Jsonwebtoken
CVE-2022-23541
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 6.3 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
jsonwebtoken is an implementation of JSON Web Tokens. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Improper Authentication vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Implement multi-factor authentication, enforce strong password policies, use proven authentication frameworks.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in npm
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Improper Authentication (CWE-287), which allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access. 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. Affected products include: Auth0 Jsonwebtoken. Version information: version 9.0.0..
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
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.
Blast Radius
ecosystem impact- 1,190 npm packages depend on jsonwebtoken (280 direct, 927 indirect)
Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 9.0.0.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
More in Jsonwebtoken
View alljsonwebtoken prior to version 10.3.0 allows attackers to bypass JWT time-based validation checks through type confusion
Versions `<=8.5.1` of `jsonwebtoken` library could be misconfigured so that legacy, insecure key types are used for sign
In versions `<=8.5.1` of `jsonwebtoken` library, lack of algorithm definition in the `jwt.verify()` function can lead to
Exploit-DB