{"id":"GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph","summary":"OpenClaw has a Command Injection via unescaped environment assignments in Windows Scheduled Task script generation","details":"### Summary\nA command injection vulnerability existed in Windows Scheduled Task script generation for OpenClaw. Environment values were written into `gateway.cmd` using unquoted `set KEY=VALUE`, which allowed Windows shell metacharacters in config-provided environment variables to break out of assignment context.\n\n### Affected Packages / Versions\n- Package: `openclaw` (npm)\n- Affected versions: `\u003c= 2026.2.17`\n- Patched version: `\u003e= 2026.2.19`\n- Latest published vulnerable version at review time (2026-02-19): `2026.2.17`\n\n### Practical Risk Context\nFor a single-user, localhost-only setup on a personally controlled machine, practical risk is typically low.\n\nThis issue becomes materially relevant when configuration or environment values are sourced from less-trusted inputs, for example:\n- shared/team config templates,\n- copied config snippets,\n- setup scripts, automation, or repos that write config,\n- any workflow where another party can influence env values before `gateway install`/reinstall.\n\nIn those scenarios, it provides a reliable config-to-command-execution path when the scheduled task script is generated and run.\n\n### Details\nOn Windows, gateway service installation writes a helper batch script and then registers it via Scheduled Task (`schtasks`).\nBefore the fix, env lines were rendered as `set KEY=VALUE` in `src/daemon/schtasks.ts`, so values containing metacharacters (for example `&`, `|`, `^`, `%`, `!`) could alter command behavior in `cmd.exe`.\n\nThe fix now renders quoted assignments (`set \"KEY=VALUE\"`) with explicit escaping for cmd metacharacters, updates parser compatibility for quoted assignments, and adds regression tests for metacharacter handling and round-trip parsing.\n\n### Fix Commit(s)\n- `dafe52e8cf1a041d898cfb304a485fa05e5f58fb`\n\nOpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.","aliases":["CVE-2026-22176"],"modified":"2026-03-20T21:56:22.292813Z","published":"2026-03-03T21:50:05Z","database_specific":{"severity":"HIGH","github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2026-03-03T21:50:05Z","nvd_published_at":null,"cwe_ids":["CWE-78"]},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22176"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/dafe52e8cf1a041d898cfb304a485fa05e5f58fb"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-command-injection-via-unescaped-environment-variables-in-windows-scheduled-task"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"openclaw","ecosystem":"npm","purl":"pkg:npm/openclaw"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"2026.2.19"}]}],"database_specific":{"last_known_affected_version_range":"\u003c= 2026.2.17","source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/03/GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph/GHSA-pj5x-38rw-6fph.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V4","score":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"}]}