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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2021-29653

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-04-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.8 / 1.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 and Vault Enterprise 1.5.1 and newer, under certain circumstances, may exclude revoked but unexpired certificates from the CRL. Fixed in 1.5.8, 1.6.4, and 1.7.1.

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's PKI secrets engine versions 1.5.1+ may exclude revoked but unexpired certificates from Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) under certain circumstances. This allows previously-revoked certificates to appear valid to verifying parties, potentially enabling continued unauthorized access.

MitigationUpgrade Vault to version 1.5.8, 1.6.4, 1.7.1 or later; then regenerate CRLs to ensure all revoked certificates are properly listed.

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:>= 1.5.1, < 1.5.8>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.4>= 1.7.0, < 1.7.1

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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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. Determine installed Vault version
    Run 'vault version' or check the Vault binary version to identify the exact release
    Affected if The version is >= 1.5.1 and < 1.5.8, OR >= 1.6.0 and < 1.6.4, OR >= 1.7.0 and < 1.7.1
  2. Identify enabled secrets engines
    Run 'vault secrets list' to enumerate enabled secrets engines and look for 'pki' or 'pki_int' type engines
    Affected if A PKI secrets engine is enabled with a version from the affected range above
  3. Check PKI mount configuration
    Run 'vault read sys/mounts/<pki_mount_point>' to inspect the PKI engine configuration
    Affected if The PKI mount exists and uses a Vault version in the affected range
  4. Inspect CRL generation settings
    Review the PKI role configuration using 'vault read <pki_mount_point>/roles/<role_name>' and check for any delta CRL or excluded_revoked attributes
    Affected if Custom CRL settings exist that may exclude revoked but unexpired certificates from the generated CRL

You are affected if your Vault version falls within the ranges >= 1.5.1 < 1.5.8, >= 1.6.0 < 1.6.4, or >= 1.7.0 < 1.7.1 AND you have a PKI secrets engine enabled with CRL generation.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.5.8 / 1.6.4 / 1.7.1 or later
Fixed in 1.5.81.6.41.7.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Vault to version 1.5.8, 1.6.4, 1.7.1 or later; then regenerate CRLs to ensure all revoked certificates are properly listed.

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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-2021-29653 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