LibJWT is a C JSON Web Token Library. From 3.0.0 to 3.3.2, libjwt accepts an RSA JWK that does not contain an alg parameter as the verification key for an HS256/HS384/HS512 token. In the OpenSSL backend, this causes HMAC verification to run with a zero-length key, so an attacker can forge a valid JWT without knowing any secret or RSA private key. This is an algorithm-confusion authentication bypass. It affects applications that load RSA keys from JWKS where alg is omitted, which is valid JWK syntax and common in real deployments, and then choose the verification algorithm from the JWT header, for example in a kid lookup callback. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.3.3.
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Fri, 15 May 2026 16:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
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| Description | LibJWT is a C JSON Web Token Library. From 3.0.0 to 3.3.2, libjwt accepts an RSA JWK that does not contain an alg parameter as the verification key for an HS256/HS384/HS512 token. In the OpenSSL backend, this causes HMAC verification to run with a zero-length key, so an attacker can forge a valid JWT without knowing any secret or RSA private key. This is an algorithm-confusion authentication bypass. It affects applications that load RSA keys from JWKS where alg is omitted, which is valid JWK syntax and common in real deployments, and then choose the verification algorithm from the JWT header, for example in a kid lookup callback. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.3.3. | |
| Title | LibJWT: Algorithm confusion allows JWT forgery with RSA JWK as empty-key HMAC | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-327 CWE-347 |
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cvssV4_0
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: GitHub_M
Published:
Updated: 2026-05-15T16:08:34.405Z
Reserved: 2026-05-07T17:07:09.316Z
Link: CVE-2026-44699
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Status : Received
Published: 2026-05-15T17:16:47.783
Modified: 2026-05-15T17:16:47.783
Link: CVE-2026-44699
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OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2026-05-15T17:30:04Z