GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc BIT-openbao-2025-54996 CVE-2025-54996 GO-2025-3857
OpenBao Root Namespace Operator May Elevate Token Privileges
- Severity
- 7.2 / 10
- High · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 0.35%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 28.93% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Fix
2.3.2- Upgrade github.com/openbao/openbao to this version or later
Description
Impact
Accounts with access to the highly-privileged identity entity system in the root namespace may increase their scope directly to the root policy. While the identity system always allowed adding arbitrary policies, which in turn could contain capability grants on arbitrary paths, the root policy is restricted to manual generation using unseal or recovery key shares. The global root policy is not accessible from child namespaces.
Patches
OpenBao v2.3.2 will patch this issue.
Workarounds
Use of denied_parameters in any policy which has access to the affected identity endpoints (on identity entities) may be sufficient to prohibit this type of attack.
References
This issue was disclosed to HashiCorp and is the OpenBao equivalent of the following tickets:
Affected versions
Go
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| github.com/openbao/openbao | >= 0.1.0, < 2.3.2 |
2.3.2 |
| github.com/openbao/openbao | < 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f |
0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f |
| github.com/openbao/openbao | < 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f>= 0.1.0 |
0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f |
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 → 2.3.2
- go
go get github.com/openbao/openbao@v2.3.2 && go mod tidy
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 7.2
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Weakness
CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment
A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
How to prevent it
- Architecture and Design, Operation: Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
- Architecture and Design, Operation: Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management
The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
How to prevent it
- Architecture and Design, Operation: Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
- Architecture and Design: Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
- Architecture and Design: Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource.
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
- github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc
- github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/1627
- github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/9b0b5d4f345fdfb1065956f042b12cbd86cd6e0f
- discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-13-vault-root-namespace-operator-may-elevate-token-priv…
- github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.3.2
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why 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-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j OpenBao: Transit secrets engine crashes on key creation with `derived: true` for asymmetric key types | Medium | 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 |
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