Affected: OpenClaw

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.22 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the toolsBySender group policy matching that allows attackers to inherit elevated tool permissions through identifier collision attacks. Attackers can exploit untyped sender keys by forcing collisions with mutable identity values such as senderName or senderUsername to bypass sender-authorization policies and gain unauthorized access to privileged tools.

Affected: npm: openclaw

### Summary `channels.*.groups.*.toolsBySender` could match a privileged sender policy using a colliding mutable identity value (for example `senderName` or `senderUsername`) when deployments used untyped keys.

The fix introduces explicit typed sender keys (`id:`, `e164:`, `username:`, `name:`), keeps legacy untyped keys on a deprecated ID-only path, and adds regression coverage to prevent cross-identifier collisions.

### Affected Packages / Versions - Package: npm `openclaw` - Affected versions: `<= 2026.2.21-2` - Latest published npm version at triage time (February 22, 2026): `2026.2.21-2` - Patched version (planned next release): `2026.2.22`

### Impact This is a sender-authorization bypass in group tool policy matching for deployments that use `toolsBySender` with untyped keys. Under those conditions, an attacker could inherit stronger tool permissions intended for another sender if they can force an identifier collision.

### Fix Commit(s) - `5547a2275cb69413af3b62c795b93214fe913b57`

### Release Process Note `patched_versions` is pre-set to the planned next release (`2026.2.22`). Once that npm release is published, this advisory should only need publishing.

OpenClaw thanks @jiseoung for reporting.