CVE-2020-5225
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedLog injection in SimpleSAMLphp before version 1.18.4. The www/erroreport.php script, which receives error reports and sends them via email to the system administrator, did not properly sanitize the report identifier obtained from the request. This allows an attacker, under specific circumstances, to inject new log lines by manually crafting this report ID. When configured to use the file logging handler, SimpleSAMLphp will output all its logs by appending each log line to a given file. Since the reportID parameter received in a request sent to www/errorreport.php was not properly sanitized, it was possible to inject newline characters into it, effectively allowing a malicious user to inject new log lines with arbitrary content.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceLog injection vulnerability in SimpleSAMLphp's www/erroreport.php script where the reportID parameter from requests is not properly sanitized, allowing injection of newline characters to forge arbitrary log entries when file logging is configured.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 1.18.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed SimpleSAMLphp versionCheck the VERSION file in the SimpleSAMLphp root directory, or look for a version constant in lib/SimpleSAML.phpAffected if The version is lower than 1.18.4
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Verify file logging is enabledExamine the configuration file (typically config/config.php) and look for the 'logging.handler' setting. If set to 'file' or 'syslog', file logging is activeAffected if logging.handler is set to 'file' or a custom file-based logging configuration is in use
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Confirm www/erroreport.php exists and is accessibleCheck for the presence of the erroreport.php script in the www/ directory of the SimpleSAMLphp installationAffected if The file exists and the web server can serve it (the vulnerability is in the error reporting endpoint)
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Review log entries for suspicious patternsExamine application log files for any entries containing the reportID parameter with unexpected newline characters or multiple log entries that appear forgedAffected if Log files contain entries that suggest injection of arbitrary log content through the reportID parameter
You are affected if SimpleSAMLphp version is below 1.18.4 AND file logging is configured AND the erroreport.php endpoint is accessible, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary log entries.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data1.18.4
Upgrade to SimpleSAMLphp version 1.18.4 or later, which includes proper sanitization of the report identifier parameter to prevent newline injection.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5225 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-5225 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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