CVE-2026-65631
erlang-jose RSA JWK parsing attempts to factor an attacker-controlled modulus, enabling CPU-exhaustion denial of service
What happened?
Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in erlang-jose allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a CPU-exhaustion denial of service by submitting a crafted RSA JSON Web Key.
When an application parses an untrusted JWK through the public jose_jwk:from_binary/1 or jose_jwk:from_map/1 API (or the Elixir wrappers JOSE.JWK.from_binary/1 and JOSE.JWK.from_map/1), an RSA private key that supplies d, e, and n but omits all Chinese Remainder Theorem parameters (p, q, dp, dq, qi) is routed into convert_sfm_to_crt/1, which tries to recover the missing primes by factoring the modulus. The three integers are read straight from the base64url input and are never validated as a real RSA key. When the modulus cannot be split into two factors (for example, when it is itself prime), the search loop convert_sfm_to_crt_find_p/6 performs a modular exponentiation over the attacker-sized modulus on every iteration and never succeeds. A single request of a few hundred bytes forces close to one CPU-second of work before an internal one-second watchdog kills the worker, and a larger modulus raises the cost further. By flooding such requests an attacker can saturate every scheduler and deny service, without credentials, a valid RSA key, or any special configuration.
This issue affects jose: from 1.7.7 before 1.11.13.
Affected software and versions
| Software | Version information | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| josepotatosalad | affected: 1.7.7 to < 1.11.13 | See vendor advisory |
| potatosalad/erlang-josepotatosalad | affected: d19e1ba68d88c68d29aa942be2573a22dbafca1f to < bfd336c0062bff93e65d08c22361897e96afd956 | See vendor advisory |
Version information comes from the source record and can include unaffected products and exceptions. Distribution packages may contain backported fixes: an older upstream version alone does not prove a server is affected.
Is it being exploited?
This CVE was not listed in the CISA catalogue at our last retrieval. This does not establish that exploitation is absent.
How to respond
- Confirm the product, installed package version, and any configuration requirements in the vendor advisory.
- Follow the vendor’s remediation or workaround guidance in the references below. Structured fixed-version data is unavailable here; the publisher’s description may include a fix or workaround.
- Restart affected services if required, then verify the running version. Known exploitation may warrant investigation as well as patching.
Sources and remediation references
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-65631
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-3m45-vrpj-xmrq
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-65631.html
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-65631
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/d19e1ba68d88c68d29aa942be2573a22dbafca1f
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/bfd336c0062bff93e65d08c22361897e96afd956