CVE-2025-6004
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 · uneditedVault and Vault Enterprise’s (“Vault”) user lockout feature could be bypassed for Userpass and LDAP authentication methods. Fixed in Vault Community Edition 1.20.1 and Vault Enterprise 1.20.1, 1.19.7, 1.18.12, and 1.16.23.
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 · moderate confidenceVault and Vault Enterprise's user lockout feature could be bypassed for Userpass and LDAP authentication methods, allowing attackers to potentially make unlimited authentication attempts without triggering account lockouts designed to prevent brute force attacks.
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>= 1.13.0, < 1.16.23>= 1.13.0, < 1.20.1>= 1.17.0, < 1.18.12>= 1.19.0, < 1.19.7= 1.20.0CVSS 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
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 Vault versionRun `vault version` or inspect the Vault server startup logs to identify the installed version.Affected if The installed version is one of the following: >= 1.13.0 and < 1.16.23; >= 1.17.0 and < 1.18.12; >= 1.19.0 and < 1.19.7; or exactly version 1.20.0.
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Identify enabled auth methodsRun `vault auth list` to list all enabled authentication methods on the Vault instance.Affected if Userpass or LDAP authentication methods are enabled.
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Verify user lockout configurationFor Userpass: run `vault read auth/userpass/config` to inspect the userpass lockout settings. For LDAP: run `vault read auth/ldap/config` to inspect LDAP lockout settings.Affected if User lockout is configured and expected to be enforced, but the version is affected by this CVE.
A user is affected if their Vault version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND they have Userpass or LDAP authentication methods enabled with user lockout configured.
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 · scoped1.16.231.18.121.19.7
Upgrade Vault to version 1.20.1 (Community) or 1.20.1/1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23 (Enterprise). For immediate risk reduction, implement additional authentication rate limiting at network or load balancer level.
Vault Community Edition 1.20.1 or Vault Enterprise 1.20.1 (1.19.7, 1.18.12, and 1.16.23 also contain the fix)
- 1. Back up your Vault data and configuration before starting the upgrade
- 2. Review the Vault upgrade notes and breaking changes for your target version at https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/docs/upgrading
- 3. For Vault Community Edition: Upgrade to version 1.20.1
- 4. For Vault Enterprise: Upgrade to version 1.20.1 (or 1.19.7, 1.18.12, or 1.16.23 depending on your compatibility requirements)
- 5. After upgrade, verify the user lockout feature is working correctly for Userpass and LDAP authentication methods
- 6. Test authentication to ensure the fix is applied and the lockout cannot be bypassed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-6004 — 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-2025-6004 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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