CVE-2016-9814

The validateSignature method in the SAML2\Utils class in SimpleSAMLphp before 1.14.10 and simplesamlphp/saml2 library before 1.9.1, 1.10.x before 1.10.3, and 2.x before 2.3.3 allows remote attackers to spoof SAML responses or possibly cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by leveraging improper conversion of return values to boolean.

Published: 2017-02-16 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-9814 is rated High Risk (66.7/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.42%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.60% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-9814

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.83% 2.42% +1.60%
2 2025-03-30 1.34% 0.83% -0.51%
3 2025-03-29 1.34%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9814

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.2 [email protected]
8.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
10.0 7.8 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-9814

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-9814

GHSA-r8v4-7vwj-983x · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: composer — SimpleSAMLphp SAML2 spoof SAML responses

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9814

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2016-9814 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (simplesamlphp), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid): resolved 4. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9814
ubuntu low CVE-2016-9814 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (simplesamlphp), 23 status rows across 23 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 16, ignored 4, DNE 1, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9814

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9814

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
simplesamlphp simplesamlphp <= 1.14.9 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:simplesamlphp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp simplesamlphp 1.10 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:simplesamlphp:1.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 <= 1.9 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 1.10 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:1.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 1.10.1 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:1.10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 1.10.2 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:1.10.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.1 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.2 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.3 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
simplesamlphp saml2 2.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:saml2:2.3.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9814

cvelogic Threat Intelligence