CVE-2022-23505 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Improper Authentication vulnerability in passport-wsfed-saml2. A fix is available for passport-wsfed-saml2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Authentication Bypass for passport-wsfed-saml2
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-23505 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
passport-wsfed-saml2npmDescription
Overview
A remote attacker can bypass WSFed authentication on a website using passport-wsfed-saml2. A successful attack requires that the attacker is in possession of an arbitrary IDP signed WSFed assertion. Depending on the IDP used, fully unauthenticated attacks (e.g without access to a valid user) might also be feasible if generation of a signed message can be triggered.
Am I affected?
You are affected if you are using WSFed protocol with the passport-wsfed-saml2 library versions < 4.6.3. SAML2 protocol is not affected.
How do I fix it?
Upgrade the library to version 4.6.3.
Will the fix impact my users?
No, the fix will not impact your users.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | passport-wsfed-saml2 | all versions | 4.6.3npm install passport-wsfed-saml2@4.6.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for passport-wsfed-saml2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update passport-wsfed-saml2 to 4.6.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23505 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-23505 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-23505. 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-2022-23505 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-23505 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.