This vulnerability is a race condition in the ZIP extraction routine of OpenClaw before 2026.3.2 that enables a local attacker to write files outside the intended extraction directory. By manipulating parent directory symlinks during the time‑of‑check time‑of‑use race, the attacker can redirect file writes to arbitrary locations, resulting in an arbitrary file write weakness (CWE‑367). The impact is that the attacker could overwrite critical system files or create malicious executables, potentially leading to further compromise.

Affected vendors and products: OpenClaw by OpenClaw. Vulnerable versions are all OpenClaw releases earlier than 2026.3.2. No specific version numbers beyond this cutoff are listed.

The CVSS base score is 5.8, indicating moderate severity. EPSS score is not available, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. The exploitability relies on a local user context, as the race condition is triggered by locally executing the ZIP extraction process. There are no known publicly available exploit code at this time; however, local attackers with sufficient privileges could craft a malicious ZIP file to trigger the write beyond the extraction root.