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GHSA-6mq3-xmgp-pjm5

ZITADEL's truncated opaque tokens are still valid

Source: GitHub Advisory Database (reviewed) Moderate CVE-2026-27840

Packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixed in
Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel >= 4.0.0, < 4.11.0 4.11.0
Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel >= 3.0.0, < 3.4.7 3.4.7
Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel >= 2.31.0, <= 2.71.19 no fix listed
Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel < 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260216092519-feab8e1fa371 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260216092519-feab8e1fa371

Details

As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).

### Summary Opaque OIDC access tokens in v2 format, truncated to 80 characters are still considered valid. ZITADEL uses a symmetric AES encryption for opaque tokens. The cleartext payload is a concatenation of a couple of identifiers, such as a token ID and user ID. Internally Zitadel has 2 different versions of token payloads. v1 tokens are no longer created, but are still verified as to not invalidate existing session after upgrade. The cleartext payload has a format of `<token_id>:<user_id>`. v2 tokens distinguished further where the `token_id` is of the format `v2_<oidc_session_id>-at_<access_token_id>`. This is an example of such a cleartext: `V2_354201447279099906-at_354201447279165442:354201364702363650` ### Impact V1 token authZ/N session data is retrieved from the database using the (simple) `token_id` value and `user_id` value. The `user_id` (called `subject` in some parts of our code) was used as being the trusted user ID. V2 token authZ/N session data is retrieved from the database using the `oidc_session_id` and `access_token_id` and in this case the `user_id` from the token is ignored and taken from the session data in the database. By truncating the token to 80 chars, the user_id is now missing from the cleartext of the v2 token: `V2_354201447279099906-at_354201447279165442:` The back-end still accepts this for above reasons. This issue is not considered exploitable, but may look awkward when reproduced. ### Affected Versions All versions within the following ranges, including release candidates (RCs), are affected: - **v4.x**: `4.0.0` through `4.10.1` - **3.x**: `3.0.0` through `3.4.6` - **2.x**: `2.31.0` through `2.71.19` ### Patches The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest releases. The patch resolves the issue by verifying the `user_id` from the token against the session data from the database 4.x: Upgrade to >=[4.11.0](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v4.11.0) 3.x: Update to >=[3.4.7](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v3.4.7) 2.x: Update to >=[3.4.7](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v3.4.7) ### Workarounds The recommended solution is to update ZITADEL to a patched version. ### Questions If there any questions or comments about this advisory, please send an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) ### Credits ZITADEL thanks Olivier Becker and Lucas Dodgson for reporting this vulnerability.

References

External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.