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WS-2023-0116
Published:May 15, 2026
Updated:May 15, 2026
Summary RSA1_5 in jose4j is susceptible to chosen ciphertext attacks. The attack allows to decrypt RSA1_5 or RSA_OAEP encrypted ciphertexts. It may be feasible to sign with affected keys. Severity Moderate - exploiting this ciphertext attack could result in the ability to decrypt RSA1_5 or RSA_OAEP encrypted ciphertexts. Proof of Concept A test case that can reproduce the padding oracle uses the following private key: { "kty": "RSA", "alg": "RSA1_5", "use": "enc", "n": "w2A4cbwOAK4ATnwXkGWereqv9dkEcgAGHc9g-cjo1HFeilYirvfD2Un2vQxW_6g2OKRPmmo46vMZFMYv_V57174j411y-NQlZGb7iFqMQADzo60VZ7vpvAX_NuxNGxYR-N2cBgvgqDiGAoO9ouNdhuHhxipTjGVfrPUpxmJtNPZpxsgxQWSpYCYMl304DD_5wWrnumNNIKOaVsAYmjFPV_wqxFCHbitPd1BG9SwXPk7wAHtXT6rYaUImS_OKaHkTO1OO0PNhd3-wJRNMCh_EGUwAghfWgFyAd20pQLZamamxgHvfL4-0hwuzndhHt0ye-gRVTtXDFEwABB--zwvlCw", "e": "AQAB", "kid": "rsa1_5", "d": "EjMvbuDeyQ9sdeM3arscqgTXuWYq9Netui8sUHh3v_qDnQ1jE7t-4gny0y-IFy67RlGAHNlSTgixSG8h309i5_kNbMuyvx08EntJaS1OLVQpXhDskoo9vscsPBiNIj3PFMjIFQQcPG9vhGJzUu4tMzhtiME-oTB8VidMae-XTryPvozTu4rgfb4U7uauvLqESLz3A5xtzPnwNwqXAIlrdxU-MT_iln08on_QIF8afWUqCbsWWjEck_QDKLVpzh8VV9kkEVWwYfCFhHBwS-fgGJJTE3gK4HwOokydMtH95Dzj47MA2pLe600l7ioyGSPltcv967NtOpxMPM5ro751KQ", "p": "-F1u3NAMWPu1TIuvIywIjh5fuiA3AVKLgS6Fw_hAi3M9c3T7E1zNJZuHgQExJEu06ZPfzye9m7taDzh-Vw4VGDED_MZedsE2jEsWa9EKeq3bZVf5j81FLCHH8BicFqrPjvoVUC35wrl9SGJzaOa7KXxD2jW22umYjJS_kcopvf0", "q": "yWHG7jHqvfqT8gfhIlxpMbeJ02FrWIkgJC-zOJ26wXC6oxPeqhqEO7ulGqZPngNDdSGgWcQ7noGEU8O4MA9V3yhl91TFZy8unox0sGe0jDMwtxm3saXtTsjTE7FBxzcR0PubfyGiS0fJqQcj8oJSWzZPkUshzZ8rF3jTLc8UWac", "dp": "Va9WWhPkzqY4TCo8x_OfF_jeqcYHdAtYWb8FIzD4g6PEZZrMLEft9rWLsDQLEiyUQ6lio4NgZOPkFDA3Vi1jla8DYyfE20-ZVBlrqNK7vMtST8pkLPpyjOEyq2CyKRfQ99DLnZfe_RElad2dV2mS1KMsfZHeffPtT0LaPJ_0erk", "dq": "M8rA1cviun9yg0HBhgvMRiwU91dLu1Zw_L2D02DFgjCS35QhpQ_yyEYHPWZefZ4LQFmoms2cI7TdqolgmoOnKyCBsO2NY29AByjKbgAN8CzOL5kepEKvWJ7PonXpG-ou29eJ81VcHw5Ub_NVLG6V7b13E0AGbpKsC3pYnaRvcGs", "qi": "8zIqISvddJYC93hP0sKkdHuVd-Mes_gsbi8xqSFYGqc-wSU12KjzHnZmBuJl_VTGy9CO9W4K2gejr588a3Ozf9U5hx9qCVkV0_ttxHcTRem5sFPe9z-HkQE5IMW3SdmL1sEcvkzD7z8QhcHRpp5aMptfuwnxBPY8U449_iNgXd4" }, jose4j has distinguishable behvaior for the following test cases: The first ciphertext below contains an invalid PKCS #1 padding. Because of hte invalid padding a random AES key is generated during decryption. This leads to an authentication error. "eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4R0NNIn0.ksmeZ6dBbP0UfDEaLXlqPl2XDaAA29kGlKtDb89x-4xN5-A6bx2umI_ToHK2GadzxUOgKROCACYb6rmKsqsQCOZaBsnq_4mDII1W0pja7Lz4zTnr7R3O4kALg4zXqG-gSlcDA7k1NgkpMDS15PjMmADqyqxbxQsXdfjstN324iqdvYGh6NsckkfTSWxDVAqiSR9fW8PsIbo3uSMokNaC-f64CDWIB9AsCxhF-3mnFbxXNxw7JE0upOgG4enQ8kZkwi_v54HBqAau1YNW7gPhFV8ElTQ71J6aHB3dja23lbWdaJmrK6PJE7gEeZmUbFkSYmuyzRUS-NGfXA23fYv5JQ.46AsIpPgnJCLH0Xm.u2rG.LyEHEGCWM8CXDEEHiaqhiQ" The second ciphertext below ontains valid PKCS #1 padding, but the size of the encoded key is incorrect. Because of this, trying to dcrypt the symmetric part of the ciphertext immediately fails with org.jose4j.lang.JoseException: Invalid key for AES/GCM/NoPadding. "eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4R0NNIn0.oyVTmkyoChxFtyCtiKhv8OpBJcV6C6s_gMFSSRJBNStpdHPzq2YmroTfXGj1J1plFG4BBQwIZtdt6rIS6YkCvTLGqP1hds9CAO1a_bgRyoAVuOVvH2vmz5U2r74_SRbAzD35M7yZ_tSnnEdMFlHMFbf5uNwmgArrtPgh0V5OLn5i4XIc154FLTiQlvAEhUxiPuYBkm_1GBiYEH4JjP2RKXAUx_TxAVwPsOfIPAVrO0Ev_nvdtVLCE-uOn8WQbxh4wwOztaXOV1HIaPrl7HN-YtDOA840QUHm97ZZLAPRgLzGlkMI0ZS8QkYdb9_FT3KMbNu60nBKEniv2uhBdIhM9g.46AsIpPgnJCLH0Xm.u2rG.LyEHEGCWM8CXDEEHiaqhiQ" A correct implementation would not have distinguishable behavior. A test case for the missing algorithm checks uses the key: { "alg": "RSA-OAEP", "use": "enc", "n": "kqGboBfAWttWPCA-0cGRgsY6SaYoIARt0B_PkaEcIq9HPYNdu9n6UuWHuuTHrjF_ZoQW97r5HaAorNvrMEGTGdxCHZdEtkHvNVVmrtxTBLiQCbCozXhFoIrVcr3qUBrdGnNn_M3jJi7Wg7p_-x62nS5gNG875oyheRkutHsQXikFZwsN3q_TsPNOVlCiHy8mxzaFTUQGm-X8UYexFyAivlDSjgDJLAZSWfxd7k9Gxuwa3AUfQqQcVcegmgKGCaErQ3qQbh1x7WB6iopE3_-GZ8HMAVtR9AmrVscqYsnjhaCehfAI0iKKs8zXr8tISc0ORbaalrkk03H1ZrsEnDKEWQ", "e": "AQAB", "d": "YsfIRYN6rDqSz5KRf1E9q7HK1o6-_UK-j7S-asb0Y1FdVs1GuiRQhMPoOjmhY3Io93EI3_7vj8uzWzAUMsAaTxOY3sJnIbktYuqTcD0xGD8VmdGPBkx963db8B6M2UYfqZARf7dbzP9EuB1N1miMcTsqyGgfHGOk7CXQ1vkIv8Uww38KMtEdJ3iB8r-f3qcu-UJjE7Egw9CxKOMjArOXxZEr4VnoIXrImrcTxBfjdY8GbzXGATiPQLur5GT99ZDW78falsir-b5Ean6HNyOeuaJuceT-yjgCXn57Rd3oIHD94CrjNtjBusoLdjbr489L8K9ksCh1gynzLGkeeWgVGQ", "p": "0xalbl1PJbSBGD4XOjIYJLwMYyHMiM06SBauMGzBfCask5DN5jH68Kw1yPS4wkLpx4ltGLuy0X5mMaZzrSOkBGb27-NizBgB2-L279XotznWeh2jbF05Kqzkoz3VaX_7dRhCHEhOopMQh619hA1bwaJyW1k8aNlLPTl3BotkP4M", "q": "sdQsQVz3tI7hmisAgiIjppOssEnZaZO0ONeRRDxBHGLe3BCo1FJoMMQryOAlglayjQnnWjQ-BpwUpa0r9YQhVLweoNEIig6Beph7iYRZgOHEiiTTgUIGgXAL6xhsby1PueUfT0xsN1Y7qt5f5EwOfu7tnFqNyJXIp9W1NQgU6fM", "dp": "kEpEnuJNfdqa-VFb1RayJF6bjDmXQTcN_a47wUIZVMSWHR9KkMz41v0D-oY7HVl73Kw0NagnVCaeH75HgeX5v6ZBQsrpIigynr3hl8T_LLNwIXebVnpFI2n5de0BTZ0DraxfZvOhYJEJV43NE8zWm7fdHLx2fxVFJ5mBGkXv0", "dq": "U_xJCnXF51iz5AP7MXq-K6YDIR8_t0UzEMV-riNm_OkVKAoWMnDZFG8R3sU98djQaxwKT-fsg2KjvbuTz1igBUzzijAvQESpkiUB82i2fNAj6rqJybpNKESq3FWkoL1dsgYsS19knJ31gDWWRFRHZFujjPyXiexz4BBmjK1Mc1E", "qi": "Uvb84tWiJF3fB-U9wZSPi7juGgrzeXS_LYtf5fcdV0fZg_h_5nSVpXyYyQ-PK218qEC5MlDkaHKRD9wBOe_eU_zJTNoXzB2oAcgl2MapBWUMytbiF84ghP_2K9UD63ZVsyrorSZhmsJIBBuqQjrmk0tIdpMdlMxLYhrbYwFxUqc", "kid": "kid-rsa-enc-oaep", "kty": "RSA" } and the cipher text "eyJhbGciOiJSU0ExXzUiLCJlbmMiOiJBMTI4R0NNIn0.CuUuY9PH2wWjuLXd5O9LLFanwyt5-y-NzEpy9rC3A63tFsvdp8GWP1kRt1d3zd0bGqakwls623VQxzxqQ25j5gdHh8dKMl67xTLHt1Qlg36nI9Ukn7syq25VrzfrRRwy0k7isqMncHpzuBQlmfzPrszW7d13z7_ex0Uha869RaP-W2NNBfHYw26xIXcCSVIPg8jTLA7h6QmOetEej-NXXcWrRKQgBRapYy4iWrij9Vr3JzAGSHVtIID74tFOm01FdJj4s1M4IXegDbvAdQb6Vao1Ln5GolnTki4IGvH5FDssDHz6MS2JG5QBcITzfuXU81vDC00xzNEuMat0AngmOw.UjPQbnakkZYUdoDa.vcbS.WQ_bOPiGKjPSq-qyGOIfjA" The header of this ciphertext is: " {"alg":"RSA1_5","enc":"A128GCM"}" Hence the algorithm in the header does not match the algorithm in the key. Such ciphertexts should be rejected. The wrapped key is a valid RSA1_5 encrypted key. jose4j currently decrypts the ciphertext above without an exception. The problem with this behavior is that jose4j also allows chosen ciphertext attacks when the key uses RSA_OAEP. The attacker simply has to modify the header to and replace the algorithm with RSA1_5. Attempts to decrypt modified ciphertexts will then leak whether the decrypted message has valid PKCS #1 padding. Further Analysis Fix Commit - https://bitbucket.org/b_c/jose4j/commits/63b86581e7bfcc2d9d04ee15caea4b5bfb911f59 Timeline Date reported: 01/27/2023 Date fixed: 02/09/2023 Date disclosed: 04/27/2023
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CVSS v4
Base Score:
6.9
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
LOW
Vulnerable System Integrity
NONE
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
5.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm