GHSA-xmf8-cvqr-rfgj

Auth.js: getToken() throws an uncaught exception on malformed Bearer authorization headers

Published

2026-07-23

Modified

2026-07-23

Sources

github-advisory

Summary

## 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.

Affected packages

Remediation: Upgrade to 0.41.3 or later.

References

• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xmf8-cvqr-rfgj