Vulnerability Description
OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 2.3.1 and below, accounts with access to highly-privileged identity entity systems in root namespaces were able to increase their scope directly to the root policy. While the identity system allowed adding arbitrary policies, which in turn could contain capability grants on arbitrary paths, the root policy was restricted to manual generation using unseal or recovery key shares. The global root policy was not accessible from child namespaces. This issue is fixed in version 2.3.2. To workaround this vulnerability, 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.
CVSS Score
HIGH
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Openbao | Openbao | < 2.3.2 |
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/1627Issue Tracking
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.3.2Release Notes
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqcVendor Advisory
FAQ
What is CVE-2025-54996?
CVE-2025-54996 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.2 (HIGH). OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 2.3.1 and below, accounts with access to highly-pri...
How severe is CVE-2025-54996?
CVE-2025-54996 has been rated HIGH with a CVSS base score of 7.2/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.
Is there a patch for CVE-2025-54996?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Openbao Openbao.