CVE-2026-65629
What it is
Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort in the jose library allows an attacker who obtains a password-encrypted private-key export to recover the private key through an offline password-cracking attack. When jose exports a password-encrypted private key with jose_jwk:to_der/2 (JOSE.JWK.to_der/2), the jose_jwk_der:to_binary/3 function in src/jwk/jose_jwk_der.erl serializes the key as a PKCS#8 EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo using the PBES2 scheme with hardcoded key-derivation parameters: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with an iteration count of 2048 and an 8-byte (64-bit) random salt. Neither value can be overridden by the caller. Both values are far below current guidance (OWASP recommends on the order of 600,000 iterations for PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, and NIST recommends salts of at least 128 bits), so the key-stretching work factor is roughly 300 times lower than intended and the short salt reduces the cost of precomputation across keys. The symmetric encryption (AES-256-CBC with a 16-byte random IV) is not affected; the weakness is entirely in the derivation strength. An attacker who obtains one of these exported blobs (for example from a backup, configuration repository, object storage, or logs) can mount a cheap offline dictionary or brute-force attack against the export password, and success yields the full private key. This issue affects jose: from 1.10.0 before 1.11.13.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited locally on the machine without logging in. High risk of data exposure, data tampering.
- Exploit odds
- 0.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 0.1% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 7.4 HIGH (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.1% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-916
- Record status
- Deferred
Attack profile CVSS 4.0 · 7.4
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2026-65629.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2026-65629. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
Fix and advisories
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/461b261902531ca016190e780bb70862d561a7e0
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/85fddd89ee56b6f9c19eff7d9cfffeef62c330b9
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc
References
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-65629.html
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/461b261902531ca016190e780bb70862d561a7e0
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/85fddd89ee56b6f9c19eff7d9cfffeef62c330b9
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-65629
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc