GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x is a high-severity (CVSS 7.4) Improper Authentication vulnerability in jwt. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ruby-jwt: Empty-key HMAC bypass; cross-language sibling of CVE-2026-44351
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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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 GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x.
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
GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x 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 0 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
jwt💎jwtReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
JWT.decode(token, '', true, algorithm: 'HS256') accepts an attacker-forged token.
OpenSSL::HMAC.digest('SHA256', '', payload) returns a valid digest under an empty key, and no raise InvalidKeyError if key.empty? precondition exists in the HMAC algorithm.
JWT.decode(token, "", true, algorithm: 'HS256')
-> JWA::Hmac.verify(verification_key: "", ...)
-> OpenSSL::HMAC.digest('SHA256', "", signing_input) == signature
The same path is reached when a keyfinder block or key_finder: argument returns "", nil, or an array containing nil for an unknown key. JWT::Decode#find_key only rejects literal nil and empty arrays, and JWT::JWA::Hmac silently coerces nil to "" (signing_key ||= '') before signing.
JWT.decode(token, nil, true, algorithms: ['HS256']) { |_h| "" }
-> find_key returns "" # "" && !Array("").empty? == true
-> JWA::Hmac.verify(verification_key: "", ...)
-> verifies
Common application patterns that produce the unsafe value: redis.get("kid:#{kid}").to_s, ORM string columns with default: '', ENV['SECRET'] || '', Hash.new('') lookups, [primary, fallback] where fallback may be nil. Applications passing a non-empty static key:, or whose keyfinder returns nil / raises on miss, are not affected.
The existing enforce_hmac_key_length option would block this but defaults to false. On OpenSSL ≥ 3.5 the empty-key HMAC.digest call no longer raises, so the OpenSSL-3.0 rescue in JWA::Hmac#sign does not fire.
Affects HS256/HS384/HS512 via both JWT.decode (positional key and block keyfinder) and
JWT::EncodedToken#verify_signature!(key_finder:)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | jwt | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.2.0 | 3.2.0 |
| 💎RubyGems | jwt | all versions | 2.10.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for jwt. 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 jwt to 3.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x 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 GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x 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 GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-c32j-vqhx-rx3x across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.