IAM OIDC custom resource allows connection to unauthorized OIDC provider in aws-cdk
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- Active
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-347.
Summary
The AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) is an open-source software development framework to define cloud infrastructure in code and provision it through AWS CloudFormation. Users who use IAM OIDC custom resource provider package will download CA Thumbprints as part of the custom resource workflow. However, the current `tls.connect` method will always set `rejectUnauthorized: false` which is a potential security concern. CDK should follow the best practice and set `rejectUnauthorized: true`. However, this could be a breaking change for existing CDK applications and we should fix this with a feature flag. Note that this is marked as low severity Security advisory because the issuer url is provided by CDK users who define the CDK application. If they insist on connecting to a unauthorized OIDC provider, CDK should not disallow this. Additionally, the code block is run in a Lambda environment which mitigate the MITM attack. The patch is in progress. To mitigate, upgrade to CDK v2.177.0 (Expected release date 2025-02-22). Once upgraded, users should make sure the feature flag '@aws-cdk/aws-iam:oidcRejectUnauthorizedConnections' is set to true in `cdk.context.json` or `cdk.json`. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | aws-cdk | before 2.177.0 | 2.177.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | aws-cdk-lib (npm) | before 2.177.0 | 2.177.0 | Patch available | GHSA-v4mq-x674-ff73 |
- aws-cdk VendorAWS Affected before 2.177.0 Fixed in 2.177.0 Patch available CNA
- aws-cdk-lib (npm) Vendor— Affected before 2.177.0 Fixed in 2.177.0 Patch available GHSA-v4mq-x674-ff73
Remediation
- Fix · CNA aws-cdk (aws) Fixed in 2.177.0
- Fix · GHSA-v4mq-x674-ff73 aws-cdk-lib (npm) Fixed in 2.177.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-23206
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-v4mq-x674-ff73
References
Advisory 2
Other 7
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/32920
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/pull/32921
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/3e4f3773bfa48b75bf0adc7d53d46bbec7714a9e#diff-38a03353f201fd2e520df67fb43f9f000257bffd6e9acaa5569cce7005a77560
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/v2/guide/featureflags.html
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/blob/d16482fc8a4a3e1f62751f481b770c09034df7d2/packages/%40aws-cdk/custom-resource-handlers/lib/aws-iam/oidc-handler/external.ts#L34
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/releases/tag/v2.177.0
- https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk
More Aws Cloud Development Kit vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-17611 AWS CDK EKS overly permissive trust policies CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-30149 AWS CDK RestApi not generating authorizationScope correctly in resultant CFN template CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.4
- TI-2025-02266 AWS CDK CLI prints AWS credentials retrieved by custom credential plugins CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.7
Sources
- CVE-2025-23206 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-23206 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-v4mq-x674-ff73 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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