CVE-2026-22170
OpenClaw: BlueBubbles (optional plugin) pairing/allowlist mismatch when allowFrom is empty
Impact
### Summary BlueBubbles is an optional OpenClaw channel plugin. A configuration-sensitive access-control mismatch allowed DM senders to be treated as authorized when `dmPolicy` was `pairing` or `allowlist` and `allowFrom` was empty/unset. ### Severity Rationale (Medium) Severity is set to **medium** because: - this affects an optional plugin, not core messaging surfaces; - many deployments use owner-controlled/private BlueBubbles identities with limited external reachability; - practical exploitability depends on an untrusted sender being able to reach that specific BlueBubbles account identifier. In typical personal/self-hosted BlueBubbles setups, the mapped Apple identity is single-owner and not broadly reachable, so this is usually low practical risk. Risk is higher in deployments where the identifier is publicly reachable and/or agent tool permissions are broad. ### Technical Details 1. BlueBubbles DM policy defaults to `pairing` (`dmPolicy ?? "pairing"`). 2. Effective allowlist can be empty (`effectiveAllowFrom`). 3. DM/reaction authorization called `isAllowedBlueBubblesSender(...)`. 4. That delegated to shared `isAllowedParsedChatSender(...)`, which previously returned `true` for empty allowlists. 5. Result: unknown senders could bypass intended pairing/allowlist gating when `allowFrom` was empty. ### Affected Packages / Versions - Package: `openclaw` (npm) - Vulnerable versions: `<= 2026.2.21-2` - Planned fixed version: `2026.2.22` ### Fix The shared parsed-chat allowlist helper now fails closed on empty allowlists, restoring expected BlueBubbles DM gating behavior. BlueBubbles inbound gating was also refactored to use one shared DM/group decision helper for both message and reaction paths to reduce future drift. ### Fix Commit(s) - `9632b9bcf032c5f2280c3103961fde912ab1f920` - `2ba6de7eaad812e5e8603018e14e54e96bdd57dd` - `51c0893673de8e5cea64e64351dbfa4680ba0dec` - `4540790cb62412676f7b61cfc6e47443f84a251e` OpenClaw thanks @tdjackey for reporting.
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm | openclaw | < 2026.2.22 | 2026.2.22 |
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|
| Openclaw | Openclaw | before 2026.2.22 |
Weakness classification
References
- NVD record
- CVE.org record
- GitHub advisory
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/2ba6de7eaad812e5e8603018e14e54e96bdd57dd
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/4540790cb62412676f7b61cfc6e47443f84a251e
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/51c0893673de8e5cea64e64351dbfa4680ba0dec
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/commit/9632b9bcf032c5f2280c3103961fde912ab1f920
- https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories/GHSA-jwf4-8wf4-jf2m
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openclaw-bluebubbles-access-control-bypass-via-empty-allowfrom-configuration
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jwf4-8wf4-jf2m
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22170