Pre-authentication crash via oversized JWE encrypted key
Published Sep 8, 2026 · Updated Sep 9, 2026
Heap buffer overflow in OpenIDC cjose before 0.6.2.5 allows remote attackers to crash applications via a crafted JWE encrypted key. The _cjose_jwe_decrypt_ek_aes_kw() path passes an unchecked encrypted_key length to AES_unwrap_key(), which writes into a fixed-size CEK heap buffer. Exposure requires an application to decrypt untrusted JWEs with A128KW, A192KW, or A256KW; heap corruption can also cause further memory-corruption impact.
Summary
What happened
Heap buffer overflow in OpenIDC cjose before 0.6.2.5 allows remote attackers to crash applications via a crafted JWE encrypted key. The _cjose_jwe_decrypt_ek_aes_kw() path passes an unchecked encrypted_key length to AES_unwrap_key(), which writes into a fixed-size CEK heap buffer. Exposure requires an application to decrypt untrusted JWEs with A128KW, A192KW, or A256KW; heap corruption can also cause further memory-corruption impact.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-53938
- Published
- Sep 8, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 9, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenIDC
- Product
- cjose
- Classifications
- CWE-787, CWE-122, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 9, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=< 0.6.2.5
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Oversized AES-KW encrypted_key proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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