Privilege escalation in Openbao
CVE-2025-64761
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.
EPSS: 0.004 (27.9th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.2 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Openbao — versions < 2.4.4
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- security-advisories@github.com (x_refsource_CONFIRM, Patch, Vendor Advisory)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-64761?
- CVE-2025-64761 is a high-severity vulnerability in Openbao, classified under Incorrect Privilege Assignment. CVSS score: 7.2/10. Published 2025-11-25.
- How severe is CVE-2025-64761?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.2 out of 10.