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OpenAdvisories
Critical · 9.1 CVE-2026-44699 EUVD-2026-30560

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

Published May 15, 2026 · Updated May 15, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
benmcollins libjwt >= 3.0.0, < 3.3.3 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 libjwt3 3.3.3-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 libjwt +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS libjwt +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 libjwt No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS libjwt No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS libjwt No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS libjwt No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS libjwt No fix yet —

References