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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2024-8185

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.16.12 / 1.17.8 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
Vault Community and Vault Enterprise (“Vault”) clusters using Vault’s Integrated Storage backend are vulnerable to a denial-of-service (DoS) attack through memory exhaustion through a Raft cluster join API endpoint . An attacker may send a large volume of requests to the endpoint which may cause Vault to consume excessive system memory resources, potentially leading to a crash of the underlying system and the Vault process itself. This vulnerability, CVE-2024-8185, is fixed in Vault Community 1.18.1 and Vault Enterprise 1.18.1, 1.17.8, and 1.16.12.

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

Vault clusters using Integrated Storage backend are vulnerable to a memory exhaustion DoS attack via the Raft cluster join API endpoint. An attacker can send a large volume of requests to this endpoint, causing excessive memory consumption that can crash the Vault process.

MitigationUpgrade Vault to version 1.18.1 (Community or Enterprise) or Enterprise versions 1.17.8 or 1.16.12 to patch this vulnerability.

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:>= 1.2.0, < 1.16.12>= 1.2.0, < 1.18.1>= 1.17.0, < 1.17.8= 1.18.0
OpenbaoApplication
Affected:< 2.0.3

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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. Identify the storage backend configuration
    Inspect the Vault configuration file (vault.hcl or vault.json) or run `vault read sys/storage` to identify the storage backend type. Look for the `storage` stanza and confirm it uses `raft` as the backend type.
    Affected if The storage backend is set to "raft" (Integrated Storage)
  2. Check the installed Vault version
    Run `vault version` or `vault status` to retrieve the installed version. Compare this version against the affected ranges: < 1.16.12, >= 1.17.0 and < 1.17.8, or = 1.18.0.
    Affected if The version is any of the following: < 1.16.12, 1.17.0 to 1.17.7, or exactly 1.18.0
  3. Check the installed Openbao version
    Run `bao version` or check the Openbao binary version if using Openbao instead of Vault. Compare against the affected range: < 2.0.3.
    Affected if Using Openbao version less than 2.0.3
  4. Verify Raft join API accessibility
    Review network access controls and firewall rules for the Vault API endpoint. The Raft join API is typically accessed via the `/v1/sys/storage/raft/join` endpoint. Check if this endpoint is exposed to untrusted networks.
    Affected if The Raft join API endpoint is accessible from untrusted or public networks

You are affected if your Vault/Openbao version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND you are using the Integrated Storage (raft) backend with an exposed Raft join API endpoint.

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 1.16.12 / 1.17.8 / 1.18.1 or later
Fixed in 1.16.121.17.81.18.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Vault to version 1.18.1 (Community or Enterprise) or Enterprise versions 1.17.8 or 1.16.12 to patch this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Vault 1.18.1 (or 1.17.8 / 1.16.12 depending on current version); OpenBao 2.0.3

  1. 1. Review the current Vault version using 'vault version' command
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate target version based on your current major version: if on 1.16.x upgrade to 1.16.12, if on 1.17.x upgrade to 1.17.8, if on 1.18.x upgrade to 1.18.1
  3. 3. Take a snapshot of your Vault data using the snapshot save command or backup your Raft data directory
  4. 4. Download the appropriate Vault binary for your platform from hashicorp.com or your package manager
  5. 5. Stop the Vault service on all nodes in the cluster
  6. 6. Replace the Vault binary on each node with the fixed version
  7. 7. Start the Vault service on each node, ensuring cluster quorum is maintained
  8. 8. Verify the upgrade by checking 'vault version' shows the patched version
Caveat Standard Vault upgrade considerations apply - review HashiCorp upgrade guides for version-specific notes, especially for Enterprise versions

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

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,770
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,832.

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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-2024-8185 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