@panva/jose

"JSON Web Almost Everything" - JWA, JWS, JWE, JWT, JWK, JWKS for Node.js with minimal dependencies

Implemented specs & features

The following specifications are implemented by @panva/jose

• JSON Web Signature (JWS) - RFC7515
• JSON Web Encryption (JWE) - RFC7516
• JSON Web Key (JWK) - RFC7517
• JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) - RFC7518
• JSON Web Token (JWT) - RFC7519
• JSON Web Key Thumbprint - RFC7638
• JWS Unencoded Payload Option - RFC7797
• CFRG Elliptic Curve Signatures (EdDSA) - RFC8037

The test suite utilizes examples defined in RFC7520 to confirm its JOSE implementation is correct.

Detailed feature matrix (Click to expand)

Legend:

• ✓ Implemented
• ✕ Missing node crypto support / won't implement
• ◯ not planned (yet?) / PR / Use-Case first welcome

JWK Key Types	Supported
RSA	✓	RSA
Elliptic Curve	✓	EC
Octet Key Pair	✓	OKP
Octet sequence	✓	oct

Serialization	JWS Sign	JWS Verify	JWE Encrypt	JWE Decrypt
Compact	✓	✓	✓	✓
General JSON	✓	✓	✓	✓
Flattened JSON	✓	✓	✓	✓

JWS Algorithms	Supported
RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5	✓	RS256, RS384, RS512
RSASSA-PSS	✓	PS256, PS384, PS512
ECDSA	✓	ES256, ES384, ES512
Edwards-curve DSA	✓	EdDSA
HMAC with SHA-2	✓	HS256, HS384, HS512

JWE Key Management Algorithms	Supported
AES	✓	A128KW, A192KW, A256KW
AES GCM	✓	A128GCMKW, A192GCMKW, A256GCMKW
Direct Key Agreement	✓	dir
RSAES OAEP	✓*	RSA-OAEP (*RSA-OAEP-256 is not supported due to its lack of support in Node.JS)
RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5	✓	RSA1_5
PBES2	✓	PBES2-HS256+A128KW, PBES2-HS384+A192KW, PBES2-HS512+A256KW
ECDH-ES	✓	ECDH-ES, ECDH-ES+A128KW, ECDH-ES+A192KW, ECDH-ES+A256KW

JWE Content Encryption Algorithms	Supported
AES GCM	✓	A128GCM, A192GCM, A256GCM
AES_CBC_HMAC_SHA2	✓	A128CBC-HS256, A192CBC-HS384, A256CBC-HS512

---

Pending Node.js Support 🤞:

• ECDH-ES with X25519 and X448

Won't implement:

• ✕ JWS embedded key / referenced verification
  • one can decode the header and pass the (x5c, jwk) to JWK.asKey and validate with that key, similarly the application can handle fetching and then instantiating the referenced x5u or jku in its own code. This way you opt-in to these behaviours.
• ✕ JWS detached content
  • one can remove/attach the payload after/before the respective operation
• ✕ "none" alg support
  • no crypto, no use

Have a question about using @panva/jose? - ask.
Found a bug? - report it.
Missing a feature? - If it wasn't already discussed before, ask for it.
Found a vulnerability? - Reach out to us via email first, see security vulnerability disclosure.

Sponsor

If you want to quickly add secure token-based authentication to Node.js projects, feel free to check Auth0’s free plan at auth0.com/overview.

Support

If you or your business use @panva/jose, please consider becoming a Patron so I can continue maintaining it and adding new features carefree. You may also donate one-time via PayPal.

Documentation

• @panva/jose API Documentation
  • JWK (JSON Web Key)
  • JWKS (JSON Web Key Set)
  • JWT (JSON Web Token)
  • JWS (JSON Web Signature)
  • JWE (JSON Web Encryption)

Usage

For its improvements in the crypto module ⚠️ the minimal Node.js version required is v12.0.0 ⚠️

Installing @panva/jose

npm install @panva/jose

Usage

const jose = require('@panva/jose')
const {
  JWE,   // JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
  JWK,   // JSON Web Key (JWK)
  JWKS,  // JSON Web Key Set (JWKS)
  JWS,   // JSON Web Signature (JWS)
  JWT,   // JSON Web Token (JWT)
  errors // errors utilized by @panva/jose
} = jose

Keys and KeyStores

Prepare your Keys and KeyStores. See the documentation for more.

const key = jose.JWK.asKey(fs.readFileSync('path/to/key/file'))

const jwk = { kty: 'EC',
  kid: 'dl4M_fcI7XoFCsQ22PYrQBkuxZ2pDcbDimcdFmmXM98',
  crv: 'P-256',
  x: 'v37avifcL-xgh8cy6IFzcINqqmFLc2JF20XUpn4Y2uQ',
  y: 'QTwy27XgP7ZMOdGOSopAHB-FU1JMQn3J9GEWGtUXreQ' }
const anotherKey = jose.JWK.asKey(jwk)

const keystore = new jose.JWK.KeyStore(key, key2)

JWT vs JWS

The JWT module provides IANA registered claim type and format validations on top of JWS as well as convenience options for verifying UNIX timestamps, setting maximum allowed JWT age, verifying audiences, and more.

The JWS module on the other hand handles the other JWS Serialization Syntaxes with all their additional available features and allows signing of any payload, i.e. not just serialized JSON objects.

JWT Signing

Sign with a private or symmetric key with plethora of convenience options. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWT.sign(
  { 'urn:example:claim': 'foo' },
  privateKey,
  {
    algorithm: 'PS256',
    audience: 'urn:example:client_id',
    expiresIn: '1 hour',
    header: {
      typ: 'JWT'
    },
    issuer: 'https://op.example.com'
  }
)

JWT Verification

Verify with a public or symmetric key with plethora of convenience options. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWT.verify(
  'eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJQUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjRQQXBsVkJIN0toS1ZqN0xob0RFM0VVQnNGc0hvaTRhSmxBZGstM3JuME0ifQ.eyJ1cm46ZXhhbXBsZTpjbGFpbSI6ImZvbyIsImF1ZCI6InVybjpleGFtcGxlOmNsaWVudF9pZCIsImlzcyI6Imh0dHBzOi8vb3AuZXhhbXBsZS5jb20iLCJpYXQiOjE1NTEyOTI2MjksImV4cCI6MTU1MTI5NjIyOX0.nE5fgRL8gvlStf_wB4mJ0TSXVmhJRnUVQuZ0ts6a1nWnnk0Rv69bEJ12BoMdpyPrGa_W6dxU4HFj89F4pQwW0kqBK2-TZ_n9lq-iqupj46w_lpKOfPC3clVc7ZmqYF81bEA-nX93cSKqVV-qPNPEFenb8XHKszYhBFu_uiRg9rXj2qXVU7PXGJAGTzhVgVxB-3XDB1bQ_6KiDCwzVPftrHxEYLydRCaHzggDg6sAFUhQqhPguKuE2gs6jVUh_gIL2RXeoLoinx6gZ72rfovaOmud-yzNIUN8Tvo0pqBmx0s_lEhTlfrQCzN7hZNmV1eG0GDDE-S_CfZhPePnVJZoRA',
  publicKey,
  {
    issuer: 'https://op.example.com',
    audience: 'urn:example:client_id',
    algorithms: ['PS256']
  }
)

JWS Signing

Sign with a private or symmetric key using compact serialization. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWS.sign(
  { sub: 'johndoe' },
  privateKey,
  { kid: privateKey.kid }
)

JWS Verifying

Verify with a public or symmetric key. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWS.verify(
  'eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJqb2huZG9lIn0.T_SYLQV3A5_kFDDVNuoadoURSEtuSOR-dG2CMmrP-ULK9xbIf2vYeiHOkvTrnqGlWEGBGxYtsP1VkXmNsi1uOw',
  publicKey
)

JWE Encrypting

Encrypt using the recipient's public key or a shared symmetrical secret. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWE.encrypt(
  'eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJqb2huZG9lIn0.T_SYLQV3A5_kFDDVNuoadoURSEtuSOR-dG2CMmrP-ULK9xbIf2vYeiHOkvTrnqGlWEGBGxYtsP1VkXmNsi1uOw',
  publicKey,
  { kid: publicKey.kid }
)

JWE Decrypting

Decrypt using the private key or a shared symmetrical secret. See the documentation for more.

jose.JWE.decrypt(
  'eyJlbmMiOiJBMTI4Q0JDLUhTMjU2IiwiYWxnIjoiRUNESC1FUyIsImVwayI6eyJrdHkiOiJFQyIsImNydiI6IlAtMjU2IiwieCI6IkVsUGhsN1ljTVZsWkhHM0daSkRoOVJhemNYYlN2VFNheUF6aTBINFFtRUEiLCJ5IjoiM0hDREJTRy12emd6cGtLWmJqMU05UzVuUEJrTDBBdFM4U29ORUxMWE1SayJ9fQ..FhmidRo0twvFA7jcfKFNJw.o112vgiG_qUL1JR5WHpsErcxxgaK_FAa7vCWJ--WulndLpdwdRXHd9k3aL_k8K67xoAThrt10d7dSY2TlPpHdYkw979u0V-C4TNrpzNkv5jpBjU6hHyKpoGZfEsiTD1ivHaFy3ZLCTS69kN_eVKsZGLVf_dkq6Sz6bWE4-ln_fuwukPyMvjTyaTreLjPLBZW.ocKwptCm4Zn437L5hWFnHg',
  privateKey
)

FAQ

Semver?

Yes. Everything that's either exported in the TypeScript definitions file or documented is subject to Semantic Versioning 2.0.0. The rest is to be considered private API and is subject to change between any versions.

How do I use it outside of Node.js

It is only built for Node.js environment - it builds on top of the crypto module and requires the KeyObject API that was added in Node.js v11.6.0 and one-shot sign/verify API added in v12.0.0

How is it different from jws, jwa or jsonwebtoken?

• it supports JWK Key Format for all four key types (oct, RSA, EC and OKP)
• it is providing Key and KeyStore abstractions
• there is JSON Web Encryption support
• it supports all JWS / JWE Serialization Syntaxes
• it supports the "crit" member validations to make sure extensions are handled correctly
• it is not only validating the signatures, it is making sure the JWE/JWS is syntactically correct, e.g. not having duplicated header parameters between protected/unprotected or per-recipient headers

How is it different from node-jose

node-jose is built to work in any javascript runtime, to be able to do that it packs a lot of backfill and javascript implementation code in the form of node-forge, this significantly increases the footprint of the module with dependencies that either aren't ever used or have native implementation available in Node.js already, those are often times faster and more reliable.

What is the ultimate goal?

• No dependencies, the moment JWK formatted keys are supported by node's crypto the direct dependency count will go down from 1 to 0. 🚀
• Just the API one needs, having used other jose modules for 3+ years I only include what's useful

Why? Just, why?

I was using node-jose for openid-client and oidc-provider and came to realize its shortcomings in terms of performance and API (not having well defined errors).

+ this was an amazing opportunity to learn JOSE as a whole