Affected: OpenClaw

OpenClaw versions prior to 2026.2.21 contain a stdin-only policy bypass vulnerability in the grep tool within tools.exec.safeBins that allows attackers to read arbitrary files by supplying a pattern via the -e flag parameter. Attackers can include a positional filename operand to bypass file access restrictions and read sensitive files.env from the working directory.

Affected: npm: openclaw

### Summary

OpenClaw `tools.exec.safeBins` had a stdin-only policy bypass for `grep`. If pattern input was supplied through `-e` / `--regexp`, the validator consumed the pattern as a flag value and still allowed one positional operand. That positional could be a bare filename like `.env`.

### Affected Packages / Versions

- Package: `openclaw` (npm) - Latest published vulnerable version: `2026.2.19-2` - Structured vulnerable range: `<= 2026.2.19-2` - Planned fixed range for next release: `>= 2026.2.21`

### Exploit Preconditions

- `tools.exec.safeBins` must include `grep` (this is opt-in; `grep` is not in the default safe-bin list). - An actor must be able to invoke exec tooling under that profile.

### Technical Details

`src/infra/exec-safe-bin-policy.ts` configured `grep` with `maxPositional: 1` and allowed `-e` / `--regexp` value flags. Because `-e` consumes the pattern in flag-value position, the remaining positional budget could be used for a file operand. Example accepted input in vulnerable builds:

```bash grep -e SECRET .env ```

That violated the intended stdin-only guarantee for safe bins.

### Impact

With `grep` opt-in enabled, callers could read bare-relative files from the working directory (for example `.env`, `credentials.txt`) in flows expected to be stdin-only.

### Severity Rationale

CVSS v3.1 is set to: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` (5.3, Medium)

`AC:H` is used because exploitation depends on a non-default configuration (`grep` mus…