ADVISORIES
GEM
PATCHED VERSIONS
- >= 1.18.1
DESCRIPTION
Summary
A denial-of-service vulnerability exists in ruby-saml even with the message_max_bytesize setting configured. The vulnerability occurs because the SAML response is validated for Base64 format prior to checking the message size, leading to potential resource exhaustion.
Details
ruby-saml
includes a message_max_bytesize
setting intended to
prevent DOS attacks and decompression bombs. However, this protection
is ineffective in some cases due to the order of operations in the code:
https://github.com/SAML-Toolkits/ruby-saml/blob/fbbedc978300deb9355a8e505849666974ef2e67/lib/onelogin/ruby-saml/saml_message.rb
def decode_raw_saml(saml, settings = nil)
return saml unless base64_encoded?(saml)
# <--- Issue here. Should be moved after next code block.
settings = OneLogin::RubySaml::Settings.new if settings.nil?
if saml.bytesize > settings.message_max_bytesize
raise ValidationError.new(\"Encoded SAML Message exceeds \" +
settings.message_max_bytesize.to_s +
\" bytes, so was rejected\")
end
decoded = decode(saml)
...
end
The vulnerability is in the execution order. Prior to checking
bytesize the base64_encoded?
function performs regex matching
on the entire input string:
!!string.gsub(/[\\r\]|\\\\r|\\\|\\s/, \"\").match(BASE64_FORMAT)
Impact
What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted?
When successfully exploited, this vulnerability can lead to:
- Excessive memory consumption
- High CPU utilization
- Application slowdown or unresponsiveness
- Complete application crash in severe cases
- Potential denial of service for legitimate users
All applications using ruby-saml
with SAML configured and
enabled are vulnerable.
Potential Solution
Reorder the validation steps to ensure max bytesize is checked first
def decode_raw_saml(saml, settings = nil)
settings = OneLogin::RubySaml::Settings.new
if settings.nil?
if saml.bytesize > settings.message_max_bytesize
raise ValidationError.new(\"Encoded SAML Message exceeds \" +
settings.message_max_bytesize.to_s + \" bytes, so was rejected\")
end
return saml unless base64_encoded?(saml)
decoded = decode(saml)
...
end
RELATED
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54572
- https://github.com/SAML-Toolkits/ruby-saml/security/advisories/GHSA-rrqh-93c8-j966
- https://github.com/SAML-Toolkits/ruby-saml/releases/tag/v1.18.1
- https://github.com/SAML-Toolkits/ruby-saml/pull/770
- https://github.com/SAML-Toolkits/ruby-saml/commit/38ef5dd1ce17514e202431f569c4f5633e6c2709
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rrqh-93c8-j966