CVE-2025-54996
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
BaseFortify

Publication date: 2025-08-09

Last updated on: 2025-08-12

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

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.
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Meta Information
Published
2025-08-09
Last Modified
2025-08-12
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-08-09
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
openbao openbao to 2.3.2 (inc)
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-269 The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability in OpenBao versions 2.3.1 and below allows accounts with access to highly-privileged identity entity systems in root namespaces to escalate their privileges directly to the root policy. Normally, the root policy is restricted and can only be generated manually using unseal or recovery key shares, and is not accessible from child namespaces. However, due to this issue, these accounts could add arbitrary policies containing capability grants on arbitrary paths, effectively increasing their scope to the root policy. This issue is fixed in version 2.3.2.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can lead to a serious security breach by allowing privileged accounts to escalate their permissions to the root policy level, potentially granting them full control over sensitive data such as secrets, certificates, and keys managed by OpenBao. This could result in unauthorized access, modification, or deletion of critical security assets, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system.


What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?

To mitigate this vulnerability immediately, upgrade OpenBao to version 2.3.2 or later. As a workaround, apply denied_parameters in any policy that has access to the affected identity endpoints on identity entities to prohibit this type of attack.


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