OneLogin SAML-SSO Plugin < 2.1.6 - Authentication Bypass
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.1.6
- Affected Plugin
- OneLogin SAML SSO
- Affected Version
< 2.1.6- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a critical-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the OneLogin SAML SSO WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.1.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2016, reported by Jouko Pynnöne.
Vulnerability Overview
The OneLogin SAML-SSO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass due to insufficient user validation in the ~/onelogin-saml-sso/onelogin_saml.php file in versions up to, and including, 2.1.5. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create new accounts, including administrator accounts if an existing administrator's role name, username, or email address is correctly guessed.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-287: Improper Authentication
Reaching this weakness in OneLogin SAML SSO < 2.1.6 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.
An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For OneLogin SAML SSO the fix is 2.1.6: builds < 2.1.6 are affected, anything from 2.1.6 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.1.6, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: OneLogin SAML SSO 2.1.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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