CVE-2025-54996

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:

• https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-13-vault-root-namespace-operator-may-elevate-token-privileges/76032
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2025-5999

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.

The application assigns, modifies, tracks, or checks privileges incorrectly, allowing a user to gain elevated access. Typical impact: privilege escalation beyond the intended level.

CVE-2025-54996 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (High). The vector is network-reachable, high 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 (2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

OpenBao v2.3.2 will patch this issue.

1. What is CVE-2025-54996? CVE-2025-54996 is a high-severity improper privilege management vulnerability in github.com/openbao/openbao (go), affecting versions >= 0.1.0, < 2.3.2. It is fixed in 2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f. The application assigns, modifies, tracks, or checks privileges incorrectly, allowing a user to gain elevated access.
2. How severe is CVE-2025-54996? CVE-2025-54996 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (High). 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.
3. Which versions of github.com/openbao/openbao are affected by CVE-2025-54996? github.com/openbao/openbao (go) versions >= 0.1.0, < 2.3.2 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2025-54996? Yes. CVE-2025-54996 is fixed in 2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2025-54996 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-54996 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2025-54996 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2025-54996?
   • Upgrade github.com/openbao/openbao to 2.3.2 or later
   • Upgrade github.com/openbao/openbao to 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f or later