GHSA-wxg7-w2v3-w38g is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.2) CWE-613 vulnerability in github.com/zitadel/zitadel. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-wxg7-w2v3-w38g is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ZITADEL: Missing Token Lifecyle Validation (`exp` and `iat`) in JWT IdP Provider
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-wxg7-w2v3-w38g.
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-wxg7-w2v3-w38g 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
github.com/zitadel/zitadelReal-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
Summary
A token lifecycle validation vulnerability was discovered in ZITADEL's external JWT Identity Provider (IdP) implementation.
ZITADEL enforces a 1-hour maximum token age freshness window (maxAge) calculated from the token's issue time. However, this safety check is guarded by a presence condition. If an incoming token omits the iat claim, the freshness check is entirely bypassed, allowing arbitrarily old tokens to pass authentication successfully.
Per the OIDC Core 1.0 specification, identity token validation pipelines must strictly handle and enforce session expiration. ZITADEL's silent acceptance of tokens missing these temporal constraints compromises session integrity.
Impact
An attacker in possession of a stale token lacking an iat claim can reuse it indefinitely without triggering the maximum age freshness invalidation.
Affected Versions
Systems running one of the following versions are affected:
- 4.x:
4.0.0through4.15.1(including RC versions) - 3.x:
3.0.0through3.4.11(including RC versions)
Patches
The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest releases. ZITADEL now explicitly rejects tokens that lack an iat claim.
Workarounds
The recommended solution is to update ZITADEL to a patched version.
If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, ensure at the upstream Identity Provider level that your external IdP explicitly includes the iat claim in all signed JWTs.
Publication Note
This advisory covers a subset of the security issues originally published on ZITADEL's registry under this tracking ID. To adhere strictly to CVE formatting standards regarding independently fixable flaws, the original "Token Lifecycle Validation" disclosure has been split into two granular entries. This entry specifically tracks the missing iat claim logic, while a separate companion entry tracks the missing exp claim logic: GHSA-v77h-2w3m-94hx
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
Credits
Thanks to Android-Login-Analysis, Jason Zhou and Pedro Giglioti for reporting this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/zitadel/zitadel | all versions | 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/zitadel/zitadel. 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/zitadel/zitadel to 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-wxg7-w2v3-w38g 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-wxg7-w2v3-w38g 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-wxg7-w2v3-w38g. 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-wxg7-w2v3-w38g in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-wxg7-w2v3-w38g across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.