CVE-2025-54887
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in the Ruby JWE library allows attackers to brute-force authentication tags in encrypted JWEs, potentially leading to loss of confidentiality and the ability to craft arbitrary JWEs. All users of affected versions are impacted regardless of whether they use AES-GCM encryption, as the GHASH key may have been leaked. This could allow attackers to modify JWEs to decrypt to arbitrary values or recover encryption keys.
💻 Affected Systems
- ruby-jwe gem
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of encrypted data, ability to forge valid JWEs, and recovery of encryption keys leading to widespread data breaches.
Likely Case
Unauthorized decryption of sensitive JWE-encrypted data and potential authentication bypass in systems relying on JWE for security.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if keys are rotated immediately and systems are patched before exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires access to encrypted JWEs and computational resources for brute-forcing.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.1.1
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwe/security/advisories/GHSA-c7p4-hx26-pr73
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update Gemfile to specify 'gem "jwe", ">= 1.1.1"' 2. Run 'bundle update jwe' 3. Rotate all encryption keys used with affected versions
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable JWE usage temporarily
allTemporarily disable JWE-based functionality until patching is complete
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Immediately rotate all encryption keys used with affected versions
- Implement additional integrity checks on JWE payloads at application level
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Gemfile.lock or run 'bundle show jwe' to see installed versionCheck Version:
bundle show jwe | grep -o 'jwe ([0-9.]*)'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 1.1.1 or higher with 'bundle show jwe'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed JWE decryption attempts
- Unusual JWE parsing errors
Network Indicators:
- High volume of JWE traffic to/from single source
- Repeated JWE submissions with minor variations
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("JWE decryption failed" OR "authentication tag invalid")