OpenClaw's `system.run` env override filtering allowed dangerous helper-command pivots

Summary

system.run env override sanitization allowed dangerous override-only helper-command pivots to reach subprocesses. A caller who could invoke system.run with env overrides could bypass allowlist/approval intent by steering an allowlisted tool through helper-command or config-loading environment variables such as GIT_SSH_COMMAND, editor/pager hooks, and GIT_CONFIG_* / NPM_CONFIG_*.

Affected Packages / Versions

• Package: openclaw (npm)
• Latest published vulnerable version: 2026.3.2
• Affected range: <= 2026.3.2
• Patched in: 2026.3.7

Details

Before the fix, src/infra/host-env-security.ts blocked only a narrow set of override-only environment variables. Dangerous request-scoped overrides such as GIT_SSH_COMMAND and prefix families such as GIT_CONFIG_* and NPM_CONFIG_* could still survive sanitizeSystemRunEnvOverrides(...) / sanitizeHostExecEnv(...) and reach the spawned process.

That mattered for system.run allowlist and approval flows because approval evaluation was tied to the reviewed binary/argv, while the launched process could still inherit attacker-controlled env overrides that changed helper-command execution or config resolution. For allowlisted tools such as git, this allowed behavior outside the reviewed command semantics.

The fix extends the shared TypeScript and macOS policy to block dangerous override-only exact keys and prefixes while preserving trusted inherited base-environment behavior.

Impact

This is a real protection-bypass issue, but exploitation requires an already tool-enabled caller who can invoke system.run and supply env overrides. In affected deployments, that caller could bypass allowlist/approval intent and trigger helper-command execution or config-loading behavior that is not represented by the approved command line. Maintainer severity is set to medium because the bug still requires that existing execution capability; the vulnerability is the mismatch between reviewed command semantics and the actual spawned-process behavior.

Fix Commit(s)

• e27bbe4982439da6864160fd1b66445058f74801

Release Process Note

npm 2026.3.7 was published on March 8, 2026. This advisory is fixed in the released package.

Thanks @tdjackey and @SnailSploit for reporting.