CVE-2025-54996 | OpenBao Root Namespace Operator May Elevate Token Privileges

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.

Published: 2025-08-09 Last update: 2025-08-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-54996 is rated Moderate Risk (45.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.23%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-54996

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-05 0.05% 0.23% +0.18%
2 2026-03-05 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2026-01-04 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-54996

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-54996

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-54996

GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — OpenBao Root Namespace Operator May Elevate Token Privileges

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-54996

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2025-54996: 1 source package rows (openbao); 20 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 2, open 18. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-54996

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-54996

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openbao openbao < 2.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:openbao:openbao:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-54996

cvelogic Threat Intelligence