Authlib is a Python library which builds OAuth and OpenID Connect servers. Prior to version 1.6.5, Authlib’s JWE zip=DEF path performs unbounded DEFLATE decompression. A very small ciphertext can expand into tens or hundreds of megabytes on decrypt, allowing an attacker who can supply decryptable tokens to exhaust memory and CPU and cause denial of service. This issue has been patched in version 1.6.5. Workarounds for this issue involve rejecting or stripping zip=DEF for inbound JWEs at the application boundary, forking and add a bounded decompression guard via decompressobj().decompress(data, MAX_SIZE)) and returning an error when output exceeds a safe limit, or enforcing strict maximum token sizes and fail fast on oversized inputs; combine with rate limiting.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authlib | Authlib | * | 1.6.5 (excluding) |
| Python-authlib | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.