authentik is an open-source identity provider. Versions 2025.12.4 and prior, and versions 2026.2.0-rc1 through 2026.2.2 were vulnerable to Authentication Bypass through SAML NameID XML Comment Injection. Due to how authentik extracted the NameID value from a SAML assertion, it was possible for an attacker to trick authentik into only seeing a part of the NameID value, potentially allowing an attacker to gain access to other accounts. This issue could be exploited on an authentik instance with a SAML Source, where the attacker had an account on the SAML Source and the ability to modify their NameID value (commonly username or E-mail), and XML Signing was enabled. The attacker could modify the SAML assertion given to authentik by injecting a comment within the NameID value, which effectively truncated the NameID value to the snippet before the comment, and gave the attacker access to any user account. This issue has been fixed in versions 2025.12.5 and 2026.2.3.

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History

Thu, 21 May 2026 15:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Thu, 21 May 2026 01:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Goauthentik
Goauthentik authentik
Vendors & Products Goauthentik
Goauthentik authentik

Wed, 20 May 2026 23:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description authentik is an open-source identity provider. Versions 2025.12.4 and prior, and versions 2026.2.0-rc1 through 2026.2.2 were vulnerable to Authentication Bypass through SAML NameID XML Comment Injection. Due to how authentik extracted the NameID value from a SAML assertion, it was possible for an attacker to trick authentik into only seeing a part of the NameID value, potentially allowing an attacker to gain access to other accounts. This issue could be exploited on an authentik instance with a SAML Source, where the attacker had an account on the SAML Source and the ability to modify their NameID value (commonly username or E-mail), and XML Signing was enabled. The attacker could modify the SAML assertion given to authentik by injecting a comment within the NameID value, which effectively truncated the NameID value to the snippet before the comment, and gave the attacker access to any user account. This issue has been fixed in versions 2025.12.5 and 2026.2.3.
Title authentik: SAML NameID XML Comment Injection Enables Authentication Bypass via Identifier Truncation
Weaknesses CWE-287
CWE-436
CWE-91
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'}


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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-21T14:13:20.329Z

Reserved: 2026-04-09T19:31:56.014Z

Link: CVE-2026-40165

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-21T14:13:16.426Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-05-21T00:16:28.290

Modified: 2026-05-21T15:24:25.330

Link: CVE-2026-40165

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-21T01:15:25Z

Weaknesses