VulnerabilityPublished 23 Oct 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-11621: HashiCorp Vault · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Affects HashiCorp VaultSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.1 High · fixed in 1.21.0 : patch HashiCorp Vault soon.

Data as of 3 Nov 2026, 10:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 42% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.21.0, 1.20.5, 1.19.11 +1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 23 Oct 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 3 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade HashiCorp Vault to 1.21.0, 1.20.5, 1.19.11 or 1.16.27.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
HashiCorp Vault	Affected <1.16.27 <1.19.11 <1.20.5 <1.21.0	Fixed in 1.16.27 1.19.11 1.20.5 1.21.0

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-11621, organizations should immediately upgrade HashiCorp Vault to the patched versions: Community Edition 1.21.0 or Enterprise Editions 1.21.0, 1.20.5, 1.19.11, or 1.16.27. Additionally, review and audit AWS IAM role configurations used in Vault's AWS Auth method. Avoid using identical IAM roles across multiple AWS accounts and eliminate wildcard role specifications in the bound_principal_iam parameter. Implement strict IAM role scoping to ensure roles are unique per account and follow the principle of least privilege. Employ monitoring and alerting on Vault authentication logs to detect anomalous access patterns. Consider using additional authentication methods or multi-factor authentication where possible. Regularly test Vault configurations in staging environments to validate that authentication restrictions are effective. Finally, maintain an incident response plan to quickly address any suspected compromise of Vault secrets.

Description

Vault and Vault Enterprise’s (“Vault”) AWS Auth method may be susceptible to authentication bypass if the role of the configured bound_principal_iam is the same across AWS accounts, or uses a wildcard. This vulnerability, CVE-2025-11621, is fixed in Vault Community Edition 1.21.0 and Vault Enterprise 1.21.0, 1.20.5, 1.19.11, and 1.16.27

Impact

The impact of CVE-2025-11621 is substantial for organizations relying on HashiCorp Vault for secret management, especially those using the AWS Auth method. Successful exploitation allows attackers to bypass authentication, potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive secrets such as API keys, credentials, certificates, and other confidential data stored in Vault. This can lead to lateral movement within the network, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and compromise of critical infrastructure. Since Vault is widely used in cloud-native environments and DevOps pipelines, the breach of Vault secrets can disrupt automated deployments and security controls. The vulnerability's ease of exploitation (low complexity, network accessible) combined with high confidentiality and integrity impact elevates the risk profile. Organizations with multi-account AWS environments that reuse IAM roles or employ wildcard roles are particularly vulnerable. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for remediation, but the potential damage from exploitation is severe.

CWE-288Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product requires authentication, but the product has an alternate path or channel that does not require authentication.
Architecture and Design
Funnel all access through a single choke point to simplify how users can access a resource. For every access, perform a check to determine if the user has permissions to access the resource.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-30-vault-aws-auth-method-authentication-bypass-through-mishandling-of-cache-entries/76709 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 04:37 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-288

Technical details

References

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