PyJWT: Uncaught RecursionError in jwt.decode() on deeply nested token header
## Package pyjwt (PyPI) ## Affected versions tested & verified on: 2.13.0. Every version whose `PyJWS._load()` translates only `ValueError` is affected ## Description `PyJWS._looad()` (`jwt/api_jws.py:337`) splits the compact token, base64url decodes the header segment and hands it to `json.loads()` before `_verify_signature()` runs. The parse is wrapped in `except ValueError as e: raise DecodeError(...)`. That is what makes the documented contract sufficient for untrusted input: `except jwt.PyJWTError` (or `InvalidTokenError`) around `jwt.decode(token, key, algorithms=[...])`. CPython's JSON decoder raises `RecursionError` (a `RuntimeError` subclass, not a `ValueError`) once nesting crosses the native stack guard. That exception leaves `_load()`, then `jwt.decode()`, and matches no `PyJWTError` handlerr at all. No key and no valid signature are needed: the header is parsed first, so a single unauthenticated request with an unsigned token suffices. Scope: the recursion threshold is ~65,000 nesting levels; below it the same input yields a clean `DecodeError` (a 346,800-byte flat header is rejected normally, so depth, not size, is the trigger). A token this large cannot ride in an `Authorization` header (rejected at HTTP field limits,431 under gunicorn), but body transport (RFC 7662 introspection style) is a standard pattern. Under Flask 3.1.3 / gunicorn 26.2.0 each crafted request returns HTTP 500 instead of 401 and writes a full traceback to the error log; the sync worker sur
GHSA-8wjv-2p76-3863
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: osv:GHSA-8wjv-2p76-3863
pyjwt
Source reference: /affected/0/package/name
- Affected versions
- 2.13.0
Source reference:
/affected/0/versions - Fixed versions
- 2.14.0
Source reference:
/affected/0/ranges - Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "2.13.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.14.0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "pyjwt",
"purl": "pkg:pypi/pyjwt",
"ecosystem": "PyPI"
},
"versions": [
"2.13.0"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-8wjv-2p76-3863/GHSA-8wjv-2p76-3863.json"
}
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-102265
Source reference:
/aliases
Publisher severity
No explicit severity was provided.
- Event
- #62535 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date