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Miggo AIRoot Cause AnalysisThe vulnerability description for CVE-2026-77998 clearly states that the mo_saml_validate_signature() function is the root cause of the unauthenticated authentication bypass. The function performs a loose boolean check on the return value of PHP's openssl_verify(). When openssl_verify() returns -1 (indicating an error during signature processing), mo_saml_validate_signature() incorrectly evaluates this as a truthy value, leading to a successful signature verification. This allows an attacker to craft a SAMLResponse with a deliberately malformed signature, triggering the error in openssl_verify(), which then bypasses the signature validation in mo_saml_validate_signature(). This enables the attacker to log in as any existing Joomla user, including administrators. The file_path cannot be determined from the provided information, as no specific code repository or patch details were available, only the vulnerability description. The mention of wp_set_auth_cookie() in the description is likely a copy-paste error or refers to a similar vulnerability in WordPress, as the CVE explicitly targets 'Joomla Extension'. The core vulnerability lies within the SAML signature validation logic of mo_saml_validate_signature().
mo_saml_validate_signature()