CVE-2026-29000
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedpac4j-jwt versions prior to 4.5.9, 5.7.9, and 6.3.3 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in JwtAuthenticator when processing encrypted JWTs that allows remote attackers to forge authentication tokens. Attackers who possess the server's RSA public key can create a JWE-wrapped PlainJWT with arbitrary subject and role claims, bypassing signature verification to authenticate as any user including administrators.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe pac4j-jwt library has an authentication bypass in JwtAuthenticator where encrypted JWE-wrapped PlainJWT tokens bypass signature verification. Attackers with the server's RSA public key can forge tokens with arbitrary subject and role claims, allowing authentication as any user including administrators.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate pac4j-jwt library in your projectSearch your project's dependency manifest files (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle, or the JAR file's META-INF/MANIFEST.MF) for the pac4j-jwt libraryAffected if The pac4j-jwt library is present in your dependencies
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Identify the installed pac4j-jwt versionExtract the version number from your dependency configuration (for example, look for <version> under pac4j-jwt in pom.xml, or the dependency tree output from mvn dependency:tree or gradle dependencies)Affected if The version is below 4.5.9, below 5.7.9, or below 6.3.3 (check against the major version branch in use)
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Verify JWT authentication is in useSearch your codebase for imports of org.pac4j.jwt.config.encryption.SecretEncryptionConfiguration or org.pac4j.jwt.config.encryption.RSAEncryptionConfiguration, and look for JwtAuthenticator instantiation in your authentication configurationAffected if Your application uses JwtAuthenticator for token validation
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Confirm RSA encryption configuration is activeReview your JWT configuration bean (often named JwtConfiguration or similar) and check if RSAEncryptionConfiguration is instantiated or if encryptionAlgorithm is set to RSA algorithms (RSA-OAEP, RSA-OAEP-256, etc.)Affected if Your JWT authenticator is configured to process encrypted JWTs (JWE) using RSA encryption
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Check for public key exposureReview your application code, configuration files, and any endpoints that expose the RSA public key used for JWT decryption. Search for getPublicKey() or publicKeyEndpoint patterns in your codebaseAffected if The RSA public key is accessible to attackers (for example, served via an endpoint, logged, or included in client-side configuration)
Your environment is affected if pac4j-jwt is present with a vulnerable version (before 4.5.9/5.7.9/6.3.3 depending on your major version), RSA-encrypted JWT authentication is enabled, and attackers can obtain your RSA public key to craft malicious tokens.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade pac4j-jwt to version 4.5.9, 5.7.9, or 6.3.3 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement additional validation of JWT claims (subject, expiration, issuer) beyond what the library provides.
pac4j-jwt version 4.5.9, 5.7.9, or 6.3.3 (matching your current major version line)
- Identify the current pac4j-jwt version in use by checking your project's dependency management (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle, or similar)
- Determine which major version line you are on (v4.x, v5.x, or v6.x)
- Upgrade to the fixed version corresponding to your major version line: 4.5.9 for v4.x, 5.7.9 for v5.x, or 6.3.3 for v6.x
- If using Maven, update the version in pom.xml: <version>4.5.9</version> (or 5.7.9/6.3.3 depending on your line)
- If using Gradle, update the version in build.gradle: implementation 'org.pac4j:pac4j-jwt:4.5.9' (or 5.7.9/6.3.3)
- Run your build and test suite to verify the upgrade does not break existing functionality
- Deploy the updated version to your environment
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-29000 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-29000 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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