CVE-2025-54999 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.7) CWE-203 vulnerability in github.com/openbao/openbao. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2025-54999 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
OpenBao: Timing Side-Channel in Userpass Auth Method
Real-World Exposure
github.com/openbao/openbao🐹github.com/openbao/openbaoReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
OpenBao exists to provide a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys. In versions 0.1.0 through 2.3.1, when using OpenBao's userpass auth method, user enumeration was possible due to timing difference between non-existent users and users with stored credentials. This is independent of whether the supplied credentials were valid for the given user. This issue was fixed in version 2.3.2. To work around this issue, users may use another auth method or apply rate limiting quotas to limit the number of requests in a period of time: https://openbao.org/api-docs/system/rate-limit-quotas/.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/openbao/openbao | ≥ 0.1.0&&< 2.3.2 | 2.3.2 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/openbao/openbao | all versions | 0.0.0-20250806193356-4d9b5d3d6486 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/openbao/openbao. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/openbao/openbao to 2.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-54999 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2025-54999 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2025-54999. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-54999 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-54999 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.