Openbao: >> Openbao >> 2.1.1 Security Vulnerabilities
OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to version 2.5.2, OpenBao does not prompt for user confirmation when logging in via JWT/OIDC and a role with `callback_mode` set to `direct`. This allows an attacker to start an authentication request and perform "remote phishing" by having the victim visit the URL and automatically log-in to the session of the attacker. Despite being based on the authorization code flow, the `direct` mode calls back directly to the API and allows an attacker to poll for an OpenBao token until it is issued. Version 2.5.2 includes an additional confirmation screen for `direct` type logins that requires manual user interaction in order to finish the authentication. This issue can be worked around either by removing any roles with `callback_mode=direct` or enforcing confirmation for every session on the token issuer side for the Client ID used by OpenBao.
CVSS Score
9.6
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2026-03-27
OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to version 2.5.2, OpenBao installations that have an OIDC/JWT authentication method enabled and a role with `callback_mode=direct` configured are vulnerable to XSS via the `error_description` parameter on the page for a failed authentication. This allows an attacker access to the token used in the Web UI by a victim. The `error_description` parameter has been replaced with a static error message in v2.5.2. The vulnerability can be mitigated by removing any roles with `callback_mode` set to `direct`.
CVSS Score
6.1
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2026-03-27
OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to version 2.4.4, a privileged operator could use the identity group subsystem to add a root policy to a group identity group, escalating their or another user's permissions in the system. Specifically this is an issue when: an operator in the root namespace has access to identity/groups endpoints and an operator does not have policy access. Otherwise, an operator with policy access could create or modify an existing policy to grant root-equivalent permissions through the sudo capability. This issue has been patched in version 2.4.4.
CVSS Score
7.2
EPSS Score
0.001
Published
2025-11-25
OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to version 2.4.2, OpenBao's audit log did not appropriately redact fields when relevant subsystems sent []byte response parameters rather than strings. This includes, but is not limited to sys/raw with use of encoding=base64, all data would be emitted unredacted to the audit log, and Transit, when performing a signing operation with a derived Ed25519 key, would emit public keys to the audit log. This issue has been patched in OpenBao 2.4.2.
CVSS Score
4.9
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2025-10-22
OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. In OpenBao versions prior to 2.4.1, JSON objects after decoding may use significantly more memory than their serialized version. It is possible to craft a JSON payload to maximize the factor between serialized memory usage and deserialized memory usage, similar to a zip bomb, with factors reaching approximately 35. This can be used to circumvent the max_request_size configuration parameter which is intended to protect against denial of service attacks. The request body is parsed into a map very early in the request handling chain before authentication, which means an unauthenticated attacker can send a specifically crafted JSON object and cause an out-of-memory crash. Additionally, for requests with large numbers of strings, the audit subsystem can consume large quantities of CPU. The vulnerability is fixed in version 2.4.1.
CVSS Score
7.5
EPSS Score
0.002
Published
2025-10-17
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's Login Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system allows enforcing MFA using Time-based One Time Password (TOTP). Due to normalization applied by the underlying TOTP library, codes were accepted which could contain whitespace; this whitespace could bypass internal rate limiting of the MFA method and allow reuse of existing MFA codes. This issue was fixed in version 2.3.2. To work around this, use of rate-limiting quotas can limit an attacker's ability to exploit this: https://openbao.org/api-docs/system/rate-limit-quotas/.
CVSS Score
5.7
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2025-08-09
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.
CVSS Score
9.1
EPSS Score
0.002
Published
2025-08-09
OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 0.1.0 through 2.3.1, attackers could bypass the automatic user lockout mechanisms in the OpenBao Userpass or LDAP auth systems. This was caused by different aliasing between pre-flight and full login request user entity alias attributions. This is fixed in version 2.3.2. To work around this issue, existing users may apply rate-limiting quotas on the authentication endpoints:, see https://openbao.org/api-docs/system/rate-limit-quotas/.
CVSS Score
5.3
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2025-08-09
OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 0.1.0 through 2.3.1, when using OpenBao's userpass auth method, user enumeration was possible due to timing difference between non-existent users and users with stored credentials. This is independent of whether the supplied credentials were valid for the given user. This issue was fixed in version 2.3.2. To work around this issue, users may use another auth method or apply rate limiting quotas to limit the number of requests in a period of time: https://openbao.org/api-docs/system/rate-limit-quotas/.
CVSS Score
3.7
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2025-08-09
OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 0.1.0 through 2.3.1, OpenBao's TOTP secrets engine could accept valid codes multiple times rather than strictly-once. This was caused by unexpected normalization in the underlying TOTP library. To work around, ensure that all codes are first normalized before submitting to the OpenBao endpoint. TOTP code verification is a privileged action; only trusted systems should be verifying codes.
CVSS Score
6.5
EPSS Score
0.0
Published
2025-08-09
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