OpenBao's SQL Injection in PostgreSQL database secrets engineGHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3
MEDIUMFix: openbao/openbao#2931GHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.9) SQL Injection vulnerability in github.com/openbao/openbao. A fix is available for github.com/openbao/openbao — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
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 is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to version 2.5.3, when OpenBao revoked privileges on a role in the PostgreSQL database secrets engine, OpenBao failed to use proper database quoting on schema names provided by PostgreSQL. This could lead to role revocation failures, or more rarely, SQL injection as the management user. This vulnerability was original from HashiCorp Vault. The vulnerability is addressed in v2.5.3. As a workaround, audit table schemas and ensure database users cannot create new schemas and grant privileges on them.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/openbao/openbao | all versions | 0.0.0-20260420155735-b596b0882620go get github.com/openbao/openbao@v0.0.0-20260420155735-b596b0882620 |
Affected Products
openbaoopenbaoDetection & 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, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/openbao/openbao to 0.0.0-20260420155735-b596b0882620 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
To mitigate this issue, audit table schemas within the PostgreSQL database used by OpenBao. Ensure that database users are restricted from creating new schemas and granting privileges on them. This operational control helps prevent the conditions that could lead to SQL injection during role privilege revocation. A restart or service reload of OpenBao may be required for these changes to take full effect.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-6vgr-cp5c-ffx3 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.