CVE-2026-41355 Openclaw CVE debrief

Who should care

Administrators and operators running OpenClaw with mirror mode enabled, especially where users or tenants can place untrusted sandbox content. Security teams should prioritize systems that start gateways automatically or rely on workspace hooks during startup.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is an arbitrary code execution issue in mirror mode. According to the supplied description, mirror mode can transform untrusted sandbox files into workspace hooks, and those hooks may be executed when the gateway starts. NVD’s entry lists affected OpenClaw CPEs as versions earlier than 2026.3.28, with a CVSS v4.0 vector of AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N. The supplied weakness mapping identifies CWE-829 (inclusion of functionality from untrusted control sphere).

Defensive priority

High for environments that expose mirror mode to less-trusted users or process untrusted sandbox files. While the published CVSS score is medium, the impact described includes host-level code execution, so remediation should be treated urgently wherever the affected feature is enabled.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade OpenClaw to 2026.3.28 or later, using the vendor patch/advisory references supplied in the source corpus.
• Review whether mirror mode is necessary; disable it where it is not required.
• Restrict access to mirror mode and any workflow that can introduce untrusted sandbox files.
• Audit gateway startup behavior and workspace hook configuration for unexpected or user-controlled hook execution.
• Check for any signs that untrusted content was converted into hooks before remediation.
• Validate deployments against the affected version range noted by NVD (versions before 2026.3.28).

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the supplied NVD record and linked vendor references. The source corpus states that OpenClaw versions before 2026.3.28 are vulnerable, that mirror mode can turn untrusted sandbox files into workspace hooks, and that this can lead to arbitrary code execution on the host during gateway startup. NVD also supplies the CVSS v4.0 vector and CWE-829 mapping. Publication date used here is the CVE published timestamp from the supplied timeline (2026-04-23T22:16:42.840Z); the modified timestamp is 2026-05-12T02:16:12.577Z.

Official resources