OpenClaw: /api/channels gateway-auth boundary bypass via path canonicalization mismatch

Summary

Gateway auth for plugin channel endpoints can be bypassed when path canonicalization differs between the gateway guard and plugin handler routing.

Details

On affected versions, server-http only applies gateway auth when raw requestPath matches exactly:

• /api/channels
• /api/channels/*

If a plugin handler canonicalizes path input (for example decodeURIComponent(pathname).toLowerCase()), requests like:

• /API/channels/nostr/default/profile
• /api/channels%2Fnostr%2Fdefault%2Fprofile can be interpreted as /api/channels/* by the plugin, while the gateway auth guard is skipped.

Impact

Authentication boundary bypass for plugin channel HTTP routes under canonicalization mismatch conditions. Unauthorized callers may access plugin channel APIs that are expected to require gateway auth.

CWE: CWE-288 (Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel) CVSS: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N (Base 5.3, Moderate)