Vault’s Terraform Provider incorrectly set the default deny_null_bind parameter for the LDAP auth method to false by default, potentially resulting in an insecure configuration. If the underlying LDAP server allowed anonymous or unauthenticated binds, this could result in authentication bypass. This vulnerability, CVE-2025-13357, is fixed in Vault Terraform Provider v5.5.0.
The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure.
Developers often choose default values that leave the product as open and easy to use as possible out-of-the-box, under the assumption that the administrator can (or should) change the default value. However, this ease-of-use comes at a cost when the default is insecure and the administrator does not change it.