Weak PBKDF2 parameters for password-encrypted private-key export in jose
CVE-2026-65629 · EUVD-2026-110308 · GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc · EEF-CVE-2026-65629 · published 26 Oct 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.4 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-65629?
Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Cursor or any AI coding tool: it runs a free Shippable scan of your project and fixes what it finds. Built with Lovable, Bolt or v0? Scan your live app. Or upload your package file.
Who is affected
jose(Hex) >= 1.10.0, < 1.11.13
How to check
- Look for
josein your lockfile and compare its version with the range above. - Or paste your lockfile into the checker: it lists every package with a known vulnerability, this one included.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex: it checks your lockfiles for this and upgrades it.
- Upgrade
joseto 1.11.13 or later, commit the lockfile and redeploy. - If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
## Summary
Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort in the jose library allows an attacker who obtains a password-encrypted private-key export to recover the private key through an offline password-cracking attack.
When jose exports a password-encrypted private key with `jose_jwk:to_der/2` (`JOSE.JWK.to_der/2`), the `jose_jwk_der:to_binary/3` function in `src/jwk/jose_jwk_der.erl` serializes the key as a `PKCS#8` `EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo` using the PBES2 scheme with hardcoded key-derivation parameters: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with an iteration count of 2048 and an 8-byte (64-bit) random salt. Neither value can be overridden by the caller.
Both values are far below current guidance (OWASP recommends on the order of 600,000 iterations for PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, and NIST recommends salts of at least 128 bits), so the key-stretching work factor is roughly 300 times lower than intended and the short salt reduces the cost of precomputation across keys. The symmetric encryption (AES-256-CBC with a 16-byte random IV) is not affected; the weakness is entirely in the derivation strength. An attacker who obtains one of these exported blobs (for example from a backup, configuration repository, object storage, or logs) can mount a cheap offline dictionary or brute-force attack against the export password, and success yields the full private key.
This issue affects jose: from 1.10.0 before 1.11.13.
## Workarounds
When exporting a password-encrypted private key with `jose_jwk:to_der/2` (`JOSE.JWK.to_der/2`), use a long, high-entropy passphrase, since the weak key-derivation work factor only meaningfully lowers the cost of cracking guessable passwords. Restrict access to exported `EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo` blobs and keep them out of backups, repositories, object storage, and logs that an attacker could read.
Check your whole app
Dependencies are only half of it. Free and read-only: before you push, run npx shippable-dev scan localhost:3000 in your project folder, no account needed. For your live app, you prove it's yours with a one-line tag first.
References
- github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-h4gx-8jq2-mfhc
- cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-65629.html
- github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/85fddd89ee56b6f9c19eff7d9cfffeef62c330b9
- github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/461b261902531ca016190e780bb70862d561a7e0
- hex.pm/packages/jose
- osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-65629
Merged from OSV, ENISA EUVD. Last updated 3 Nov 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON