CVE-2026-48525
In practice, this turns the middle segment into an attacker-controlled “work amplifier”: a remote client can supply an arbitrarily large Base64URL payload segment that forces CPU work + memory allocations even if the signature is invalid.
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.37%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
PyJWT is a JSON Web Token implementation in Python. From 2.8.0 to 2.12.1, when verifying detached JWS tokens using the unencoded-payload option ("b64": false, RFC 7797), PyJWT performs Base64URL decoding of the compact-serialization payload segment before enforcing the detached-payload rules. For b64=false, PyJWT later discards that decoded payload and replaces it with the caller-provided detached_payload. In practice, this turns the middle segment into an attacker-controlled “work amplifier”: a remote client can supply an arbitrarily large Base64URL payload segment that forces CPU work + memory allocations even if the signature is invalid. This creates an unauthenticated DoS vector against any endpoint that verifies detached JWS using PyJWT. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.13.0.
- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
- EPSS
- 0.37% probability · 30th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-400
- Affected
- pyjwt project/pyjwt
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
References
- https://github.com/jpadilla/pyjwt/security/advisories/GHSA-w7vc-732c-9m39Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/jpadilla/pyjwt/security/advisories/GHSA-w7vc-732c-9m39Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.