GHSA-xmf8-cvqr-rfgj
Auth.js: getToken() throws an uncaught exception on malformed Bearer authorization headers
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
The exported `getToken()` helper (`next-auth/jwt` and `@auth/core/jwt`) can throw an uncaught exception when it reads a malformed `Authorization: Bearer …` header. When no session cookie is present, `getToken()` URL-decodes the bearer value before validating it, and malformed percent-encoding causes the decode step to throw rather than being treated as an invalid token. Because `getToken()` is commonly called in API routes, middleware, and other request handlers, a single unauthenticated request can trigger an unhandled exception in code paths that authenticate requests.
## Am I affected?
You are affected if **all** of the following hold:
- You use `next-auth` `<= 5.0.0-beta.25` (or `@auth/core` exposing the same `getToken()` implementation).
- Your application calls `getToken()` directly — for example in a Route Handler, middleware, or server-side request handler.
- You do not wrap that `getToken()` call in your own `try/catch`.
You are **not** affected if you only use the framework's `auth()` helper and never call `getToken()` yourself, or if every `getToken()` call site already has its own exception handling.
## Impact
- Denial of service: an unauthenticated request carrying a malformed Bearer authorization header can raise an unhandled exception in any handler that calls `getToken()`.
- The impact is per-request and limited to availability; it does not expose tokens, sessions, or other data, and does not bypass authentication.
CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
## Patched version
The fix makes `getToken()` treat a malformed Bearer value as an invalid token and return `null`, matching how other undecodable tokens are already handled. Upgrade to the first release containing this fix (to be published; this advisory will be updated with the exact patched version before publication) and no code changes are required.
## Workarounds
If you cannot upgrade immediately, either:
- **Config/code-level:** wrap your `getToken()` calls so a thrown error is treated as "no token", e.g.
```ts
let token = null
try {
token = await getToken({ req, secret })
} catch {
token = null
}
```
- Or strip/normalize the incoming `Authorization` header at the edge (proxy, middleware) before it reaches `getToken()`, rejecting values whose Bearer portion is not valid percent-encoding.
## Credit
Reported by @deprrous. Thank you for the responsible disclosure.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/security/advisories/GHSA-xmf8-cvqr-rfgj
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73418
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/pull/13467
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/pull/13469
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/commit/5bca2399a79ba8d116ca5179b4b1ebcd152e7f05
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/commit/e707770f00c52b3479e43422b0200b059149ed53
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/releases/tag/@auth/[email protected]
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/releases/tag/[email protected]
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/releases/tag/[email protected]