OpenClaw's sandboxed sessions_spawn now enforces sandbox inheritance for cross-agent spawns

CRITICAL 9.9CVE-2026-32048 · GHSA-p7gr-f84w-hqg5 · Published 21/03/2026 · updated 17/06/2026

Package	Affected versions	Patched versions
openclaw openclaw	`< 2026.3.1`	`2026.3.1`
openclaw npm	`< 2026.3.1`	`2026.3.1`

Description

Summary

A sandboxed session could use cross-agent sessions_spawn to create a child under an agent configured with sandbox.mode="off", downgrading runtime confinement.

Impact

In mixed-agent setups that allow cross-agent spawning, a sandboxed requester could escape into an unsandboxed child runtime.

Fix

Spawn-time sandbox inheritance is now enforced: if the requester is sandboxed and the resolved child runtime would be unsandboxed, spawn is rejected.

Affected and Patched Versions

Affected: <= 2026.2.26
Patched: 2026.3.1

NVD description

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.3.1 fail to enforce sandbox inheritance during cross-agent sessions_spawn operations, allowing sandboxed sessions to create child processes under unsandboxed agents. An attacker with a sandboxed session can exploit this to spawn child runtimes with sandbox.mode set to off, bypassing runtime confinement restrictions.

References

openclaw/openclaw security advisory · WEB
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-32048 · ADVISORY
openclaw/openclaw · PACKAGE
vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-sandbox-escape-via-cross-agent-sessions-spawn · WEB

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