🔥 HIGH: JWT Signature Verification Disabled - Authentication Bypass

[parmarmanojkumar]

🔥 HIGH SECURITY VULNERABILITY

Severity: High
Component: Authentication/Authorization
File: responsible-ai-moderationlayer/src/router/router.py - Line 86

Issue Description

JWT signature verification is explicitly disabled, allowing any malformed or malicious JWT token to be accepted.

Vulnerable Code

decoded_token = jwt.decode(authorization.split(" ")[1], 
                          algorithms=["HS256"], 
                          options={"verify_signature": False})  # DANGEROUS!

Security Impact

• Complete authentication bypass possible
• Any malformed/malicious JWT will be accepted
• Unauthorized access to protected endpoints
• OWASP Top 10: A07 Identification and Authentication Failures

Attack Scenario

1. Attacker crafts malicious JWT with elevated privileges
2. Sends request with malicious token
3. System accepts token without signature verification
4. Attacker gains unauthorized access to protected resources

Affected Endpoints

• /rai/v1/moderations - Primary moderation API
• All endpoints using JWT authentication

Recommended Fix

# Enable proper JWT validation
decoded_token = jwt.decode(
    authorization.split(" ")[1], 
    key=JWT_SECRET_KEY,  # Use proper secret key
    algorithms=["HS256"],
    options={"verify_signature": True}  # Enable signature verification
)

Additional Security Measures

# Add comprehensive JWT validation
try:
    decoded_token = jwt.decode(
        token,
        key=JWT_SECRET_KEY,
        algorithms=["HS256"],
        options={
            "verify_signature": True,
            "verify_exp": True,      # Verify expiration
            "verify_iat": True,      # Verify issued at
            "verify_aud": True       # Verify audience
        }
    )
except jwt.ExpiredSignatureError:
    raise InvalidTokenException("Token has expired")
except jwt.InvalidTokenError:
    raise InvalidTokenException("Invalid token")

Compliance Requirements

• OWASP ASVS: V3 Session Management
• NIST: Authentication and Identity Management
• ISO 27001: Access control management

Priority

• Impact: High (Complete authentication bypass)
• Likelihood: High (Easy to exploit)
• Risk Rating: High

Security Standards Violated

• RFC 7519 (JSON Web Token standard)
• OWASP Authentication Security
• NIST Authentication Guidelines

This vulnerability allows complete authentication bypass and must be fixed immediately.

[InfosysResponsibleAI]

Thank you for sharing the issues and recommendation. We are analyzing the pull request at our end and will revert back to you as early as possible.