Last Modified: Jul 15, 2026
Affected Product(s):
BIG-IP APM
Known Affected Versions:
11.5.1, 11.5.1 hf1, 11.5.1 hf2, 11.5.1 hf3, 11.5.1 hf4, 11.5.1 hf5, 11.5.1 hf6, 11.5.1 hf7, 11.5.1 hf8, 11.5.1 hf9, 11.5.1 hf10, 11.5.1 hf11, 11.5.2, 11.5.2 hf1, 11.5.3, 11.5.3 hf1, 11.5.3 hf2, 11.5.4, 11.5.4 hf1, 11.5.4 hf2, 11.5.4 hf3, 11.5.4 hf4, 11.5.5, 11.5.6, 11.5.7, 11.5.8, 11.5.9, 11.5.10, 11.6.0, 11.6.0 hf1, 11.6.0 hf2, 11.6.0 hf3, 11.6.0 hf4, 11.6.0 hf5, 11.6.0 hf6, 11.6.0 hf7, 11.6.0 hf8, 11.6.1, 11.6.1 hf1, 11.6.1 hf2, 11.6.2, 11.6.2 hf1, 11.6.3, 11.6.3.1, 11.6.3.2, 11.6.3.3, 11.6.3.4, 11.6.4, 11.6.5, 11.6.5.1, 11.6.5.2, 11.6.5.3, 12.0.0, 12.0.0 hf1, 12.0.0 hf2, 12.0.0 hf3, 12.0.0 hf4, 12.1.0, 12.1.0 hf1, 12.1.0 hf2, 12.1.1, 12.1.1 hf1, 12.1.1 hf2, 12.1.2, 12.1.2 hf1, 12.1.2 hf2, 12.1.3, 12.1.3.1, 12.1.3.2, 12.1.3.3, 12.1.3.4, 12.1.3.5, 12.1.3.6, 12.1.3.7, 12.1.4, 12.1.4.1, 12.1.5, 12.1.5.1, 12.1.5.2, 12.1.5.3, 12.1.6, 13.0.0, 13.0.0 hf1, 13.0.0 hf2, 13.0.0 hf3, 13.0.1
Fixed In:
21.0.0, 17.5.1, 17.1.3
Opened: Oct 20, 2014 Severity: 4-Minor
An encrypted assertion from an external SAML Identity Provider (IdP) can contain the RetrievalMethod element to specify a link to the EncryptedKey element. The EncryptedKey element contains the key for decrypting the CipherData associated with an EncryptedData element. BIG-IP configured as a Service Provider (SP) does not support the RetrievalMethod element while processing an encrypted assertion. As a result, the assertion is not processed properly, and error messages are printed to the log files: "Cannot decrypt SAML Assertion" and "failed to process encrypted assertion, error: Cipher value from EncryptedKey element not found".
Authentication will fail due to inability to process assertion.
External IdP uses RetrievalMethod to specify EncryptedKey element. BIG-IP is configured as SP. BIG-IP requires received assertions to be encrypted.
To work around the problem, reconfigure IdP to use embedded EncryptedKey instead of using RetrievalMethod.
None