Affected: OpenClaw

OpenClaw before 2026.4.10 contains a time-of-check-time-of-use vulnerability in the validateScriptFileForShellBleed function that allows local attackers to bypass workspace boundary checks. An attacker with workspace write access can race-condition swap the target file between validation and preflight read, causing the validator to inspect a different file identity than the one that passed the initial boundary check.

Affected: npm: openclaw

## Summary

OpenClaw's exec script preflight validator previously validated and then read a script by mutable pathname. A local race could swap the path between validation and read, causing preflight analysis to inspect a different file identity than the one that passed the workspace boundary check.

## Affected Packages / Versions

- Package: `openclaw` - Ecosystem: npm - Affected versions: `< 2026.4.10` - Patched versions: `>= 2026.4.10`

## Impact

The impact is limited. This was not arbitrary full-file disclosure through the preflight error path. The validator only surfaced derived preflight content, such as a matched token, a line number, or the first non-empty JavaScript line in one branch. Exploitation also required the ability to mutate the relevant workspace path during the preflight window.

Still, this was a real TOCTOU boundary bug in code that is supposed to reason about workspace-local script files before execution. A file identity that passed the initial boundary validation could differ from the identity that was later read for preflight analysis.

## Technical Details

The vulnerable flow performed separate path validation and file reads in `validateScriptFileForShellBleed`. Because the read was path-based, an attacker with write access to the workspace path could race replacement of the target after validation but before preflight read.

## Fix

PR #62333 replaced the check-then-read flow with a pinned safe-open/read path using the shared `readFileWithinRoot…