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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2021-27668

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.6.3 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
HashiCorp Vault Enterprise 0.9.2 through 1.6.2 allowed the read of license metadata from DR secondaries without authentication. Fixed in 1.6.3.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

HashiCorp Vault Enterprise versions 0.9.2 through 1.6.2 allowed unauthenticated access to license metadata from Disaster Recovery (DR) secondary servers. DR secondaries are read-only replicas that should require authentication even for metadata reads, but this vulnerability permitted any user to read license information without credentials.

MitigationUpgrade Vault Enterprise to version 1.6.3 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Additionally, restrict network access to DR secondary endpoints as a defense-in-depth measure until the upgrade can be applied.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
VaultApplication
Affected:>= 0.9.2, < 1.6.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Vault Enterprise edition
    Run 'vault version' or check the vault logs/startup output. Enterprise editions display 'Enterprise' or 'ENT' in the version string.
    Affected if The installed version shows Vault Enterprise (not Community edition)
  2. Check Vault version against affected range
    Compare the installed Enterprise version to the affected range: >= 0.9.2 and < 1.6.3. Run 'vault version' to get the exact version number.
    Affected if Version is 0.9.2, 0.9.3, 0.10.x, 0.11.x, 0.12.x, 0.13.x, 0.14.x, 0.15.x, 1.0.x through 1.6.2, or any 1.6.0-1.6.2 variant
  3. Verify DR secondary replication is configured
    Check Vault configuration files (vault.hcl or environment variables) for 'disable_replication_dr_secondaries' set to false, or query the '/sys/replication/dr/secondary/status' API endpoint on the DR secondary node. Look for 'mode: dr' in replication status.
    Affected if DR secondary replication is enabled and the secondary node is accessible on the network
  4. Test unauthenticated license metadata access on DR secondary
    On the DR secondary node, attempt an unauthenticated request to the license metadata endpoint. Example: 'curl -k https://<dr-secondary-address>:8200/v1/sys/license' without providing a Vault token.
    Affected if The request returns license information (such as 'license_id', 'features', 'expiration_time') without requiring an 'X-Vault-Token' header or authentication

A user is affected if running Vault Enterprise versions 0.9.2 through 1.6.3 with DR secondary replication configured and the DR secondary endpoint is network-accessible without additional authentication controls.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.6.3 or later
Fixed in 1.6.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Vault Enterprise to version 1.6.3 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Additionally, restrict network access to DR secondary endpoints as a defense-in-depth measure until the upgrade can be applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.6.3 or later

  1. Download HashiCorp Vault Enterprise version 1.6.3 or later from the official HashiCorp downloads page
  2. Review the Vault Enterprise upgrade documentation for your deployment type
  3. Plan and schedule an upgrade window following your organization's change management process
  4. Ensure you have a verified backup of your Vault data before initiating the upgrade
  5. Follow the standard Vault Enterprise upgrade procedure appropriate to your deployment (standalone, HA cluster, or DR setup)
  6. After upgrade, verify that the license metadata endpoint on DR secondaries now requires authentication

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-27668 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data