{"schema_version":"1.7.3","id":"GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc","published":"2025-08-08T14:32:42Z","modified":"2026-07-27T09:11:26.237184110Z","aliases":["BIT-openbao-2025-54996","CVE-2025-54996","GO-2025-3857"],"summary":"OpenBao Root Namespace Operator May Elevate Token Privileges","details":"### Impact\n\nAccounts 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.\n\n### Patches\n\nOpenBao v2.3.2 will patch this issue.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nUse of `denied_parameters` in any policy which has access to the affected identity endpoints (on [identity entities](https://openbao.org/api-docs/secret/identity/entity/)) may be sufficient to prohibit this type of attack. \n\n### References\n\nThis issue was disclosed to HashiCorp and is the OpenBao equivalent of the following tickets:\n\n- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-13-vault-root-namespace-operator-may-elevate-token-privileges/76032\n- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2025-5999","affected":[{"package":{"name":"github.com/openbao/openbao","ecosystem":"Go","purl":"pkg:golang/github.com/openbao/openbao"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"0.1.0"},{"fixed":"2.3.2"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2025/08/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc.json"}},{"package":{"name":"github.com/openbao/openbao","ecosystem":"Go","purl":"pkg:golang/github.com/openbao/openbao"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2025/08/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc.json"}}],"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54996"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/1627"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/9b0b5d4f345fdfb1065956f042b12cbd86cd6e0f"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-13-vault-root-namespace-operator-may-elevate-token-privileges/76032"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/openbao/openbao"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.3.2"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2025-5999"}],"database_specific":{"cwe_ids":["CWE-266","CWE-269"],"github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2025-08-08T14:32:42Z","nvd_published_at":"2025-08-09T02:15:37Z","severity":"HIGH"},"severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"}]}