GHSA-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g
MEDIUMGo JOSE vulnerable to Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)
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.
Blast Radius
github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4🐹github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v3🐹gopkg.in/go-jose/go-jose.v2🐹gopkg.in/square/go-jose.v2Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
An attacker could send a JWE containing compressed data that used large amounts of memory and CPU when decompressed by Decrypt or DecryptMulti. Those functions now return an error if the decompressed data would exceed 250kB or 10x the compressed size (whichever is larger). Thanks to Enze Wang@Alioth and Jianjun Chen@Zhongguancun Lab (@zer0yu and @chenjj) for reporting.
Patches
The problem is fixed in the following packages and versions:
- github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 version 4.0.1
- github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v3 version 3.0.3
- gopkg.in/go-jose/go-jose.v2 version 2.6.3
The problem will not be fixed in the following package because the package is archived:
- gopkg.in/square/go-jose.v2
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 | all versions | 4.0.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v3 | all versions | 3.0.3 |
| 🐹Go | gopkg.in/go-jose/go-jose.v2 | all versions | 2.6.3 |
| 🐹Go | gopkg.in/square/go-jose.v2 | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4. 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 github.com/go-jose/go-jose/v4 to 4.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g 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-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g 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-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g. 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-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-c5q2-7r4c-mv6g across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.