Input Validation Flaw in OpenClaw Tool Group Policy

Compliance Impact

The provided information does not explicitly address how the vulnerability in OpenClaw affects compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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Executive Summary

CVE-2026-53863 is an input validation vulnerability in OpenClaw versions before 2026.4.25. The issue occurs in tool group policy callers that accept unvalidated group IDs. Attackers who can supply a group ID to the policy resolver may cause incorrect group-policy decisions for tool invocations, potentially bypassing intended access controls.

This flaw is classified as an authorization bypass through user-controlled key (CWE-639), meaning that by controlling the group ID input, an attacker can manipulate authorization decisions.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow attackers to bypass intended access controls by manipulating group-policy decisions for tool invocations. This means unauthorized users might gain access to tools or functions they should not have permission to use.

The impact primarily affects the integrity of the system, as unauthorized actions could be performed. Confidentiality impact is low and there is no availability impact.

The exploit requires network access, low complexity, and low privileges, but no user interaction, making it moderately easy to exploit if the attacker can supply group IDs.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate the vulnerability in OpenClaw before version 2026.4.25, you should take the following immediate steps:

• Avoid exposing group-policy controlled tools to untrusted senders.
• Keep allowlists narrow to limit which inputs can reach the affected policy resolver.
• Disable the affected feature if it is not necessary in your environment.
• Upgrade OpenClaw to version 2026.4.25 or later, where the vulnerability is patched.

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Detection Guidance

Detection of this vulnerability involves identifying whether your OpenClaw installation is a version prior to 2026.4.25, as these versions are affected by the unvalidated group ID acceptance issue.

You can check the installed OpenClaw version on your system using the following command:

• openclaw --version

If the version is earlier than 2026.4.25, your system is potentially vulnerable.

Additionally, to detect attempts to exploit this vulnerability, you can monitor logs or network traffic for unusual or unauthorized group ID inputs to tool group policy callers, although specific detection commands or signatures are not provided in the available resources.

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