diff --git a/config/config_defaults.inc.php b/config/config_defaults.inc.php
index d22e57f885ccbe92fb0c185de74d3860c72a9a67..16e33a9b30e2f27ffd40008e9b873c2f7cb87c7d 100644
--- a/config/config_defaults.inc.php
+++ b/config/config_defaults.inc.php
@@ -328,6 +328,7 @@ $STUDIP_AUTH_CONFIG_OAUTH2 = [
 
 $STUDIP_AUTH_CONFIG_SIMPLESAMLPHP = [
     'sp_name'           => 'default-sp',
+    'path_to_simple_saml_php' => '/var/simplesamlphp/src/_autoload.php' // path to _autoload.php of SimpleSamlPHP library
     'user_data_mapping' => [
         'auth_user_md5.Email'    => ['callback' => 'getUserData', 'map_args' => 'email'],
         'auth_user_md5.Nachname' => ['callback' => 'getUserData', 'map_args' => 'firstName'],
diff --git a/lib/classes/auth_plugins/StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP.php b/lib/classes/auth_plugins/StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP.php
index 69745a82024a1af1f4337fcc1548dd96cb8bc34e..18b7e36ff967ce00a975d08331b6e146c65cb357 100644
--- a/lib/classes/auth_plugins/StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP.php
+++ b/lib/classes/auth_plugins/StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP.php
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ class StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP extends StudipAuthSSO
     // Name of attribute that contains username (if empty it will use NameID as username)
     public ?string $username_attribute = null;
 
+    public ?string $path_to_simple_saml_php = null;
+
     public ?array $userdata = null;
     public SimpleSAML\Auth\Simple $as;
 
@@ -26,6 +28,12 @@ class StudipAuthSimpleSamlPHP extends StudipAuthSSO
     {
         parent::__construct($config);
 
+        if(!isset($this->path_to_simple_saml_php)){
+            require_once('/var/simplesamlphp/src/_autoload.php');
+        }else{
+            require_once($this->path_to_simple_saml_php );
+        }
+
         if (!isset($this->plugin_fullname)) {
             $this->plugin_fullname = _('SAML');
         }