Overview
Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) vulnerabilities enable attackers to access or manipulate resources they should not control. CVE-2026-31998 describes an authorization bypass in OpenClaw's Synology Chat channel plugin where dmPolicy is set to allowlist but allowedUserIds is empty, causing the system to fail open and let an unauthorized Synology sender dispatch agents and trigger downstream actions. This type of flaw translates to Go services using Gin if resource-level checks rely on misconfigured policies rather than strict ownership or membership verification. When policies permit access by default or the allowlist is not validated, attackers can harvest or mutate specific resources they should be denied access to.
Affected Versions
OpenClaw 2026.2.22 and 2026.2.23
Code Fix Example
Go (Gin) API Security Remediation
package main
import (
"net/http"
"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)
type Policy struct { DMPolicy string; AllowedUserIDs []string }
type Channel struct { ID string; Policy Policy }
var channels = map[string]Channel{
"vuln": {ID: "vuln", Policy: Policy{DMPolicy: "allowlist", AllowedUserIDs: []string{}}}, // vulnerable: empty allowlist
"secure": {ID: "secure", Policy: Policy{DMPolicy: "allowlist", AllowedUserIDs: []string{"user1", "user2"}}},
}
func main() {
r := gin.Default()
// Vulnerable endpoint: uses vulnerable authorization logic
r.GET("/vulnerable/channels/:id", func(c *gin.Context) {
id := c.Param("id")
ch, ok := channels[id]
if !ok {
c.JSON(http.StatusNotFound, gin.H{"error": "not found"})
return
}
userID := c.GetHeader("X-User-Id")
if vulnerableAuthorize(ch, userID) {
c.JSON(http.StatusOK, gin.H{"id": ch.ID})
} else {
c.JSON(http.StatusForbidden, gin.H{"error": "forbidden"})
}
})
// Fixed endpoint: proper authorization check
r.GET("/fixed/channels/:id", func(c *gin.Context) {
id := c.Param("id")
ch, ok := channels[id]
if !ok {
c.JSON(http.StatusNotFound, gin.H{"error": "not found"})
return
}
userID := c.GetHeader("X-User-Id")
if fixedAuthorize(ch, userID) {
c.JSON(http.StatusOK, gin.H{"id": ch.ID})
} else {
c.JSON(http.StatusForbidden, gin.H{"error": "forbidden"})
}
})
r.Run(":8080")
}
func vulnerableAuthorize(ch Channel, userID string) bool {
if ch.Policy.DMPolicy == "allowlist" {
if len(ch.Policy.AllowedUserIDs) == 0 {
// Vulnerable: empty allowlist grants access to any user
return true
}
for _, id := range ch.Policy.AllowedUserIDs {
if id == userID {
return true
}
}
return false
}
return true
}
func fixedAuthorize(ch Channel, userID string) bool {
if ch.Policy.DMPolicy == "allowlist" {
if len(ch.Policy.AllowedUserIDs) == 0 {
// Fixed: deny access when allowlist is empty
return false
}
for _, id := range ch.Policy.AllowedUserIDs {
if id == userID {
return true
}
}
return false
}
return true
}