OpenClaw: Gateway Canvas local-direct requests bypass Canvas HTTP and WebSocket authentication

Summary

Before v2026.3.23, Canvas and A2UI loopback requests could bypass Canvas bearer-or-capability authentication because authorizeCanvasRequest(...) treated isLocalDirectRequest(...) as an unconditional allow path.

Affected Packages / Versions

• Package: openclaw (npm)
• Affected: < 2026.3.23
• Fixed: >= 2026.3.23
• Latest released tag checked: v2026.3.23-2 (630f1479c44f78484dfa21bb407cbe6f171dac87)
• Latest published npm version checked: 2026.3.23-2

Root Cause

The vulnerable logic lived in src/gateway/server/http-auth.ts. authorizeCanvasRequest(...) returned { ok: true } for local-direct requests before checking bearer authentication or an active node canvas capability, which meant unauthenticated loopback Canvas HTTP and WebSocket requests could succeed.

Fix Commit(s)

• d5dc6b6573ae489bc7e5651090f4767b93537c9e — fix(gateway): require auth for canvas routes

Release Status

The fix commit is contained in released tags v2026.3.23 and v2026.3.23-2. The latest shipped tag and npm release both include the fix.

Code-Level Confirmation

• src/gateway/server/http-auth.ts no longer contains the local-direct early return in authorizeCanvasRequest(...).
• src/gateway/server.canvas-auth.test.ts adds the regression test denies canvas HTTP/WS on loopback without bearer or capability by default.

Thanks @smaeljaish771 for reporting.