CVE-2018-7644
HIGHCVE-2018-7644 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-347 vulnerability in simplesamlphp/saml2. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2018-7644 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
SimpleSAMLphp Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature
Blast Radius
simplesamlphp/saml2🐘simplesamlphp/saml2🐘simplesamlphp/saml2Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The XmlSecLibs library as used in the saml2 library in SimpleSAMLphp before 1.15.3 incorrectly verifies signatures on SAML assertions, allowing a remote attacker to construct a crafted SAML assertion on behalf of an Identity Provider that would pass as cryptographically valid, thereby allowing them to impersonate a user from that Identity Provider, aka a key confusion issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | simplesamlphp/saml2 | all versions | 1.10.5 |
| 🐘Packagist | simplesamlphp/saml2 | ≥ 2.0&&< 2.3.7 | 2.3.7 |
| 🐘Packagist | simplesamlphp/saml2 | ≥ 3.0&&< 3.1.3 | 3.1.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for simplesamlphp/saml2. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update simplesamlphp/saml2 to 1.10.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-7644 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-7644 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2018-7644. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-7644 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2018-7644 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.