CVE-2025-65945 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-347 vulnerability in jws. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for jws — see the affected versions and patch details below.
auth0/node-jws improper HMAC signature verification vulnerability
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-65945.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2025-65945 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
jwsnpmDescription
Overview
An improper signature verification vulnerability exists when using auth0/node-jws with the HS256 algorithm under specific conditions.
Am I Affected?
You are affected by this vulnerability if you meet all of the following preconditions:
- Application uses the auth0/node-jws implementation of JSON Web Signatures, versions <=3.2.2 || 4.0.0
- Application uses the jws.createVerify() function for HMAC algorithms
- Application uses user-provided data from the JSON Web Signature Protected Header or Payload in the HMAC secret lookup routines
You are NOT affected by this vulnerability if you meet any of the following preconditions:
- Application uses the jws.verify() interface (note:
auth0/node-jsonwebtokenusers fall into this category and are therefore NOT affected by this vulnerability) - Application uses only asymmetric algorithms (e.g. RS256)
- Application doesn’t use user-provided data from the JSON Web Signature Protected Header or Payload in the HMAC secret lookup routines
Fix
Upgrade auth0/node-jws version to version 3.2.3 or 4.0.1
Acknowledgement
Okta would like to thank Félix Charette for discovering this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | jws | all versions | 3.2.3npm install jws@3.2.3 |
| 📦npm | jws | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.0.1 | 4.0.1npm install jws@4.0.1 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for jws, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update jws to 3.2.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-65945 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2025-65945 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-65945. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.7 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1.7.4-1767715042 | RHSA-2026:0261 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1768247401 | RHSA-2026:0531 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces (RHOSDS) 3.26 | devspaces/code-rhel9:1769804221 | RHSA-2026:2456 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.10 | quay/quay-rhel8:1770249183 | RHSA-2026:2762 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.12 | quay/quay-rhel8:1769852013 | RHSA-2026:1730 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.13 | quay/quay-rhel8:1773088862 | RHSA-2026:4185 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.14 | quay/quay-rhel8:1773097621 | RHSA-2026:4215 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.15 | quay/quay-rhel8:1770146565 | RHSA-2026:1942 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-65945 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-65945 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.