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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2025-6037

MEDIUM · 6.8 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 →
72/100
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 (“Vault”) TLS certificate auth method did not correctly validate client certificates when configured with a non-CA certificate as [+trusted certificate+|https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/api-docs/auth/cert#certificate]. In this configuration, an attacker may be able to craft a malicious certificate that could be used to impersonate another user. 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

The Vault TLS certificate authentication method had a certificate validation flaw when configured with a non-CA certificate as the trusted certificate. This allowed attackers to craft malicious certificates that could bypass validation and impersonate other users authenticated via the TLS cert auth method.

MitigationUpgrade Vault to version 1.20.1 (Community) or 1.20.1/1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23 (Enterprise) to obtain the fix. Alternatively, use CA certificates as trusted certificates in TLS auth configuration.

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:< 1.16.23< 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
High
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Check Vault version
    Run 'vault version' to get the installed version. Compare against affected ranges: < 1.16.23, >= 1.17.0 < 1.18.12, >= 1.19.0 < 1.19.7, = 1.20.0, or < 1.20.1
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges
  2. Verify TLS certificate authentication is enabled
    Run 'vault auth list' to list enabled auth methods. Look for 'cert' or 'tls/cert' in the output
    Affected if The TLS certificate authentication method (cert) is enabled in Vault
  3. Inspect TLS auth trusted certificate configuration
    Run 'vault read auth/cert/certs/<certificate_name>' for each configured certificate, or check Vault configuration files for 'trusted_certificate' or 'ca_cert' settings under the TLS auth method configuration
    Affected if A non-CA certificate is configured as the trusted certificate (the configuration does not use a CA certificate)
  4. Confirm trusted certificate is not a CA
    Examine the configured trusted certificate's subject and basic constraints. A CA certificate has 'CA: TRUE' in its basic constraints, while a non-CA end-entity certificate has 'CA: FALSE' or lacks this field
    Affected if The trusted certificate is an end-entity certificate (non-CA) rather than a CA certificate

You are affected if running an affected Vault version, TLS cert auth is enabled, and a non-CA certificate is configured as the trusted certificate in the TLS authentication method configuration.

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 Vault to version 1.20.1 (Community) or 1.20.1/1.19.7/1.18.12/1.16.23 (Enterprise) to obtain the fix. Alternatively, use CA certificates as trusted certificates in TLS auth configuration.

Recommended fix High confidence

Vault Community Edition 1.20.1; Vault Enterprise 1.20.1 (or 1.19.7, 1.18.12, or 1.16.23 depending on current version)

  1. 1. Identify current Vault version by running 'vault version'
  2. 2. Review the Vault upgrade best practices at https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/docs/upgrading
  3. 3. Create a backup of Vault data and configuration, including: vault data directory, configuration files, and any snapshots if using integrated storage
  4. 4. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  5. 5. For community edition: upgrade to 1.20.1
  6. 6. For Enterprise: upgrade to 1.20.1, or if on 1.19.x upgrade to 1.19.7, or if on 1.18.x upgrade to 1.18.12, or if on 1.16.x upgrade to 1.16.23
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify the TLS certificate auth method works correctly with the non-CA trusted certificate configuration
  8. 8. Review Vault logs for any authentication anomalies
Caveat Always review release notes for breaking changes before upgrading; test in staging first

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

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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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-2025-6037 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