json-web-token library is vulnerable to a JWT algorithm confusion attack
Date: 2023-11
Affected: npm/json-web-token
Attack vector: other
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: High
CVE: CVE-2023-48238
CWE: CWE-20
CWE-345
CVSS: 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N)

### Summary The json-web-token library is vulnerable to a JWT algorithm confusion attack. ### Details On line 86 of the 'index.js' file, the algorithm to use for verifying the signature of the JWT token is taken from the JWT token, which at that point is still unverified and thus shouldn't be trusted. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker needs to craft a malicious JWT token containing the HS256 algorithm, signed with the public RSA key of the victim application. This attack will only work against this library is the RS256 algorithm is in use, however it is a best practice to use that algorithm. ### PoC Take a server running the following code: ```javascript const express = require('express'); const jwt = require('json-web-token'); const fs = require('fs'); const path = require('path'); const app = express(); const port = 3000; // Load the keys from the file const publicKeyPath = path.join(__dirname, 'public-key.pem'); const publicKey = fs.readFileSync(publicKeyPath, 'utf8'); const privateKeyPath = path.join(__dirname, 'private-key.pem'); const privateKey = fs.readFileSync(privateKeyPath, 'utf8'); app.use(express.json()); // Endpoint to generate a JWT token with admin: False app.get('/generateToken', async (req, res) => { const payload = { admin: false, name: req.query.name }; const token = await jwt.encode(privateKey, payload, 'RS256', function (err, token) { res.json({ token }); }); }); // Middleware to verify the JWT token function verifyToken(req, re


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