How to verify a JWT using python PyJWT with public key

Question

I've been struggling to get PyJWT 1.1.0 verify a JWT with public key. These keys are the defaults shipped with Keycloak. Most likely the problem is related to the creation of the secret key, but I haven't found any working examples for creating the key without a certificate with both private and public key.

Here's my attempts to get it working. Some of the tests below complain about invalid key and some of them complain that the token is not verified properly against the key.

import jwt

from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
from itsdangerous import base64_decode
from Crypto.PublicKey import RSA


secret = "MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCIE6a1NyEFe7qCDFrvWFZiAlY1ttE5596w5dLjNSaHlKGv8AXbKg/f8yKY9fKAJ5BKoeWEkPPjpn1t9QQAZYzqH9KNOFigMU8pSaRUxjI2dDvwmu8ZH6EExY+RfrPjQGmeliK18iFzFgBtf0eH3NAW3Pf71OZZz+cuNnVtE9lrYQIDAQAB"
secretDer = base64_decode(secret)
sshrsaSecret = "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAAAgQCIE6a1NyEFe7qCDFrvWFZiAlY1ttE5596w5dLjNSaHlKGv8AXbKg/f8yKY9fKAJ5BKoeWEkPPjpn1t9QQAZYzqH9KNOFigMU8pSaRUxjI2dDvwmu8ZH6EExY+RfrPjQGmeliK18iFzFgBtf0eH3NAW3Pf71OZZz+cuNnVtE9lrYQ=="
secretPEM = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n" + secret + "\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----"
access_token = "eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9.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.O7e8dkv0k-2HCjMdZFXIxLhypVyRPwIdrQsYTMwC1996wbsjIw1L3OjDSzJKXcx0U9YrVeRM4yMVlFg40uJDC-9IsKZ8nr5dl_da8SzgpAkempxpas3girST2U9uvY56m2Spp6-EFInvMSb6k4t1L49_Q7R2g0DOlKzxgQd87LY"

############### Test using PEM key (with ----- lines)
try:
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=secretPEM)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using PEM key with ----: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"

############### Test using PEM key (without ----- lines)
try:
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=secret)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using PEM key without ----: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"

############### Test using DER key
try:
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=secretDer)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using DER key: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"

############### Test using DER key #2
try:
    public_key = default_backend().load_der_public_key(secretDer)
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=public_key)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using DER key #2: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"

############### Test using SSH style key
try:
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=sshrsaSecret)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using SSH style key: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"

############### Test using RSA numbers
class Numbers:
    pass

numbers = Numbers()
public_key = RSA.importKey(secretDer)
numbers.e = public_key.key.e
numbers.n = public_key.key.n
# yet another way to generated valid key object
public_key = default_backend().load_rsa_public_numbers(numbers)
print public_key
try:
    access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, key=public_key)
except Exception as e:
    print "Not working using RSA numbers: ", e
else:
    print "It worked!"
###############

I have checked that the token and key are working with Java implementation, see below.

import org.springframework.security.jwt.JwtHelper;
import org.springframework.security.jwt.crypto.sign.RsaVerifier;
import org.springframework.security.jwt.crypto.sign.SignatureVerifier;

public class JWTTest {
    public static final void main(String[] argv) {
        String token = "eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9.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.O7e8dkv0k-2HCjMdZFXIxLhypVyRPwIdrQsYTMwC1996wbsjIw1L3OjDSzJKXcx0U9YrVeRM4yMVlFg40uJDC-9IsKZ8nr5dl_da8SzgpAkempxpas3girST2U9uvY56m2Spp6-EFInvMSb6k4t1L49_Q7R2g0DOlKzxgQd87LY";
        String key = "MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCHJUdDw1bPg/tZBY+kDDZZQnAp1mVr0CMyE+VzvJ+n2v6SHBdjjuWEw+LfLd69evg8ndr1RRPWZ1ryKgWS/NKTNqH+UhHkK9NToDucJI9Bi/scCpBps+/X/S7gZtcBMdfd4IB+LPCsP8v2RT/H9VjeCP4sWuqNwAMtCMyGr1Vw9wIDAQAB";
        String verifierKey = "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n" + key + "\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----";
        SignatureVerifier verifier = new RsaVerifier(verifierKey);
        System.out.println(JwtHelper.decodeAndVerify(token, verifier));
    }
}

Update: I'm able to sign a token properly with HS256 (verified with http://jwt.io/) using the following code. However, I'm unable to decode the PyJWT signed token using PyJWT. The interface is really weird. Here example (secret is the same as in above examples):

some_token = jwt.encode(access_token_json, secret)
# verified some_token to be valid with jwt.io
# the code below does not validate the token correctly
jwt.decode(some_token, key=secret)

Update 2: This works

from jwt.algorithms import HMACAlgorithm, RSAAlgorithm
access_token_json = jwt.decode(access_token, verify=False)
algo = HMACAlgorithm(HMACAlgorithm.SHA256)
shakey = algo.prepare_key(secret)
testtoken = jwt.encode(access_token_json, key=shakey, algorithm='HS256')
options={'verify_exp': False,  # Skipping expiration date check
         'verify_aud': False } # Skipping audience check
print jwt.decode(testtoken, key=shakey, options=options)

However, this does not

from jwt.algorithms import HMACAlgorithm, RSAAlgorithm
algo = RSAAlgorithm(RSAAlgorithm.SHA256)
shakey = algo.prepare_key(sshrsaSecret)
options={'verify_exp': False,  # Skipping expiration date check
         'verify_aud': False } # Skipping audience check
print jwt.decode(access_token, key=shakey, options=options)

Answer 1

I'm putting this here for the next person like me that looks for it.

What I needed was:

1. A Private key that i can keep place behind a service (think AWS API GATEWAY) and generate JWT tokens securely and pass them down to lower services.
2. A Public key that i can give to any of my micro services/anything else that can validate that the JWT token is valid WITHOUT knowing my Private key

Setup:

  # lets create a key to sign these tokens with
  openssl genpkey -out mykey.pem -algorithm rsa -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:2048 
  # lets generate a public key for it...
  openssl rsa -in mykey.pem -out mykey.pub -pubout 
  # make another key so we can test that we cannot decode from it
  openssl genpkey -out notmykey.pem -algorithm rsa -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:2048 
  # this is really the key we would be using to try to check the signature
  openssl rsa -in notmykey.pem -out notmykey.pub -pubout

Code:

import jwt

from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import serialization

# Load the key we created
with open("mykey.pem", "rb") as key_file:
    private_key = serialization.load_pem_private_key(
        key_file.read(),
        password=None,
        backend=default_backend()
    )

# The data we're trying to pass along from place to place
data = {'user_id': 1}

# Lets create the JWT token -- this is a byte array, meant to be sent as an HTTP header
jwt_token = jwt.encode(data, key=private_key, algorithm='RS256')

print(f'data {data}')
print(f'jwt_token {jwt_token}')

# Load the public key to run another test...
with open("mykey.pub", "rb") as key_file:
    public_key = serialization.load_pem_public_key(
        key_file.read(),
        backend=default_backend()
    )

# This will prove that the derived public-from-private key is valid
print(f'decoded with public key (internal): {jwt.decode(jwt_token, private_key.public_key())}')
# This will prove that an external service consuming this JWT token can trust the token 
# because this is the only key it will have to validate the token.
print(f'decoded with public key (external): {jwt.decode(jwt_token, public_key)}')

# Lets load another public key to see if we can load the data successfuly
with open("notmykey.pub", "rb") as key_file:
    not_my_public_key = serialization.load_pem_public_key(
        key_file.read(),
        backend=default_backend()
    )

# THIS WILL FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
# Finally, this will not work and cause an exception
print(f'decoded with another public key: {jwt.decode(jwt_token, not_my_public_key)}')

More info here: https://gist.github.com/kingbuzzman/3912cc66896be0a06bf0eb23bb1e1999 -- along with a docker example of how to run this quickly