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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.1

CVE-2025-54997 json

OpenBao: Privileged Operator May Execute Code on the Underlying Host

published 2025-08-08 15 mo ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-openbao-2025-54997 , EUVD-2025-24037 , GHSA-xp75-r577-cvhp , GO-2025-3858

cvss
9.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 37%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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, some OpenBao deployments intentionally limit privileged API operators from executing system code or making network connections. However, these operators can bypass both restrictions through the audit subsystem by manipulating log prefixes. This allows unauthorized code execution and network access that violates the intended security model. This issue is fixed in version 2.3.2. To workaround, users can block access to sys/audit/* endpoints using explicit deny policies, but root operators cannot be restricted this way.

Patch / fix

  • go github.com/openbao/openbao 0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d, 2.3.2
  • bitnami openbao 0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d, 2.3.2
  • openbao openbao 0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d, 2.3.2
  • govulncheck-vulndb SLE Module for Package Hub 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 0.0.20250814T182633-150000.1.98.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:02912-1

  • govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Tumbleweed 0.0.20250811T192933-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:15434-1

  • openbao Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 2.3.2-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2025-54997

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
14 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.43% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 37% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
OSV 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
go github.com/openbao/openbao
>=0.1.0, <2.3.2
<0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d
>=0.1.0
2.3.2
0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d
bitnami openbao
<0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d
>=0.0.1, <2.3.2
0.0.0-20250806194004-a14053c9679d
2.3.2

Affected products

  • openbao openbao

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.