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.
References (3)
Core 3
Core References
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-2q8q-8fgw-9p6p
Patch x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/c52795c1ef746c7f2c510f9225aa8ccbbd44f9fc
Not Applicable x_refsource_misc
https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-20-vault-ldap-mfa-enforcement-bypass-when-using-username-as-alias/76092
Scores
CVSS v3
6.5
EPSS
0.0005
EPSS Percentile
15.4%
Attack Vector
NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CISA SSVC
Vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical Impact
partial
Details
CWE
CWE-156
Status
published
Products (2)
openbao/openbao
< 2.3.2
openbao/openbao
0.1.0 - 2.3.2Go
Published
Aug 09, 2025
Tracked Since
Feb 18, 2026