Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-31123

Zitadel 2.62.0 – 2.63.9

Published
31 March 2025
Modified
26 August 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0037 30th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-31123 is a high-severity Use of a Key Past its Expiration Date (CWE-324) vulnerability in Zitadel Zitadel. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Brute Force (T1110); ranked at the 30th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-5 (Authenticator Management) and SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-31123 is a vulnerability in Zitadel, an open-source identity infrastructure software, where expired JWT keys can be used to retrieve valid access tokens. Specifically, Zitadel fails to properly check the expiration date of JWT keys during Authorization Grants, enabling this bypass. The issue does not affect JWT Profile usage for OAuth 2.0 Client Authentication on Token and Introspection endpoints, which correctly reject expired keys. It carries a CVSS score of 8.7 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N) and maps to CWE-324 (Missing Required Cryptographic Step).

Exploitation requires high privileges (PR:H) and is network-accessible (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). A privileged attacker possessing an expired JWT key—such as a service account or authorized client—can submit it for Authorization Grants to obtain fresh, valid access tokens. This leads to high confidentiality (C:H) and integrity (I:H) impacts with scope expansion (S:C), potentially allowing unauthorized access to protected resources.

The vulnerability is addressed in Zitadel releases 2.71.6, 2.70.8, 2.69.9, 2.68.9, 2.67.13, 2.66.16, 2.65.7, 2.64.6, and 2.63.9. Mitigation involves upgrading to one of these patched versions. The fixing commit is at https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/commit/315503beabd679f2e6aec0c004f0f9d2f5b53ed3, with release details at the corresponding tags such as https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v2.63.9.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Zitadel is open-source identity infrastructure software. A vulnerability existed where expired keys can be used to retrieve tokens. Specifically, ZITADEL fails to properly check the expiration date of the JWT key when used for Authorization Grants. This allows an attacker…

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with an expired key to obtain valid access tokens. This vulnerability does not affect the use of JWT Profile for OAuth 2.0 Client Authentication on the Token and Introspection endpoints, which correctly reject expired keys. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.71.6, 2.70.8, 2.69.9, 2.68.9, 2.67.13, 2.66.16, 2.65.7, 2.64.6, and 2.63.9.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
T1110.002 Password Cracking Credential Access
Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2025-64101Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-64102Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2024-32868Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-64103Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2026-23511Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-31124Same product: Zitadel Zitadel

Affected Assets

zitadel
zitadel
2.62.0 — 2.63.9 · 2.64.0 — 2.64.6 · 2.65.0 — 2.65.7

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-12 requires establishing and managing cryptographic keys including distribution, storage, access and destruction, which directly enforces expiration and rotation policies.

IA-5 requires managing authenticators (including passwords and tokens) with verification, distribution and revocation steps that cover expiration enforcement.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.AM-08 partial match
prevents

Lifecycle management of cryptographic assets directly includes enforcing key expiration and rotation.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Use-of-cryptography control explicitly covers key lifecycle management including expiration and rotation.

prevents

Authentication information policy should mandate key rotation and expiry, directly preventing use of expired keys.

mitigates

Change-management processes can trigger key rotation, but do not inherently enforce cryptographic expiry rules.

degrades

Secure authentication requires cryptographic keys to be replaced before expiry, mitigating the weakness.

References