CVE-2026-65633
Received Received - Intake

JWT Replay Authentication Bypass in AshAuthentication

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-65633, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-25

Last updated on: 2026-08-25

Assigner: EEF

Description

Improper Authentication vulnerability in team-alembic AshAuthentication allows purpose-limited JWTs to be replayed as full bearer API credentials when a resource uses stateless bearer-token verification. The bearer-token authentication helper AshAuthentication.Plug.Helpers.retrieve_from_bearer/3 verifies an Authorization: Bearer JWT's signature and rejects tokens containing an act claim, but performs no check that the token's purpose claim equals user at the bearer boundary. When the resource is configured with require_token_presence_for_authentication?: false (the DSL default), the follow-on validate_token/3 helper returns {:ok, nil} without consulting the token resource, so no downstream check on purpose takes place either. As a result, any valid, non-expired JWT the library itself issued for a narrow, single-purpose flow (most notably the purpose: sign_in token that WebAuthn always emits during sign-in, and that the Password strategy emits when sign-in tokens are enabled) is accepted directly as a general-purpose bearer credential and resolves to a full current_user assignment. This bypasses the library's intended token-exchange contract, in which the sign_in token is meant to be presented exactly once to a preparation that validates the purpose claim and immediately revokes the token. The first use of a still-valid sign-in token presented directly in the Authorization header succeeds because the stateless bearer path never scopes it to purpose == "user". An attacker who obtains a not-yet-exchanged sign-in token for a target subject (for example via log or referrer leakage, an intercepted magic-link delivery channel, or a partially compromised intermediary) can present it as a bearer token and be authenticated as that subject, fully bypassing the intended one-time-use and revocation semantics. Exploitation additionally requires that the host application wire up retrieve_from_bearer/3 on a reachable route and uses either WebAuthn (sign-in tokens are always issued) or the Password strategy with sign_in_tokens_enabled?: true. Resources configured with require_token_presence_for_authentication?: true (including applications scaffolded by the Igniter installer since v4.5.0) and the session-based path (authenticate_resource_from_session/4) enforce purpose == "user" against the stored token record and are not affected. This issue affects ash_authentication: from 3.10.5 before 4.14.2 and from 5.0.0-rc.0 before 5.0.0-rc.13.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-25
Last Modified
2026-08-25
Generated
2026-08-25
AI Q&A
2026-08-25
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
team-alembic ash_authentication From 3.10.5 (inc) to 4.14.2 (exc)
team-alembic ash_authentication From 5.0.0-rc.0 (inc) to 5.0.0-rc.13 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-287 When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves improper authentication in the AshAuthentication library where purpose-limited JWTs (like sign-in tokens) can be replayed as full bearer API credentials. The system fails to validate the token's purpose claim when using stateless bearer-token verification, allowing tokens meant for one-time use to be misused for general authentication.

Detection Guidance

Check if your AshAuthentication library version is between 3.10.5-4.14.1 or 5.0.0-rc.1-5.0.0-rc.12. Review logs for unexpected bearer token usage or authentication bypass attempts. Inspect JWT tokens for purpose claims other than 'user' being accepted as bearer tokens.

Impact Analysis

An attacker who obtains a valid but unexchanged sign-in token (e.g., via log leakage or intercepted delivery) can use it to authenticate as the victim user, bypassing intended security controls. This grants unauthorized access to the application with the victim's privileges.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, violating confidentiality requirements in GDPR and HIPAA. It undermines authentication controls, potentially resulting in non-compliance with data protection regulations.

Mitigation Strategies

Update AshAuthentication to version 4.14.2 or 5.0.0-rc.13. Set require_token_presence_for_authentication? to true in affected resources. Disable sign_in_tokens_enabled? if using Password strategy. Review and revoke any exposed sign-in tokens.

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