CVE-2023-50966Public exploitNetwork attack vector

CPU exhaustion via unbounded PBES2 iteration count

Published Mar 19, 2024 · Updated Aug 2, 2024

Resource exhaustion in potatosalad JOSE 1.11.6 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt service via a crafted JOSE header. The JWE PBES2 key-unwrapping path accepts the header's p2c value as the PBKDF2 iteration count without an upper bound, consuming excessive CPU. Any application that decrypts attacker-controlled PBES2-encrypted JWE input can become unresponsive without authentication or user interaction.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.89%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in potatosalad JOSE 1.11.6 and earlier allows remote attackers to interrupt service via a crafted JOSE header. The JWE PBES2 key-unwrapping path accepts the header's p2c value as the PBKDF2 iteration count without an upper bound, consuming excessive CPU. Any application that decrypts attacker-controlled PBES2-encrypted JWE input can become unresponsive without authentication or user interaction.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-50966
Published
Mar 19, 2024
Updated
Aug 2, 2024
Vendor
potatosalad
Product
JOSE
Classifications
CWE-400, T1496.001
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 19, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 2, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <1.11.6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

potatosalad · JOSEversion=0 <1.11.6

Published CVSS scores

5.3CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1496.001Compute Hijacking

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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