CVE-2023-6681 | Jwcrypto: denail of service via specifically crafted jwe

A vulnerability was found in JWCrypto. This flaw allows an attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) attack and possible password brute-force and dictionary attacks to be more resource-intensive. This issue can result in a large amount of computational consumption, causing a denial of service attack.

Published: 2024-02-12 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-6681 is rated Low Risk (23.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-6681

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.42% 0.03% -0.39%
2 2025-11-18 0.03% 0.42% +0.39%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-6681

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-6681

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-6681

GHSA-cw2r-4p82-qv79 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: pip — DoS with algorithms that use PBKDF2 due to unbounded PBES2 Count value

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-6681

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-6681: 1 source package rows (py3-jwcrypto); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 5, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-6681
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-6681 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (python-jwcrypto), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-6681
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-6681
suse medium CVE-2023-6681 severity moderate: SUSE including 1 source package names (python3-jwcrypto-1.5.6-2.el9), 1 product×package rows across 1 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 9): Fixed 1. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-6681/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-6681 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (python-jwcrypto), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 5, ignored 3, needed 2, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-6681

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-6681

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
latchset jwcrypto < 1.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:latchset:jwcrypto:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 39 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-6681

cvelogic Threat Intelligence