Cross-site scripting in SimpleSAMLphp

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

4.4 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2020-5226: 0.54% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 45.70 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Background SimpleSAMLphp allows users to report errors and failures to the system administrators via a web form. This web form gathers some contextual information automatically, but it also allows the user to provide their email address for follow-ups and a free-text explanation of what happened. Once submitted, the report is sent as an email to the administrative email address configured in the software. Description The www/erroreport.php script allows error reports to be submitted and sent to the system administrator. Starting with SimpleSAMLphp 1.18.0, a new SimpleSAML\Utils\EMail class was introduced to handle sending emails, implemented as a wrapper of an external dependency. This new wrapper allows us to use Twig templates in order to create the email sent with an error report. Since Twig provides automatic escaping of variables, manual escaping of the free-text field in www/errorreport.php was removed to avoid double escaping. However, for those not using the new user…

Published by the source

24 Jan 2020, 21:26 UTC

Last modified by the source

9 Jan 2023, 05:01 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 13:56 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-mj9p-v2r8-wf8w

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2020-5226

Advisory: Cross-site scripting in SimpleSAMLphp
IDs: CVE-2020-5226, GHSA-mj9p-v2r8-wf8w
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2020-5226 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 13:56 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.4)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp 1.18.4. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Packagist simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp: affected >= 1.18.0, < 1.18.4; fixed in 1.18.4

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Packagist simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-mj9p-v2r8-wf8w (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-mj9p-v2r8-wf8w lists affected ranges: Packagist simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp >=1.18.0 <1.18.4)

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