---
id: CVE-2026-55776
title: OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system
summary: >-
  OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to
  2.5.5, an authenticated OpenBao caller with write access to transit/keys/*
  could terminate the server process by setting derived to true while the type
  paramete…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-617
vendor: openbao
product: openbao
affected:
  - openbao < 2.5.5
patched:
  - github.com/openbao/openbao 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2
published: '2026-09-15'
updated: '2026-09-17'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-17T16:17:31.283'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-55776'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/bb17827f3e33779a10166f7d0e61b191c0facef9
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openbao/openbao/commit/db57c62602b25da12951f3f0edb888e7c4da61e5
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/3309'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/pull/3312'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.5.5'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/releases/tag/v2.6.0'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/openbao/openbao/security/advisories/GHSA-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j'
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-55776.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-55776'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-55776'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
  - ghsa
  - go
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
exploitAvailable: true
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-17T15:33:37.116627Z'
epss: 0.00612
epssPercentile: 0.47
ecosystem: go
ingestedAt: '2026-06-22T13:35:24.281Z'
---

## Overview

OpenBao is an open source identity-based secrets management system. Prior to 2.5.5, an authenticated OpenBao caller with write access to transit/keys/* could terminate the server process by setting derived to true while the type parameter selected rsa-, ecdsa-, or ed25519. The Transit policy creation path in builtin/logical/transit/backend.go and sdk/helper/keysutil/policy.go could reach an error path that double-unlocked a mutex while handling this invalid asymmetric derived-key combination, causing a panic, no HTTP response, process exit, and denial of service. JSON and HCL key-creation requests can express the triggering combination. This issue is fixed in version 2.5.5.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-55776)

Affected packages:

- `github.com/openbao/openbao >= 0.1.0, <= 2.5.4`
- `github.com/openbao/openbao < 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2`

Patched in:

- `github.com/openbao/openbao 0.0.0-20260617104123-db57c62602b2`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8w8f-r2xv-4q4j

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · updated 2026-09-15 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-55776.json)