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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2025-6015

MEDIUM · 5.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.16.23 / 1.18.12 or later.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 and Vault Enterprise’s (“Vault”) login MFA rate limits could be bypassed and TOTP tokens could be reused. 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 · high confidence

Vault's MFA implementation contained two flaws: rate limiting could be bypassed allowing unlimited MFA attempts, and TOTP tokens could be reused rather than being invalidated after single use. This enables both brute-force attacks against MFA codes and token replay attacks.

MitigationUpgrade to Vault Community Edition 1.20.1 or Vault Enterprise 1.20.1/1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23. Prioritize environments with exposed Vault login endpoints and enable authentication logging to detect unusual MFA attempt patterns.

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:>= 1.10.0, < 1.16.23>= 1.10.0, < 1.20.1>= 1.17.0, < 1.18.12>= 1.19.0, < 1.19.7= 1.20.0

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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. Identify Vault version
    Run 'vault version' on the Vault server host or query the /sys/health API endpoint. Compare the installed version against the affected ranges: < 1.16.23, < 1.18.12, < 1.19.7, or 1.20.0.
    Affected if The installed version falls within any affected range (1.10.0 to 1.16.22, 1.17.0 to 1.18.11, 1.19.0 to 1.19.6, or exactly 1.20.0).
  2. Determine if MFA is enabled
    Query Vault's MFA configuration via the API at /sys/mfa or use 'vault read sys/mfa' command to list MFA methods configured on any auth methods.
    Affected if MFA methods (such as TOTP, Okta, Duo, etc.) are configured and enforced on Vault authentication endpoints.
  3. Review authentication logs for MFA anomalies
    Examine Vault audit logs (stored in the configured audit log sink) for authentication events. Look for patterns such as: many failed MFA attempts from the same source IP, repeated submissions of the same TOTP code, or excessive authentication attempts without hitting rate limits.
    Affected if Logs show many MFA attempts from a single source without evidence of rate limiting enforcement, or the same TOTP code appears in multiple successful authentication events.
  4. Check for TOTP token reuse
    Search audit logs for duplicate TOTP codes used across different authentication sessions or timestamps. Compare timestamps and session IDs for identical TOTP values.
    Affected if The same TOTP code appears in multiple successful login events, indicating tokens are being reused rather than invalidated after single use.

You are affected if your Vault version is in the vulnerable range AND MFA is enabled, particularly if TOTP is used and logs show repeated token usage or unbounded MFA retry attempts.

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 1.16.23 / 1.18.12 / 1.19.7 or later
Fixed in 1.16.231.18.121.19.7
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Vault Community Edition 1.20.1 or Vault Enterprise 1.20.1/1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23. Prioritize environments with exposed Vault login endpoints and enable authentication logging to detect unusual MFA attempt patterns.

Recommended fix High confidence

Vault 1.20.1 (or 1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23 depending on your release branch)

  1. 1. Identify your current Vault version using `vault version`
  2. 2. Determine which release branch you're on (1.16.x, 1.18.x, 1.19.x, or 1.20.x)
  3. 3. Review the Vault upgrade guide at https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/docs/upgrading
  4. 4. Create a backup of your Vault data directory and configuration
  5. 5. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  6. 6. Upgrade Vault to version 1.20.1 (or the latest patch for your branch: 1.19.7, 1.18.12, or 1.16.23)
  7. 7. Verify MFA functionality is working correctly after upgrade
  8. 8. Monitor Vault logs for any authentication-related errors
Caveat Review Vault release notes for breaking changes between versions; minor version upgrades within the same branch typically have minimal breaking changes

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

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,416.

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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-2025-6015 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