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🛡️ CVE-2026-56664 — zitadel

🟡 CVSS 4.2 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-613 NVD
4.2
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

ZITADEL: Missing Token Lifecyle Validation (exp and iat) in JWT IdP Provider

Summary

A token lifecycle validation vulnerability was discovered in ZITADEL's external JWT Identity Provider (IdP) implementation.

ZITADEL enforces a 1-hour maximum token age freshness window (maxAge) calculated from the token's issue time. However, this safety check is guarded by a presence condition. If an incoming token omits the iat claim, the freshness check is entirely bypassed, allowing arbitrarily old tokens to pass authentication successfully.

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.

Impact

An attacker in possession of a stale token lacking an iat claim can reuse it indefinitely without triggering the maximum age freshness invalidation.

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)

Patches

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

  • 4.x: Upgrade to $\ge$ [4.15.2](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v4.15.2)
  • 3.x: Upgrade to $\ge$ [3.4.12](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v3.4.12)

Workarounds

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

If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, ensure at the upstream Identity Provider level that your external IdP explicitly includes the iat claim in all signed JWTs.

Publication Note

This advisory covers a subset of the security issues originally published on ZITADEL's registry under this tracking ID. To adhere strictly to CVE formatting standards regarding independently fixable flaws, the original "Token Lifecycle Validation" disclosure has been split into two granular entries. This entry specifically tracks the missing iat claim logic, while a separate companion entry tracks the missing exp claim logic: [GHSA-v77h-2w3m-94hx](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/security/advisories/GHSA-v77h-2w3m-94hx)

Questions

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

Credits

Thanks to [Android-Login-Analysis](https://github.com/Android-Login-Analysis), Jason Zhou and [Pedro Giglioti](https://github.com/Punisher100) for reporting this vulnerability.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is high, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality low, integrity low, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Integrity impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

CVE-2026-56664 is classified as CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration. Sessions stay valid longer than they should, so an old identifier still grants access.

Affected software

CVE-2026-56664 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • github.com/zitadel/zitadel
  • unknown

Timeline and source

Published on 18 June 2026 and last revised on 18 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

github.com (Web)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)

Other advisories for this package

github.com/zitadel/zitadel has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration) in other software:

Details

Severity Medium
CVSS Score 4.2
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
CWE CWE-613
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2026-06-18
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-07-18

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
github.com/zitadel/zitadel — —
unknown — —

Similar Threats

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