OpenClaw affected by iMessage remote attachment SCP hardening (strict host-key checks and remoteHost validation)
Key facts
- Attack vector
- —
- Privileges required
- —
- User interaction
- —
- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- Spoofing, Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- —
- Fix status
- Fixed
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from GitHub. Impact type from CWE-295 and CWE-78.
Summary
## Summary Remote iMessage attachment fetches used SCP with trust-on-first-use host-key behavior and accepted unvalidated remote host tokens. Before the fix: - SCP used `StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new` in the remote attachment path. - `channels.imessage.remoteHost` was not validated as a strict SSH host token. ## Impact In remote iMessage deployments that use SCP attachment fetching, a first-connection MITM/DNS-poisoning scenario could cause the wrong host key to be trusted. Unsafe remote host token values could also alter SCP argument semantics. ## Affected Packages / Versions - Package: `openclaw` (npm) - Latest published npm version currently affected: `2026.2.17` - Vulnerable range (structured field): `<= 2026.2.17` - Patched version (pre-set for next release): `>= 2026.2.19` ## Fix The fix hardens remote attachment SSH/SCP handling by: - requiring `StrictHostKeyChecking=yes` for SCP and SSH tunnel paths, - adding strict `remoteHost` normalization/validation, - adding `--` argument barrier for SCP remote source parsing, - validating `channels.imessage.remoteHost` in config schema, - rejecting unsafe auto-detected host tokens at runtime. ## Fix Commit(s) - Pushed to `main`: 49d0def6d1e88f002026b1d2a35aa615d48a751a OpenClaw thanks @allsmog for reporting.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | openclaw (npm) | before 2026.2.19 | 2026.2.19 | Patch available | GHSA-2mc2-g238-722j |
- openclaw (npm) Vendor— Affected before 2026.2.19 Fixed in 2026.2.19 Patch available GHSA-2mc2-g238-722j
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-2mc2-g238-722j openclaw (npm) Fixed in 2026.2.19 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-03 Threatist record created from GHSA-2mc2-g238-722j
References
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences