Know every vulnerabilitybefore it knows you.
DevGuard continuously monitors your dependencies and alerts you when CVEs like this one affect your stack — with real-time threat intelligence built for developers.
GHSA-46r4-f8gj-xg56
No affected components available
Summary
There's a signature confusion attack in the HTTPRedirect binding. An attacker with any signed SAMLResponse via the HTTP-Redirect binding can cause the application to accept an unsigned message.
I believe that it exists for v4 only. I have not yet developed a PoC.
V5 is well designed and instead builds the signed query from the same message that will be consumed.
Details
What is verified
The data['SignedQuery'] is the string that will be verified by the public key.
It is defined here: https://github.com/simplesamlphp/saml2/blob/9545abd0d9d48388f2fa00469c5c1e0294f0303e/src/SAML2/HTTPRedirect.php#L178-L217
THe code will iterate through each parameter name. Notably, sigQuery is overridden each time when processing, making the last of SAMLRequest/SAMLResponse used for sigQuery.
For example, given:
SAMLRequest=a&SAMLResponse=idpsigned
SAMLResponse=idpsigned will be set as sigQuery, then later verified
What is actually processed
Processing uses SAMLRequest parameter value first, (if it exists) then SAMLResponse:
https://github.com/simplesamlphp/saml2/blob/9545abd0d9d48388f2fa00469c5c1e0294f0303e/src/SAML2/HTTPRedirect.php#L104-L113
Given this, the contents that are processed might not be the same as the data that is actually verified.
Exploiting
Suppose an attacker has a signed HTTP Redirect binding from IdP, say a signed logout response. :
SAMLResponse=idpsigned&RelayState=...&SigAlg=...&Signature
Then an attacker can append SAMLRequest in front:
SAMLRequest=unverifieddata&SAMLResponse=idpsigned&RelayState=...&SigAlg=...&Signature=..
SimpleSAMLPhp will only verify the SAMLResponse, but will actually use the SAMLRequest contents. The impact here is increased because there's no checks that SAMLRequest actually contains a Request, it could instead contain an Response, which allows the attacker to effectively impersonate any user within the SP.
IdPs
Microsoft Azure AD/Entra (and likely ADFS) signs the LogoutResponse via this SimpleSign format in HTTP Redirect binding. If an attacker logs out of Entra, they will be able to extract a valid Signature.
Attached is an HTTP Request when an I initiated a SLO request from the service provider to the IdP (entra). Then IdP POSTed this SAMLResponse with HTTP Redirect binding signature, via the user browser to the SP. It should be possible to carry out the described attack with this.
https://webhook.site/c6038292-6ef5-46ac-973d-d7c25520ec48/logout?SAMLResponse=fVJNa%2bMwEP0rRndZtmw5tnAMy%2fYSaC9N6aGXIsmjVMTRGI9M%2bvObdeihsPQ4w7x5HzM9mcs060c84ZqegWaMBNnhYc%2fejS1UW1TAnVU7XldK8s7JkcvOd60Db3zTsewVFgoY90zmBcsORCscIiUT061VyJqXJS%2fbl7LRUmrZ5mXdvLHsASiFaNKG%2fEhpJi3EFewH4jmnkEC4pqha2UnegFe8bozj3a4a%2bbhzUilZgKtbMW2yb7TxW%2foL7lkM9hTC2XnEOPvZXjDECb2N1lh7mvBsp%2bnsErDs8zJF0lsEe7YuUaOhQDqaC5BOTh%2f%2fPD3qmzE9L5jQ4cSGfrO43KG%2fgwwRLP8ssuHbIiXKryGOeKU8QhLSVN7WteejV8Bru%2bt4WynFbwE3bdVV5ahG0Ys759Dfj3VMJq30s%2fqLI2SvZlrhd020Tevj6hwQMTH04udS8b%2bHGL4A&Signature=Z%2f7gIPv7Gkgvqtwo0bzgXyum9IjHMfP0zTYuNbl%2fBUGlQ%2fU%2bbOZGZJ6Rk9wLUyvNQ5XlZRxZrfESNA%2bn0CVyIedsg9GxQKTi7VqPTJFJqEIP1BZaEpYYP3%2f6sFfLxfTMKecJoQdxnDE5Malte1hMj2UujWnLXOnp0CgO%2f%2fU2K52SoGckIzNDRB%2fJ6%2fysTn%2bDjBrmgdro%2fgdTyby9%2f3vm8dzY8pUkRCgMjlimShrZxr5U33wQvwPLIXlDgActr91RUtWKE0k8sy%2brshrK9DKLPo8AdTLk7NYhjSWdF7OG7uqgEeEo470tacqQuA09E0qDh8CWS%2bycLJijiGYWVyQa4Q%3d%3d&SigAlg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.w3.org%2f2001%2f04%2fxmldsig-more%23rsa-sha256
The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability can affect other systems as well, not just the initial system. There is a high impact on the integrity of the data.
Exploitation activity has been observed. Apply available patches or mitigations urgently.
The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.
We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.
Browse More
Continuously monitor your dependencies and get alerted when vulnerabilities like this one affect your stack.
Checkout DevGuard