Summary
A security fix is now available for Step CA that resolves a vulnerability affecting deployments configured with ACME and/or SCEP provisioners.
All operators running these provisioners should upgrade to the latest release (v0.29.0) immediately.
The issue was discovered and disclosed by a research team during a security review. There is no evidence of active exploitation.
To limit exploitation risk during a coordinated disclosure window, we are withholding detailed technical information for now. A full write-up will be published in several weeks.
Embargo List
If your organization runs Step CA in production and would like advance, embargoed notification of future security updates, visit https://u.step.sm/disclosure to request inclusion on our embargo list.
Acknowledgements
This issue was identified and reported by Stephen Kubik of the Cisco Advanced Security Initiatives Group (ASIG)
Stay safe, and thank you for helping us keep the ecosystem secure.
Impact
A critical operation is accessible without requiring any authentication. Typical impact: any user can invoke the privileged function.
CVE-2025-44005 has a CVSS score of 10.0 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.29.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Remediation advice
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-44005? CVE-2025-44005 is a critical-severity missing authentication for critical function vulnerability in github.com/smallstep/certificates (go), affecting versions <= 0.28.4. It is fixed in 0.29.0. A critical operation is accessible without requiring any authentication.
- How severe is CVE-2025-44005? CVE-2025-44005 has a CVSS score of 10.0 (Critical). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of github.com/smallstep/certificates are affected by CVE-2025-44005? github.com/smallstep/certificates (go) versions <= 0.28.4 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-44005? Yes. CVE-2025-44005 is fixed in 0.29.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-44005 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-44005 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-44005 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2025-44005? Upgrade
github.com/smallstep/certificatesto 0.29.0 or later.