CVE-2024-28176: Jose Project Jose DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2024-28176 Overview

A resource exhaustion vulnerability has been identified in the jose JavaScript module, which provides support for JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) standards including JSON Web Tokens (JWT), JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Key (JWK), and JSON Web Key Set (JWKS). The vulnerability exists in the JSON Web Encryption (JWE) decryption interfaces, specifically related to the support for decompressing plaintext after decryption. Under certain conditions, an attacker can cause the target environment to consume unreasonable amounts of CPU time or memory during JWE Decryption operations, leading to denial of service.

Critical Impact
Applications using vulnerable versions of the jose library for JWE decryption may be susceptible to denial of service attacks through specially crafted JWE payloads that trigger excessive resource consumption during decompression.

Affected Products

jose_project jose (versions prior to 2.0.7 and 4.15.5)
Fedoraproject Fedora

Discovery Timeline

March 9, 2024 - CVE CVE-2024-28176 published to NVD
December 5, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-28176

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability falls under the category of Resource Exhaustion (CWE-400), a type of denial of service vulnerability. The jose library implements JWE decryption with optional support for decompressing the plaintext payload after decryption. The vulnerability manifests when processing maliciously crafted JWE tokens that exploit the decompression mechanism.

When a JWE token specifies a compression algorithm in its header (such as DEF for DEFLATE compression), the library will attempt to decompress the decrypted plaintext. An attacker can craft a JWE token with a small compressed payload that expands to an extremely large size during decompression, commonly known as a "decompression bomb" or "zip bomb" attack. This can cause the target application to exhaust available memory or CPU resources while attempting to process the malicious payload.

The vulnerability requires network access but has high attack complexity as specific conditions must be met for exploitation. The impact is limited to availability, with no direct effect on confidentiality or integrity.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is inadequate resource constraints in the JWE decompression implementation. The library did not properly limit the resources consumed during the decompression phase of JWE decryption, allowing specially crafted compressed payloads to expand disproportionately and exhaust system resources.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based, requiring an attacker to send a malicious JWE token to an application that processes it using a vulnerable version of the jose library. The attack does not require authentication or user interaction, but the complexity is considered high as specific conditions must be present:

The target application must accept JWE tokens from untrusted sources
The JWE decryption must support compressed payloads
The attacker must craft a JWE token that passes decryption but contains a decompression bomb

The attack mechanism involves creating a JWE token with a payload that has a very high compression ratio. When the library decrypts and then decompresses this payload, it attempts to allocate memory for the decompressed data, potentially exhausting available resources. For technical details on the vulnerability mechanism, see the GitHub Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-28176

Indicators of Compromise

Unusual memory consumption spikes in applications processing JWT/JWE tokens
CPU utilization anomalies during token validation operations
Application crashes or hangs during JWE decryption routines
Increased latency or timeouts in authentication services

Detection Strategies

Monitor application memory and CPU usage patterns for abnormal consumption during token processing
Implement logging for JWE decryption operations and alert on failures or extended processing times
Use dependency scanning tools to identify vulnerable versions of the jose library in your codebase
Deploy runtime application security monitoring to detect resource exhaustion patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

Set up alerts for memory usage thresholds on services that process JWE tokens
Monitor Node.js process metrics for heap memory growth during authentication workflows
Implement request timeout limits on endpoints that perform JWE decryption
Configure resource quotas and limits in containerized environments to contain potential impact

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-28176

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade the jose library to version 2.0.7 or later (for 2.x branch) or version 4.15.5 or later (for 4.x branch)
Review and inventory all applications using the jose library for JWE decryption
Implement resource limits and timeouts for token processing operations
Consider temporarily disabling JWE compression support if not required

Patch Information

The jose project has released patched versions that address this vulnerability. The fixes have been applied in versions 2.0.7 and 4.15.5. Detailed patch commits are available:

Fedora users should apply the latest package updates as announced through the Fedora Package Announcements.

Workarounds

Disable JWE compression support in your application if the feature is not required
Implement resource limits at the infrastructure level (memory limits, CPU quotas)
Add request size validation before processing JWE tokens
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) to filter potentially malicious token payloads

bash

# Update jose library to patched version
npm update jose@latest

# Or specify the exact patched version
npm install jose@4.15.5

# For applications using the 2.x branch
npm install jose@2.0.7

# Verify installed version
npm list jose