CVE-2026-44991: OpenClaw: Owner-enforced commands could accept wildcard channel senders as command owners

OpenClaw deployments before 2026.4.21 could treat a non-owner sender as authorized for owner-enforced slash commands when all of the following were true:

• a channel plugin declared commands.enforceOwnerForCommands: true;
• the channel accepted wildcard inbound senders with allowFrom: ["*"];
• no explicit commands.ownerAllowFrom was configured.

In that state, src/auto-reply/command-auth.ts reused the channel inbound wildcard as part of the command-owner decision. A sender who was not the owner could therefore pass the owner-command gate for commands such as /send, /config, or /debug on the affected channel.

The issue is limited to the command-owner authorization axis. It does not by itself grant owner-only tool access, host/sandbox access, or gateway administrator scope.