CVE-2026-44699CWE-327CWE-347

LibJWT: Algorithm confusion allows JWT forgery with RSA JWK as empty-key HMAC

Critical · published May 15, 2026

CVSS v4.0
9.1
EPSS
0%
Percentile
27.6
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

LibJWT is a C JSON Web Token Library. From 3.0.0 to 3.3.2, libjwt accepts an RSA JWK that does not contain an alg parameter as the verification key for an HS256/HS384/HS512 token. In the OpenSSL backend, this causes HMAC verification to run with a zero-length key, so an attacker can forge a valid JWT without knowing any secret or RSA private key. This is an algorithm-confusion authentication bypass. It affects applications that load RSA keys from JWKS where alg is omitted, which is valid JWK syntax and common in real deployments, and then choose the verification algorithm from the JWT header, for example in a kid lookup callback. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.3.3.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v4.0
9.1 · CRITICAL
Vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
EPSS
0.00352 · 27.6th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-327 · Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm; CWE-347 · Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature
Published
2026-05-15T16:08Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 15 MAY 16:08Z
    LibJWT: Algorithm confusion allows JWT forgery with RSA JWK as empty-key HMAC
    cvelistv5