CVE-2026-45363

`jwt` (Ruby gem) - empty-key HMAC bypass

State
Published
Severity
9.1 Critical
Published
Jul 14, 2026
Updated
Sep 19, 2026
Reserved
May 12, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

ruby-jwt is a Ruby implementation of the RFC 7519 OAuth JSON Web Token standard. Prior to 2.10.3 and 3.2.0, JWT.decode(token, '', true, algorithm: 'HS256') accepts an attacker-forged token because OpenSSL::HMAC.digest('SHA256', '', payload) returns a valid digest under an empty key and no empty-key precondition exists in the HMAC algorithm. The same path is reached when a keyfinder block or key_finder: argument returns an empty string, nil, or an array containing nil for an unknown key, affecting HS256, HS384, and HS512 verification through JWT.decode and JWT::EncodedToken#verify_signature!. This issue is fixed in versions 2.10.3 and 3.2.0.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.19.1 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NGitHub_M

Weaknesses

Affected Products

ProductVersions
ruby-jwtjwt
  • < 2.10.3Affected
  • >= 3.0.0, < 3.2.0Affected

References

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