The SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 5.4.4. This is due to the mo_saml_validate_signature() function performing a loose boolean check on the raw tri-state integer returned by PHP's openssl_verify(), causing an error return value of -1 to be evaluated as truthy and therefore treated as a successful signature verification. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing WordPress user, including administrators, by submitting a crafted SAMLResponse containing an attacker-controlled NameID and a deliberately malformed signature value that triggers an OpenSSL processing error — bypassing verification entirely and resulting in wp_set_auth_cookie() being called for the targeted account.
CVE-2026-15981
Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-07-23. a secondary CVSS source baseline 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 9.8
- EG Score
- 9.8(high)
- EG Risk
- 59(Track)EG Risk 59/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity98% × 45%Exploitation1% × 40%Automatability100% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 1%
- EPSS %ILE
- 43%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 23, 2026
Last Modified
July 24, 2026
References (7)
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-login-validate.php#L118
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-login-validate.php#L541
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/class-mo-saml-utilities.php#L403
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/includes/lib/SAML2Core/class-mo-saml-xml-security-dsig.php#L938
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on/tags/5.4.4/includes/lib/SAML2Core/class-mo-saml-xml-security-key.php#L621
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3611421/miniorange-saml-20-single-sign-on
- security@wordfencehttps://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b412f60f-61ea-47b1-a3ef-17275f7951df?source=cve
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-15981(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 44× in last 7d / 46× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-31 10:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-31 05:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-31 01:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 21:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 16:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-30 16:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 12:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-30 12:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 08:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 03:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-30 03:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-30 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-29 23:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-29 19:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-29 15:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-29 10:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-29 06:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-29 02:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 22:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 17:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-28 17:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 13:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 08:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 04:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-28 00:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 21 moreShow fewer
- 2026-07-27 19:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-27 15:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-27 15:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-27 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-27 11:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-27 07:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-27 02:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-26 22:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-26 18:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-26 18:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 13:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-26 13:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-26 09:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-26 03:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-26 03:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-25 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 20:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 20:46 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-287
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-15981?
When was CVE-2026-15981 disclosed?
Is CVE-2026-15981 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-15981?
How do I remediate CVE-2026-15981?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-15981
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