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Fencer Intel
critical 9.1

CVE-2026-85394 json

python-jose through 3.5.0 Algorithm Confusion via DER-encoded Public Key as HMAC Secret

published 2mo ago modified last mo. also EUVD-2026-70671

cvss
9.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 12%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

python-jose through 3.5.0 fails to properly validate asymmetric keys in HMAC initialization, accepting DER-encoded public keys that lack PEM armor or SSH prefixes. Attackers holding the service's public key can forge HS256 tokens that pass verification when algorithms are not explicitly restricted. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-33663.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-85394 updated cvss 7.4

jose: python-jose: python-jose through 3.5.0 Algorithm Confusion via DER-encoded Public Key as HMAC Secret

  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-llama-stack-core-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 python-jose, python3x-jose
    not affected: vulnerable code not in execute path

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
last mo.

Exploit prediction

0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 9.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CNA 4.0 9.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Inferred packages

No advisory lists a package for this vulnerability yet. The CVE names these as products and links their GitHub repository, and the package registry names the same repository, so they are probably the affected packages. Low confidence: the versions are the CVE’s own for the product, and a stack check reports the package as unchecked when there are none.

ecosystem package repository affected
pypi python-jose mpdavis/python-jose no versions given

Affected products

  • mpdavis python-jose

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-347 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.