad24d95b07d35682bf85dc5b0e which enhances scope clearing for trusted-proxy authentication.
• Avoid using OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.31, as they contain an incomplete scope-clearing mechanism that allows privilege escalation.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability in OpenClaw allows attackers to escalate privileges to operator.admin by exploiting incomplete scope-clearing in trusted-proxy authentication mode. This incorrect authorization (CWE-863) can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive functions or data.

Such unauthorized privilege escalation can impact compliance with common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require strict access controls and protection of personal and sensitive data. Failure to properly enforce authorization may result in unauthorized data access or modification, violating these regulatory requirements.

Therefore, until patched, this vulnerability poses a risk to maintaining compliance with these standards by undermining the integrity of access control mechanisms.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves an incomplete scope-clearing mechanism in OpenClaw's trusted-proxy authentication mode, allowing operator scopes to persist improperly. Detection would involve checking if OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.31 are in use and if unauthorized operator scopes are present on non-Control-UI clients.

Since the vulnerability is related to self-declared operator scopes persisting on identity-bearing authentication paths, detection could include monitoring authentication logs or WebSocket connection policies for unexpected operator scope declarations from non-Control-UI clients.

No specific detection commands are provided in the available resources. However, general steps might include:

• Verify the OpenClaw version installed on your system to ensure it is 2026.3.31 or later.
• Inspect authentication logs or WebSocket connection logs for sessions authenticated via trusted-proxy mode that have operator scopes assigned without proper device identity binding.
• Use network monitoring tools to capture and analyze WebSocket traffic for unauthorized scope declarations.

Because no explicit commands or detection scripts are mentioned in the resources, it is recommended to consult OpenClaw's logging and monitoring capabilities or implement custom log analysis to detect anomalous operator scope assignments.

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