OpenClaw's hooks HTTP handler counted hook authentication failures before rejecting unsupported HTTP methods. An unauthenticated client could send repeated non-POST requests (for example GET) with an invalid token to consume the hook auth failure budget and trigger the temporary lockout window for that client key.
The fix moves the hook method gate ahead of auth-failure accounting so unsupported methods return 405 Method Not Allowed without incrementing the hook auth limiter.
openclaw (npm)<= 2026.3.22026.3.72026.3.2An unauthenticated network client that could reach /hooks/* could temporarily lock out legitimate webhook delivery when requests collapsed to the same hook auth client key, such as shared proxy or NAT topologies. Impact is limited to temporary availability loss for hook-triggered wake or automation delivery.
44820dceadac65ac7c0ce8fc0ffba8c2bd9fae89pnpm check passedpnpm test:fast passedpnpm exec vitest run --config vitest.gateway.config.ts still has unrelated current-main failures in src/gateway/server-channels.test.ts and src/gateway/server-methods/agents-mutate.test.tsnpm 2026.3.7 was published on March 8, 2026. This advisory is fixed in the released package.
Thanks @JNX03 for reporting.
{
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2026-03-09T19:52:47Z",
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-307",
"CWE-799"
],
"severity": "MODERATE",
"nvd_published_at": null
}