OpenClaw: Unauthorized Telegram Senders Trigger Media Download and Disk Write Before Access Check
Date: 2026-03
Affected: npm/openclaw
Attack vector: dos
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: Medium
CWE: CWE-208
CWE-404
CWE-406
CWE-770

## Impact In Telegram DM mode, inbound media was downloaded and written to disk before sender authorization checks completed. An unauthorized sender could trigger inbound media download/write activity (including media groups) even when DM access should be denied. ## Affected Packages / Versions - Package: `openclaw` (npm) - Latest published version currently affected: `2026.2.23` - Vulnerable range: `<= 2026.2.23` - Patched in planned next release: `2026.2.24` ## Fix Commit(s) - `9514201fb9b51de5d0b23151110d0ff5d9c8bd67` ## Technical Details The Telegram handler flow now enforces DM authorization before media download/write paths execute, including media-group handling. Inbound channel activity tracking was also moved to run after DM authorization in the Telegram message context path. ## Release Process Note `patched_versions` is pre-set to the planned next release (`2026.2.24`). After npm publish, the advisory can be published without further version-field edits. OpenClaw thanks @v8hid for reporting. ### Publication Update (2026-02-25) `openclaw@2026.2.24` is published on npm and contains the fix commit(s) listed above. This advisory now marks `>= 2026.2.24` as patched.


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):