CVE-2025-5999 | Vault Root Namespace Operator May Elevate Token Privileges

A privileged Vault operator with write permissions to the root namespace’s identity endpoint could escalate their own or another user’s token privileges to Vault’s root policy. Fixed in Vault Community Edition 1.20.0 and Vault Enterprise 1.20.0, 1.19.6, 1.18.11 and 1.16.22.

Published: 2025-08-01 Last update: 2025-08-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-5999 is rated Moderate Risk (41.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). 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-2025-5999

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 2026-05-28 0.04% 0.16% +0.11%
2 2026-05-26 0.06% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2026-05-25 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-5999

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-2025-5999

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-5999

GHSA-6h4p-m86h-hhgh · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Hashicorp Vault has Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-5999

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2025-5999: 1 source package rows (vault); 11 state rows across 1 repos (edge-community); fixed 0, open 11. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-5999
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-5999

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-5999

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
hashicorp vault >= 0.10.4, < 1.16.22 cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*
hashicorp vault >= 0.10.4, < 1.20.0 cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
hashicorp vault >= 1.17.0, < 1.18.11 cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*
hashicorp vault >= 1.19.0, < 1.19.6 cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:vault:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-5999

cvelogic Threat Intelligence