CVE-2022-23541: auth0 jsonwebtoken Improper Authentication

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-23541 is a medium (CVSS 6.3) Improper Authentication vulnerability in auth0 jsonwebtoken. EPSS estimates a 0.77% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 54.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 22-12-2022
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 13-02-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

jsonwebtoken is an implementation of JSON Web Tokens. Versions `<= 8.5.1` of `jsonwebtoken` library can be misconfigured so that passing a poorly implemented key retrieval function referring to the `secretOrPublicKey` argument from the readme link will result in incorrect verification of tokens. There is a possibility of using a different algorithm and key combination in verification, other than the one that was used to sign the tokens. Specifically, tokens signed with an asymmetric public key could be verified with a symmetric HS256 algorithm. This can lead to successful validation of forged tokens. If your application is supporting usage of both symmetric key and asymmetric key in jwt.verify() implementation with the same key retrieval function. This issue has been patched, please update to version 9.0.0.

• CWE-287Improper AuthenticationWhen an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
• CWE-1259Improper Restriction of Security Token AssignmentThe System-On-A-Chip (SoC) implements a Security Token mechanism to differentiate what actions are allowed or disallowed when a transaction originates from an entity. However, the Security Tokens are improperly protected.