CVE-2020-14968
RSA-PSS signature validation vulnerability by prepending zeros in jsrsasign
An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
9.8
An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.
- Record
CVE-2020-14968- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-119
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.
- Record
CVE-2020-14968- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0507 No score
An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0507- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3
9.8
RSA-PSS signature validation vulnerability by prepending zeros in jsrsasign
Impact
Jsrsasign can verify RSA-PSS signature which value can expressed as BigInteger. When there is a valid RSA-PSS signature value, this vulnerability is also accept value with prepending zeros as a valid signature.
- If you are not use RSA-PSS signature validation, this vulnerability is not affected.
- Risk to accept a forged or crafted message to be signed is low.
- Risk to raise memory corruption is low since jsrsasign uses BigInteger class.
Patches
Users using RSA-PSS signature validation should upgrade to 8.0.17.
Workarounds
Reject RSA-PSS signatures with unnecessary prepending zeros.
References
https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/security/advisories/GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3 https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/issues/438 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-14968 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-14968 https://vuldb.com/?id.157125 https://kjur.github.io/jsrsasign/api/symbols/RSAKey.html#.verifyWithMessageHashPSS
- Record
GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-119
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
9.8
An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.
- Record
CVE-2020-14968- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3
9.8
RSA-PSS signature validation vulnerability by prepending zeros in jsrsasign
Impact
Jsrsasign can verify RSA-PSS signature which value can expressed as BigInteger. When there is a valid RSA-PSS signature value, this vulnerability is also accept value with prepending zeros as a valid signature.
- If you are not use RSA-PSS signature validation, this vulnerability is not affected.
- Risk to accept a forged or crafted message to be signed is low.
- Risk to raise memory corruption is low since jsrsasign uses BigInteger class.
Patches
Users using RSA-PSS signature validation should upgrade to 8.0.17.
Workarounds
Reject RSA-PSS signatures with unnecessary prepending zeros.
References
https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/security/advisories/GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3 https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/issues/438 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-14968 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-14968 https://vuldb.com/?id.157125 https://kjur.github.io/jsrsasign/api/symbols/RSAKey.html#.verifyWithMessageHashPSS
- Record
GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-119
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-14968 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Kjur Jsrsasign, published June 22, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 2.86%, the 86th percentile. Fixed in jsrsasign 8.0.16.
References
kjur.github.io/jsrsasign
npmjs.com/package/jsrsasign
github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/releases/tag/8.0.18
github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/releases/tag/8.0.17
github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/issues/438
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200724-0001
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github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/security/advisories/GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-14968
github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/commit/3bcc088c727658d7235854cd2a409a904cc2ce99
cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2020-14968
kjur.github.io/jsrsasign/api/symbols/RSAKey.html
vuldb.com?id.157125
npmjs.com/advisories/1541
github.com/advisories/GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3
github.com/kjur/jsrsasign