📄 Description (English)
OpenClaw before 2026.3.28 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the remote onboarding component that persists unauthenticated discovery endpoints without explicit trust confirmation. Attackers can spoof discovery endpoints to redirect onboarding toward malicious gateways and capture gateway credentials or traffic.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
OpenClaw before version 2026.3.28 contains a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in its remote onboarding component that allows attackers to spoof discovery endpoints and redirect legitimate onboarding processes toward malicious gateways. This vulnerability enables credential capture and traffic interception without requiring authentication. The absence of explicit trust confirmation mechanisms creates significant risk for organizations deploying OpenClaw in gateway and API management scenarios.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: May 6, 2026 04:19
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi financial institutions (SAMA-regulated banks) and government agencies (NCA oversight) utilizing OpenClaw for API gateway management and service discovery. Telecom operators (STC, Mobily) managing microservices architectures are particularly vulnerable. Energy sector organizations (ARAMCO, SEC) using OpenClaw for industrial IoT gateway orchestration face credential compromise risks. Healthcare providers implementing OpenClaw for health information exchange could experience patient data exposure. The vulnerability's impact on gateway credential capture directly threatens SAMA's cybersecurity framework requirements for secure API communications and NCA's critical infrastructure protection mandates.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Banking and Financial Services
Government and Public Administration
Telecommunications
Energy and Utilities
Healthcare
Critical Infrastructure
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1589 - Gather Victim Identity Information (discovery endpoint reconnaissance)
T1598 - Phishing (spoofed endpoint redirection)
T1110 - Brute Force (credential capture attempts)
T1556 - Modify Authentication Process (authentication bypass via endpoint spoofing)
T1187 - Forced Authentication (gateway credential capture)
T1557 - Man-in-the-Middle (traffic interception via malicious gateway)
T1040 - Traffic Sniffing (credential and traffic capture)
T1021 - Remote Services (lateral movement through compromised gateways)
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
7.8
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Inventory all OpenClaw deployments across your organization and document versions currently in use
2. Isolate OpenClaw instances from untrusted networks and restrict access to discovery endpoints to known, pre-approved sources only
3. Implement network segmentation to prevent lateral movement from compromised gateways
4. Enable comprehensive logging and monitoring of all discovery endpoint interactions and gateway credential exchanges
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
1. Upgrade to OpenClaw version 2026.3.28 or later immediately upon release
2. Until patching is available, implement compensating controls: deploy a reverse proxy with mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication in front of discovery endpoints
3. Enforce explicit trust confirmation through out-of-band verification before accepting any gateway endpoint redirections
COMPENSATING CONTROLS:
1. Implement certificate pinning for all discovery endpoint communications
2. Deploy API gateway WAF rules to detect and block suspicious endpoint spoofing patterns
3. Require multi-factor authentication for any gateway credential provisioning operations
4. Implement DNSSEC and DNS monitoring to prevent DNS spoofing attacks against discovery endpoints
DETECTION RULES:
1. Monitor for unexpected changes to discovery endpoint configurations or gateway redirections
2. Alert on discovery endpoint queries from unauthorized IP ranges or during unusual hours
3. Track failed authentication attempts followed by successful gateway credential captures
4. Detect anomalous traffic patterns between onboarding components and unexpected gateway addresses
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. قم بحصر جميع نشرات OpenClaw عبر مؤسستك وتوثيق الإصدارات المستخدمة حالياً
2. عزل مثيلات OpenClaw عن الشبكات غير الموثوقة وتقييد الوصول إلى نقاط الاكتشاف للمصادر المعروفة والموافق عليها مسبقاً فقط
3. تنفيذ تقسيم الشبكة لمنع الحركة الجانبية من البوابات المخترقة
4. تفعيل السجلات الشاملة ومراقبة جميع تفاعلات نقاط الاكتشاف وتبادلات بيانات اعتماد البوابة
إرشادات التصحيح:
1. قم بالترقية إلى إصدار OpenClaw 2026.3.28 أو أحدث فوراً عند إصداره
2. حتى يتم توفر التصحيح، قم بتنفيذ ضوابط تعويضية: نشر وكيل عكسي مع مصادقة mTLS أمام نقاط الاكتشاف
3. فرض تأكيد الثقة الصريح من خلال التحقق خارج النطاق قبل قبول أي إعادة توجيه لنقاط نهاية البوابة
الضوابط التعويضية:
1. تنفيذ تثبيت الشهادات لجميع اتصالات نقاط الاكتشاف
2. نشر قواعد WAF لبوابة API للكشف عن أنماط انتحال النقاط المريبة وحظرها
3. طلب المصادقة متعددة العوامل لأي عمليات توفير بيانات اعتماد البوابة
4. تنفيذ DNSSEC ومراقبة DNS لمنع هجمات انتحال DNS ضد نقاط الاكتشاف
قواعد الكشف:
1. مراقبة التغييرات غير المتوقعة في تكوينات نقاط الاكتشاف أو إعادة توجيه البوابة
2. تنبيهات على استعلامات نقاط الاكتشاف من نطاقات IP غير مصرح بها أو خلال ساعات غير عادية
3. تتبع محاولات المصادقة الفاشلة متبوعة بعمليات التقاط بيانات اعتماد البوابة الناجحة
4. الكشف عن أنماط حركة المرور الشاذة بين مكونات الإعداد وعناوين البوابة غير المتوقعة
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2024 A.5.1.1 - Access Control Policies (authentication bypass violates access control requirements)
ECC 2024 A.5.2.1 - User Registration and Access Management (credential capture impacts user access management)
ECC 2024 A.8.2.1 - User Access Management (unauthorized gateway access through spoofing)
ECC 2024 A.13.1.1 - Information Security Incident Management (detection and response to endpoint spoofing)
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF ID.AM-2 - Asset Management (inventory and track OpenClaw deployments)
SAMA CSF PR.AC-1 - Access Control (authentication bypass in discovery endpoints)
SAMA CSF PR.AC-3 - Access Enforcement (credential capture and gateway access control)
SAMA CSF DE.CM-1 - Detection Processes (monitor for endpoint spoofing and credential compromise)
SAMA CSF RS.MI-2 - Incident Response (contain and remediate compromised gateways)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.2 - Information Security Policies and Procedures (authentication requirements)
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.2 - User Access Management (access control and credential management)
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.3 - User Responsibilities (secure credential handling)
ISO 27001:2022 A.9.2 - User Access Provisioning (gateway credential provisioning controls)
ISO 27001:2022 A.13.1 - Information Security Incident Management (detection and response)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
PCI DSS 2.1 - Default Security Parameters (discovery endpoint configuration hardening)
PCI DSS 6.2 - Security Patches (timely patching of OpenClaw vulnerability)
PCI DSS 7.1 - Access Control (restrict access to discovery endpoints)
PCI DSS 8.1 - User Identification and Authentication (authentication bypass mitigation)
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
openclaw:openclaw