GHSA-pq5p-34cr-23v9 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in authlib. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-pq5p-34cr-23v9 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Authlib is vulnerable to Denial of Service via Oversized JOSE Segments
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-pq5p-34cr-23v9.
Real-World Exposure
authlibReal-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
Summary Authlib’s JOSE implementation accepts unbounded JWS/JWT header and signature segments. A remote attacker can craft a token whose base64url‑encoded header or signature spans hundreds of megabytes. During verification, Authlib decodes and parses the full input before it is rejected, driving CPU and memory consumption to hostile levels and enabling denial of service.
Impact
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Attack vector: unauthenticated network attacker submits a malicious JWS/JWT.
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Effect: base64 decode + JSON/crypto processing of huge buffers pegs CPU and allocates large amounts of RAM; a single request can exhaust service capacity.
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Observed behaviour: on a test host, the legacy code verified a 500 MB header, consuming ~4 GB RSS and ~9 s CPU before failing.
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Severity: High. CVSS v3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (7.5).
Affected Versions Authlib ≤ 1.6.3 (and earlier) when verifying JWS/JWT tokens. Later snapshots with 256 KB header/signature limits are not affected.
Proof of concept
Local demo (do not run against third-party systems): Download jws_segment_dos_demo.py the PoC in direcotry authlib/ Run following Command
python3 jws_segment_dos_demo.py --variant both --sizes "500MB" --fork-per-case
Environment: Python 3.13.6, Authlib 1.6.4, Linux x86_64, CPUs=8 Sample output: Refined <img width="1295" height="306" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6dd8410f-bc36-4717-8cee-649bac9bf291" />
The compilation script prints separate “[ATTACKER]” (token construction) and “[SERVER]” (Authlib verification) RSS deltas so defenders can distinguish client-side preparation from server-side amplification. Regression tests authlib/tests/dos/test_jose_dos.py further capture the issue; the saved original_util.py/original_jws.py reproductions still accept the malicious payload.
Remediation
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Apply the upstream patch that introduces decoded size limits:
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MAX_HEADER_SEGMENT_BYTES = 256 KB
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MAX_SIGNATURE_SEGMENT_BYTES = 256 KB
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Enforce Limits in authlib/jose/util.extract_segment and _extract_signature.
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Deploy the patched release immediately.
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For additional defence in depth, reject JWS/JWT inputs above a few kilobytes at the proxy or WAF layer, and rate-limit verification endpoints.
Workarounds (temporary)
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Enforce input size limits before handing tokens to Authlib.
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Use application-level throttling to reduce amplification risk.
Resources
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Demo script: jws_segment_dos_demo.py
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Tests: authlib/tests/dos/test_jose_dos.py
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OWASP JWT Cheat Sheet (DoS guidance)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | authlib | all versions | 1.6.5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for authlib. 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 authlib to 1.6.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-pq5p-34cr-23v9 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-pq5p-34cr-23v9 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-pq5p-34cr-23v9. 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pq5p-34cr-23v9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-pq5p-34cr-23v9 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.