GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G

Two closely related token lifecycle validation vulnerabilities were discovered in ZITADEL's external JWT Identity Provider (IdP) implementation.

Specifically, within the validation pipeline:

• Missing Expiration (exp) Enforcement: If an incoming JWT omits the exp claim entirely, the expiration block is silently skipped rather than rejected. The token is treated as valid forever.
• Missing Issued-At (iat) Enforcement: ZITADEL enforces a 1-hour freshness window (maxAge) via the token's issue time. However, this safety check is guarded by a presence condition. If a token omits the iat claim, the freshness check is entirely bypassed, allowing arbitrarily old tokens to pass.

Per the OIDC Core 1.0 specification, identity token validation pipelines must strictly handle and enforce session expiration. ZITADEL's silent acceptance of tokens missing these temporal constraints compromises session integrity.

Affected Versions

Systems running one of the following versions are affected:

• 4.x: 4.0.0 through 4.15.1 (including RC versions)
• 3.x: 3.0.0 through 3.4.11 (including RC versions)

Workarounds

The recommended solution is to update ZITADEL to a patched version.

If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, ensure at the Identity Provider level that the external IdP is rigidly configured to enforce short token lifetimes and explicitly includes both exp and iat claims in every single token payload it signs and issues.

Questions

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]

Credits

Thanks to Android-Login-Analysis, Jason Zhou and Pedro Giglioti for reporting this vulnerability.

An attacker in possession of a token that lacks both exp and iat claims holds a permanent credential that will never expire and will always be deemed "fresh" by the system. Even without combining both flaws, the absence of an expiration constraint means a leaked token effectively turns into a skeleton key for that user session with no automatic revocation window.

GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G has a CVSS score of 4.2 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest releases. ZITADEL now explicitly rejects tokens that lack an exp or iat claim.

• 4.x: Upgrade to $\ge$ 4.15.2
• 3.x: Upgrade to $\ge$ 3.4.12

1. What is GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G? GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G is a medium-severity security vulnerability in github.com/zitadel/zitadel (go), affecting versions < 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45. It is fixed in 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45.
2. How severe is GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G? GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G has a CVSS score of 4.2 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of github.com/zitadel/zitadel are affected by GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G? github.com/zitadel/zitadel (go) versions < 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G? Yes. GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G is fixed in 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix GHSA-WXG7-W2V3-W38G? Upgrade github.com/zitadel/zitadel to 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260615122908-fad02c6d9f45 or later.