CVE-2021-43998
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 · uneditedHashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise 0.11.0 up to 1.7.5 and 1.8.4 templated ACL policies would always match the first-created entity alias if multiple entity aliases exist for a specified entity and mount combination, potentially resulting in incorrect policy enforcement. Fixed in Vault and Vault Enterprise 1.7.6, 1.8.5, and 1.9.0.
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 confidenceIn HashiCorp Vault, templated ACL policies incorrectly matched the first-created entity alias when multiple entity aliases existed for a given entity and mount combination, leading to incorrect policy enforcement where users might receive unintended access privileges.
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>= 0.11.0, <= 1.7.5= 1.8.4CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Vault versionRun `vault version` or `vault status` to obtain the Vault versionAffected if Version is >= 0.11.0 and <= 1.7.5, or exactly 1.8.4
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Identify entities with multiple aliasesUse the Identity secrets engine: `vault list identity/entity/id` to list entities, then `vault read identity/entity/id/<entity_id>` for each to check for multiple `alias` entries under the same mountAffected if Any entity has more than one alias attached to the same auth mount (shown by multiple alias blocks with the same mount_accessor)
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Review templated ACL policiesList policies with `vault policy list` and read each with `vault policy read <policy_name>` to identify policies containing identity-related templates such as `identity.entity.name`, `identity.entity.aliases.<mount>.name`, or `identity.groups.names.<group>`Affected if Templated ACL policies are in use that reference entity alias data
A user is affected if their Vault version is in the vulnerable range AND they use templated ACL policies AND have entities with multiple aliases on the same mount, which could cause the policy to incorrectly match the first-created alias instead of the intended one.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedUpgrade Vault to version 1.7.6, 1.8.5, or 1.9.0 or later. Review existing ACL policies and entity configurations to verify correct access controls after upgrading.
1.7.6, 1.8.5, or 1.9.0 (or later stable release)
- 1. Review HashiCorp Vault upgrade documentation and release notes for your current version
- 2. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
- 3. Take a complete backup of your Vault data and configuration
- 4. Upgrade Vault to version 1.7.6, 1.8.5, or 1.9.0 (or later)
- 5. Verify that templated ACL policies now correctly handle multiple entity aliases
- 6. Test critical ACL policies to confirm proper enforcement after upgrade
- 7. Deploy the upgraded version to production
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-43998 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-43998 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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