Issue with whitespace in JWT roles in OpenSearch
Advisory title: Issue with whitespace in JWT roles
Affected versions:
OpenSearch 1.0.0-1.3.7 and 2.0.0-2.4.1
Patched versions:
OpenSearch 1.3.8 and 2.5.0
Impact:
OpenSearch uses JWTs to store role claims obtained from the Identity Provider (IdP) when the authentication backend is SAML or OpenID Connect. There is an issue in how those claims are processed from the JWTs where the leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed, allowing users to potentially claim roles they are not assigned to if any role matches the whitespace-stripped version of the roles they are a member of.
This issue is only present for authenticated users, and it requires either the existence of roles that match, not considering leading/trailing whitespace, or the ability for users to create said matching roles. In addition, the Identity Provider must allow leading and trailing spaces in role names.
Patches:
OpenSearch versions 1.3.8 and 2.5.0 contain a fix for this issue.
For more information:
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please contact AWS/Amazon Security via our issue reporting page (https://aws.amazon.com/security/vulnerability-reporting/) or directly via email to aws-security@amazon.com. Please do not create a public GitHub issue.
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security | < 1.3.8, >= 2.0.0, < 2.5.0 | 1.3.8, 2.5.0 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-269, CWE-287- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security- Disclosed
- 24.01.2023
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 12:21
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-864v-6qj7-62qj - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 14
- First → latest
- 08.2022 05.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 2
- Medium 9
- Low 3
Disclosures per year
- 2022: 1
- 2023: 7
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 2
- 2026: 4
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