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VaultApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2025-6203

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.16.27 / 1.18.15 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
A malicious user may submit a specially-crafted complex payload that otherwise meets the default request size limit which results in excessive memory and CPU consumption of Vault. This may lead to a timeout in Vault’s auditing subroutine, potentially resulting in the Vault server to become unresponsive. This vulnerability, CVE-2025-6203, is fixed in Vault Community Edition 1.20.3 and Vault Enterprise 1.20.3, 1.19.9, 1.18.14, and 1.16.25.

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

This is a denial-of-service vulnerability in HashiCorp Vault where a specially-crafted complex payload that meets the default request size limit triggers excessive memory and CPU consumption in Vault's auditing subroutine, potentially causing timeouts and server unresponsiveness.

MitigationUpgrade to Vault Community Edition 1.20.3 or Vault Enterprise 1.20.3/1.19.9/1.18.14/1.16.25. As a temporary measure, review and restrict audit logging configurations if available.

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:>= 1.15.0, < 1.16.27>= 1.15.0, < 1.21.0>= 1.18.0, < 1.18.15>= 1.19.0, < 1.19.11>= 1.20.0, < 1.20.5

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. Check installed Vault version
    Run `vault version` or examine the Vault binary metadata
    Affected if The version falls within 1.15.0 to 1.16.26, 1.18.0 to 1.18.14, 1.19.0 to 1.19.10, or 1.20.0 to 1.20.4
  2. Verify audit devices are enabled
    Run `vault audit list -detailed` to list configured audit backends
    Affected if Any audit device (syslog, file, socket, etc.) is enabled and active
  3. Confirm default request size limit is in use
    Check Vault configuration for `max_request_size` setting in the listener block; if not set, Vault uses the default 32MB limit
    Affected if The default 32MB request size limit is in place or the setting is not explicitly configured
  4. Check for high memory or CPU usage patterns
    Monitor Vault process resource usage; review logs for auditing-related timeout or slowdown messages
    Affected if Audit logging operations are causing noticeable latency, memory spikes, or CPU exhaustion

You are affected if Vault is running a vulnerable version (1.15.0-1.16.26, 1.18.0-1.18.14, 1.19.0-1.19.10, or 1.20.0-1.20.4) with auditing enabled and the default request size limit configured, leading to performance degradation during audit processing of large requests.

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 1.16.27 / 1.18.15 / 1.19.11 or later
Fixed in 1.16.271.18.151.19.11
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Vault Community Edition 1.20.3 or Vault Enterprise 1.20.3/1.19.9/1.18.14/1.16.25. As a temporary measure, review and restrict audit logging configurations if available.

Recommended fix High confidence

Vault Community/Enterprise 1.20.3 (or the latest 1.20.x stable release)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Vault version using `vault version`
  2. 2. Based on your current version, plan the upgrade path to a fixed release
  3. 3. For Vault 1.15.x: Upgrade to 1.16.25 or later (ideally 1.20.3 for latest fixes)
  4. 4. For Vault 1.16.x: Upgrade to 1.16.25 or later
  5. 5. For Vault 1.17.x: Upgrade to 1.20.3 (1.17 is not listed with specific patch)
  6. 6. For Vault 1.18.x: Upgrade to 1.18.14 or later
  7. 7. For Vault 1.19.x: Upgrade to 1.19.9 or later
  8. 8. Before upgrading in production, test the upgrade in a non-production environment
Caveat Refer to Vault upgrade notes for breaking changes between major versions; version 1.20.x may include changes requiring configuration adjustments

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

Fix this in Vault Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
19.0 hours of engineering $3,360
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,376.

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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-2025-6203 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