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Full vulnerability report · 2021
CVE-2021-38554High confidence

HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise’s UI erroneously cached and exposed user-viewed secrets between sessions in a single shared browser

n/a · n/a

5.3MediumCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Scheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Fix not verified
Direct vendor intelligence

Authoritative vendor CSAF and VEX advisories

Structured product status and remediation from the issuing vendor. Product-state explanations are always visible; large lists can be searched or downloaded.

1 current
CVE-2021-38554 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 3 · status not statedRed Hat Product Securityvault: UI erroneously cached and exposed user-viewed secrets between sessions in a single shared browser
6 known affected

The vendor explicitly identifies these products as affected by this CVE.

  • openshift4/ose-installer as a component of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
  • openshift4/topology-aware-lifecycle-manager-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
  • ocs4/cephcsi-rhel8 as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4
  • ocs4/mcg-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4
  • ocs4/ocs-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4
  • ocs4/rook-ceph-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4
Summary
A flaw was found in the vault package. The Vault UI web application may fail to completely clear a client-side data cache on user logout. As a result, an authenticated user sharing a browser to access Vault may have been able to view the previous authenticated user’s cached secrets, even if they were not authorized by Vault policies to view them.
Remediation
Out of support scope
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Select the national-authority views to include. The exact source language is shown on each matched advisory. Your choice is remembered on this device and encoded in the shareable URL.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2021-1586

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionScheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise’s UI erroneously cached and exposed user-viewed secrets between sessions in a single shared browser. Fixed in 1.8.0 and pending 1.7.4 / 1.6.6 releases.

What

HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise’s UI erroneously cached and exposed user-viewed secrets between sessions in a single shared browser. Fixed in 1.8.0 and pending 1.7.4 / 1.6.6 releases.

Why

The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the resource available to unauthorized actors.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

HashiCorp Vault and Vault Enterprise’s UI erroneously cached and exposed user-viewed secrets between sessions in a single shared browser. Fixed in 1.8.0 and pending 1.7.4 / 1.6.6 releases.

Why

The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the resource available to unauthorized actors.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
a network path → Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Network
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High: exploitation depends on specific conditions
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-212 ↗

CWE-212: Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer. The product stores, transfers, or shares a resource that contains sensitive information, but it does not properly remove that information before the product makes the resource available to unauthorized actors.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.ACHighAttack complexity: Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions outside the attacker's direct control.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.INoneIntegrity impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.ANoneAvailability impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
No specific living-off-the-land technique is confirmed in the structured sources. Monitor normal administration tools for activity inconsistent with the affected service's baseline.
NetworkCWE-212
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
openshift4/ose-installer as a component of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4; openshift4/topology-aware-lifecycle-manager-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4; ocs4/cephcsi-rhel8 as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4; ocs4/mcg-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4; ocs4/ocs-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4; ocs4/rook-ceph-rhel8-operator as a component of Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. If business-safe, reduce exposure to the affected interface and allow only trusted sources until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 13 Aug 2021 · Last source change 4 Aug 2024, 01:44 UTC · CWE-212 · Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-1586
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security
CWE sourceNIST NVD
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates →

No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.

Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-1586↗Vendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2021-38554 · cve.blacktree.nl