Vault Certificate Auth Method Did Not Validate Common Name For Non-CA Certificates
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.
02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE
Affected packages
2 explicit affected versions
03 / CONNECTIONS
Connected vulnerabilities
04 / EVIDENCE
Source records
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.
Hashicorp Vault has Incorrect Validation for Non-CA Certificates in github.com/hashicorp/vault
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.
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.
05 / REFERENCES
Further evidence
- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-18-vault-certificate-auth-method-did-not-validate-common-name-for-non-ca-certificates/76037
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/6xxx/CVE-2025-6037.json
- https://github.com/hashicorp/vault
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-6037
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-6c5r-4wfc-3mcx