CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2025-54887NVD status: Deferred

ruby-jwe: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2025-54887 is a critical-severity improper validation of integrity check value vulnerability in ruby-jwe from Jwt, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.1 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected ruby-jwe versions: < 1.1.1. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.27% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Patch this week

Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.

What to do

  1. Check which version of ruby-jwe you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
Jwtruby-jwe< 1.1.1Not stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
NoneAvailability is not affected.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N. Scored by CNA (github.com).

Official description

jwe is a Ruby implementation of the RFC 7516 JSON Web Encryption (JWE) standard. In versions 1.1.0 and below, authentication tags of encrypted JWEs can be brute forced, which may result in loss of confidentiality for those JWEs and provide ways to craft arbitrary JWEs. This puts users at risk because JWEs can be modified to decrypt to an arbitrary value, decrypted by observing parsing differences and the GCM internal GHASH key can be recovered. Users are affected by this vulnerability even if they do not use an AES-GCM encryption algorithm for their JWEs. As the GHASH key may have been leaked, users must rotate the encryption keys after upgrading. This issue is fixed in version 1.1.1.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value

The product does not validate or incorrectly validates the integrity check values or checksums of a message.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • The protocol specification describes the algorithm used for calculating the checksum. It is then a matter of implementing the calculation and verifying that the calculated checksum and the received checksum match.

More Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value vulnerabilities (CWE-354)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Recent Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value vulnerabilities

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