CVE-2026-48523
MEDIUMCVE-2026-48523 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) CWE-347 vulnerability in pyjwt. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-48523 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
PyJWT: Algorithm allow-list bypass when decoding with `PyJWK` / `PyJWKClient` keys
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-48523.
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-2026-48523 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 370,894 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
pyjwtReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
PyJWT is a JSON Web Token implementation in Python. From 2.9.0 to 2.12.1, there is a verifier-side algorithm allow-list bypass when jwt.decode() or jwt.decode_complete() are called with a PyJWK key. The token header alg is checked against the caller-supplied algorithms allow-list, but signature verification is performed with the algorithm bound to the PyJWK object instead of the header algorithm. An attacker who controls a registered JWK/JWKS private key can sign with a disallowed algorithm, advertise an allowed algorithm in the JWT header, and still be accepted. The issue affects the documented PyJWKClient.get_signing_key_from_jwt(...) flow. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.13.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pyjwt | ≥ 2.9.0&&< 2.13.0 | 2.13.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pyjwt. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update pyjwt to 2.13.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-48523 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-48523 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-48523. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-48523 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-48523 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.