From 65f1de1408174ed186878d9d395ba70964fb1457 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: neeraj netrakar <neeraj@security.bugqore.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2026 20:42:17 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Treat a wrong-length unwrapped CEK like an unwrap failure in
 jwe.decrypt

---
 jose/jwe.py       | 20 +++++++++++++-------
 tests/test_jwe.py | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/jose/jwe.py b/jose/jwe.py
index 09e5c32..faa8de9 100644
--- a/jose/jwe.py
+++ b/jose/jwe.py
@@ -150,13 +150,19 @@ def decrypt(jwe_str, key):
             # recipient or not.
             cek_valid = False
 
-            # To mitigate the attacks described in RFC 3218 [RFC3218], the
-            # recipient MUST NOT distinguish between format, padding, and length
-            # errors of encrypted keys.  It is strongly recommended, in the event
-            # of receiving an improperly formatted key, that the recipient
-            # substitute a randomly generated CEK and proceed to the next step, to
-            # mitigate timing attacks.
-            cek_bytes = _get_random_cek_bytes_for_enc(enc)
+        # To mitigate the attacks described in RFC 3218 [RFC3218], the
+        # recipient MUST NOT distinguish between format, padding, and length
+        # errors of encrypted keys.  It is strongly recommended, in the event
+        # of receiving an improperly formatted key, that the recipient
+        # substitute a randomly generated CEK and proceed to the next step, to
+        # mitigate timing attacks.
+        try:
+            random_cek_bytes = _get_random_cek_bytes_for_enc(enc)
+        except NotImplementedError:
+            raise JWEError(f"enc {enc} is not implemented")
+        if not cek_valid or len(cek_bytes) != len(random_cek_bytes):
+            cek_valid = False
+            cek_bytes = random_cek_bytes
 
     # Compute the Encoded Protected Header value BASE64URL(UTF8(JWE
     # Protected Header)).  If the JWE Protected Header is not present
diff --git a/tests/test_jwe.py b/tests/test_jwe.py
index 6ab9971..fd2c274 100644
--- a/tests/test_jwe.py
+++ b/tests/test_jwe.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from jose.constants import ALGORITHMS, ZIPS
 from jose.exceptions import JWEError, JWEParseError
 from jose.jwk import AESKey, RSAKey
-from jose.utils import base64url_decode
+from jose.utils import base64url_decode, base64url_encode
 
 backends = []
 try:
@@ -336,6 +336,23 @@ def test_decrypt_oct_256_key_wrap(self, jwe_package):
         actual = jwe.decrypt(jwe_package, key)
         assert actual == b"Live long and prosper."
 
+    def test_wrong_length_cek_is_not_distinguishable(self):
+        # A CEK that unwraps fine but has the wrong length for enc must fail
+        # the same way as a bad padding (RFC 7516 section 11.5).
+        encrypted_key = RSAKey(PUBLIC_KEY_PEM, ALGORITHMS.RSA1_5).wrap_key(b"\x00" * 16)
+        header = base64url_encode(json.dumps({"alg": "RSA1_5", "enc": "A256GCM"}).encode("utf-8"))
+        jwe_str = b".".join(
+            [
+                header,
+                base64url_encode(encrypted_key),
+                base64url_encode(b"\x00" * 12),
+                b"AAAA",
+                base64url_encode(b"\x00" * 16),
+            ]
+        )
+        with pytest.raises(JWEError, match="Invalid JWE Auth Tag"):
+            jwe.decrypt(jwe_str, PRIVATE_KEY_PEM)
+
     def test_invalid_jwe_is_parse_error(self):
         with pytest.raises(JWEParseError):
             jwe.decrypt("invalid", "key")