CVE-2026-27932
Publication date 3 March 2026
Last updated 4 March 2026
Ubuntu priority
Description
joserfc is a Python library that provides an implementation of several JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) standards. In 1.6.2 and earlier, a resource exhaustion vulnerability in joserfc allows an unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via CPU exhaustion. When the library decrypts a JSON Web Encryption (JWE) token using Password-Based Encryption (PBES2) algorithms, it reads the p2c (PBES2 Count) parameter directly from the token's protected header. This parameter defines the number of iterations for the PBKDF2 key derivation function. Because joserfc does not validate or bound this value, an attacker can specify an extremely large iteration count (e.g., 2^31 - 1), forcing the server to expend massive CPU resources processing a single token. This vulnerability exists at the JWA layer and impacts all high-level JWE and JWT decryption interfaces if PBES2 algorithms are allowed by the application's policy.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| joserfc | 25.10 questing |
Needs evaluation
|
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release |
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
7.5 · High
|
| Attack vector | Network |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | None |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None |
| Integrity impact | None |
| Availability impact | High |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |