HashiCorp Vault/Vault Enterprise up to 1.20.x JSON allocation of resources

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise up to 1.20.x. Impacted is an unknown function of the component JSON Handler. Performing a manipulation results in allocation of resources. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2025-12044. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise up to 1.20.x. This affects an unknown code of the component JSON Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a allocation of resources vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-770. The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated, in violation of the intended security policy for that actor. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

Vault and Vault Enterprise (“Vault”) are vulnerable to an unauthenticated denial of service when processing JSON payloads. This occurs due to a regression from a previous fix for [+HCSEC-2025-24+|https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-24-vault-denial-of-service-though-complex-json-payloads/76393]  which allowed for processing JSON payloads before applying rate limits. This vulnerability, CVE-2025-12044, is fixed in Vault Community Edition 1.21.0 and Vault Enterprise 1.16.27, 1.19.11, 1.20.5, and 1.21.0.

The advisory is shared at discuss.hashicorp.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-12044 since 10/21/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 1.21.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-2396). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Hashicorp Vault

Productinfo

Vendor

• HashiCorp

Name

• Vault
• Vault Enterprise

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5
• 1.6
• 1.7
• 1.8
• 1.9
• 1.10
• 1.11
• 1.12
• 1.13
• 1.14
• 1.15
• 1.16
• 1.17
• 1.18
• 1.19
• 1.20

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion