GHSA-x4rv-c3wx-4cr8

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    GHSA-x4rv-c3wx-4cr8

    Published: 27 Oct 2026Last Modified: 30 Oct 2026

    Summary: Authlib: Unvalidated request_uri fetch in JWT-secured authorization request (JAR) leading to SSRF

    Details: ### Summary Authlib's RFC 9101 (JAR) extension passes the attacker-controlled `request_uri` authorization parameter straight to the `get_request_object()` fetch hook with no validation, at a pre-authentication endpoint. Authlib already defines the pre-registration allowlist for this (`request_uris` client metadata and `require_request_uri_registration` server metadata) but the extension never consults it, and both docstrings instruct integrators to implement the hook as an unrestricted `requests.get(request_uri)`. Deployments following the documented pattern get an unauthenticated SSRF primitive. ### Details Verified against authlib 1.7.2 and current `main`. All line numbers below are from `authlib/oauth2/rfc9101/authorization_server.py`. The extension registers itself on the `before_get_authorization_grant` hook (lines 62-65), so it runs on every authorization request before any user or client authentication. `support_request_uri` defaults to `True` (line 58). The only gate before the sink is that `client_id` names an existing client (lines 91-103). A `client_id` is a public, non-secret identifier. The sink at line 159 forwards the raw parameter with no scheme, host, or allowlist check: ```python def _get_raw_request_object(self, request: OAuth2Request) -> str: if "request_uri" in request.payload.data: raw_request_object = self.get_request_object( request.payload.data["request_uri"] ) if not raw_request_object: raise InvalidRequestUriError(state=request.payload.state) ``` `get_request_object` is abstract (line 213, `raise NotImplementedError()` at line 225), so authlib itself performs no outbound request. The defect is that authlib supplies unvalidated attacker input to that extension point and then documents the insecure implementation twice — in the class docstring (lines 34-38) and in the hook's own docstring (lines 218-223): ```python def get_request_object(self, request_uri: str): try: return requests.get(request_uri).text except requests.Exception: return None ``` Two points sharpen this beyond a generic documentation issue: - **The allowlist already exists and is ignored.** Authlib validates `request_uris` as client metadata (`authlib/oauth2/rfc7591/claims.py:319`) and `require_request_uri_registration` as server metadata (`authlib/oauth2/rfc8414/models.py:263`). The `rfc9101` package contains zero references to either name, so the pre-registration model is never enforced at the point of use. - **RFC 9101 §10.4.1 asks for controls that are absent.** It states the server should "a) check that the value of the `request_uri` parameter does not point to an unexpected location, b) check that the media type of the response is `application/oauth-authz-req+jwt`, c) implement a timeout for obtaining the content of `request_uri`, and d) not perform recursive GET on the `request_uri`." The extension implements none of these and the documented example implements none of them either. The two failure paths are distinguishable, which supplies the inference channel for a blind SSRF: a falsy fetch result raises `InvalidRequestUriError` (`invalid_request_uri`, lines 162-163), while a successful fetch of non-JWT content raises `InvalidRequestObjectError` (`invalid_request_object`, line 186). ### PoC This demonstrates the library-level defect with no network egress required: it shows the unvalidated URI reaching the fetch hook pre-authentication. ```bash python -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install authlib ``` ```python from authlib.oauth2.rfc6749.requests import BasicOAuth2Payload, OAuth2Request from authlib.oauth2.rfc9101 import JWTAuthenticationRequest reached = [] class Extension(JWTAuthenticationRequest): def get_request_object(self, request_uri): reached.append(request_uri) # the docstring puts requests.get(request_uri) here return None def resolve_client_public_key(self, client): return {"keys": []} def get_server_metadata(self): return {} def get_client_require_signed_request_object(self, client): return False class AuthorizationServer: def query_client(self, client_id): return object() uri = "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/" request = OAuth2Request("GET", "https://as.example/authorize") request.payload = BasicOAuth2Payload({"client_id": "demo", "request_uri": uri}) try: Extension().parse_authorization_request(AuthorizationServer(), request) except Exception as exc: print("error:", type(exc).__name__) print("fetch hook received:", reached) ``` Output on authlib 1.7.2: ```text error: InvalidRequestUriError fetch hook received: ['http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/'] ``` Against a deployment that used the docstring implementation, the equivalent unauthenticated request is: ```text GET /authorize?response_type=code&client_id=demo&request_uri=http%3A%2F%2F169.254.169.254%2Flatest%2Fmeta-data%2F ``` Returning a fetched-but-non-JWT body instead of `None` in the snippet above yields `InvalidRequestObjectError` rather than `InvalidRequestUriError`, showing the oracle that distinguishes a reachable target from an unreachable one. ### Impact Server-side request forgery, reachable without authentication by anyone who knows a valid `client_id`. In a deployment that implemented `get_request_object` as documented, an attacker can make the authorization server issue GET requests to arbitrary URLs: internal-only services, cloud metadata endpoints such as `169.254.169.254`, and side-effectful internal GET routes. The `invalid_request_uri` versus `invalid_request_object` split, together with response timing, provides an oracle for internal host and port discovery. RFC 9101 §10.4.1 additionally notes the DoS and recursive-lookup risks that the missing timeout and recursion checks leave open. Response bodies are consumed as a JWT and never reflected, so this is a blind primitive rather than direct data exfiltration. Because the fetch executes in integrator code, deployments that already allowlist inside their override are unaffected — but authlib provides no hook to make that the default, ships `support_request_uri=True`, and its documentation steers integrators to the unsafe implementation, so the insecure outcome is the expected one.

    Affected packages

    Package

    Name: authlib

    Purl: pkg:pypi/authlib

    Affected ranges

    Type: ECOSYSTEM

    Events:

    Introduced- 1.6.0
    Fixed -1.9.0

    Affected versions

    1.6.0
    1.6.1
    1.6.10
    1.6.11
    1.6.12
    1.6.2
    1.6.3
    1.6.4
    1.6.5
    1.6.6
    1.6.7
    1.6.8
    1.6.9

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High