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GHSA-fhv5-28vv-h8m8
No affected components available
[!NOTE] The vulnerability surfaces only when a JWKS fetch fails; an attacker can attempt to provoke that with sustained unknown-kid traffic, but the outcome depends on upstream JWKS-endpoint behavior (rate limiting, transient errors) which is beyond the attacker's control. Impact is reduced auth availability until the next successful fetch, not complete denial of service.
Summary
PyJWKClient.get_signing_key() forces a fresh HTTP request to the JWKS endpoint for every JWT with an unknown kid value, with no rate limiting. Since kid comes from the unverified token header, an attacker can trigger unlimited outbound requests.
Additionally, fetch_data() finally block clears the JWKS cache on network error.
Root Cause
jwt/jwks_client.py:172-198 - get_signing_key(kid) calls get_signing_keys(refresh=True) for unknown kids, bypassing TTL cache with no cooldown. jwt/jwks_client.py:120-122 - finally block writes None to cache on error, clearing valid data.
Impact
- DoS against JWKS endpoint (unlimited requests per invalid token)
- DoS against application (network I/O latency)
- Cascading failure (rate limiting clears cache, breaking legitimate auth)
Suggested Fix
- Add refresh cooldown (refuse refresh more than once per TTL period)
- Move cache write from finally to else block
Affected Versions
All versions with PyJWKClient (2.4.0 through 2.12.1)
The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is difficult for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability and may require special conditions. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a low impact on the availability of the system.
Limited exploitation activity has been observed. Close monitoring and planned remediation are recommended.
The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.
We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.
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