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Mallory
Critical

Authentication bypass in ruby-saml via libxml2 canonicalization empty-string digest (Signature Wrapping)

IdentifiersCVE-2025-66568CWE-347· Improper Verification of…

ruby-saml (client-side SAML implementation) is vulnerable to an authentication bypass in versions up to and including 1.12.4 due to incorrect handling of libxml2 canonicalization errors during XML Signature processing via Nokogiri. When libxml2 canonicalization is invoked on invalid XML input, it may return an empty string instead of a canonicalized node. ruby-saml then computes the DigestValue over this empty string and proceeds as if canonicalization succeeded, enabling a Signature Wrapping-style attack that can desynchronize signature verification from the assertion ultimately processed by application logic. The issue is fixed in ruby-saml 1.18.0.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

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Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

An attacker can bypass SAML authentication in applications using vulnerable ruby-saml versions by crafting a SAML response that triggers canonicalization failure and causes digest computation over an empty string, enabling signature-wrapping conditions where signature validation can be satisfied while attacker-controlled assertion content is accepted. This can result in unauthorized access/account takeover within the relying party application.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, reduce exposure by tightening SAML response validation and processing to ensure only the intended, signed elements are consumed (e.g., enforce strict element selection and schema constraints, and fail closed on any canonicalization/transform errors). However, the primary effective mitigation per the provided content is updating to the fixed ruby-saml release.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade ruby-saml to version 1.18.0 or later, which fixes the canonicalization error handling issue that allowed DigestValue computation over an empty string.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

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VendorProductType
OneLoginRuby-Samlapplication

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Threat actor evidence

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