‘Claw Chain’ OpenClaw Flaws Allow Sandbox Escape, Backdoor Delivery
‘Claw Chain’ OpenClaw Flaws Allow Sandbox Escape, Backdoor Delivery
https://www.securityweek.com/claw-chain-openclaw-flaws-allow-sandbox-escape-backdoor-delivery/
Publish Date: 2026-05-18 08:14:00
Source Domain: www.securityweek.com
Four vulnerabilities in the OpenClaw AI assistant can be chained together to plant backdoors on the underlying host, cybersecurity firm Cyera warns.
The bugs, collectively known as Claw Chain, allow an attacker with code execution privileges inside the sandbox to control the agent runtime and abuse it to compromise the system.
According to Cyera, the attacker can rely on prompt injections, malicious plugins, and compromised external input to trigger the attack chain and turn the AI into their own assistant.
After gaining code execution within the OpenShell sandbox, the attacker can exploit a race condition (CVE-2026-44113) to read files outside the mount root, or an exec allowlist analysis bug (CVE-2026-44115) to execute unapproved commands at runtime.
Successful exploitation of these issues, Cyera notes, allows the attacker to bypass sandbox restrictions and leak credentials, API keys, tokens, configuration files, and other sensitive data.
Next, the attacker can exploit an MCP loopback flaw (CVE-2026-44118) to manipulate the unverified ownership flag and elevate their privileges to owner-level. The attacker gains access to critical management functions, including configuration and orchestration of execution.
Finally, the attacker can exploit the fourth vulnerability, a critical-severity race condition in the OpenShell sandbox (CVE-2026-44112, CVSS score of 9.6), to write data outside the sandbox boundary. It allows the attacker to modify configurations, plant backdoors, and gain persistent control of the host.
“By weaponizing the agent’s own privileges, an adversary moves through data access, privilege escalation, and persistence – using the agent as their hands inside the environment. Each step looks like normal agent behavior to traditional controls, broadening blast radius and making detection significantly harder,” Cyera says.
The cybersecurity firm says there are over 60,000…
