One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Passwords supports the SAML 2.0 Web Browser SSO Profile, allowing you to configure federated authentication with many different Identity Provider STS servers and services, such as Microsoft's AD FS. Through the exchange of the federation metadata, you can create a trust relationship between the two systems. Then, you will create a Safeguard for Privileged Passwords user to be associated with the federated user.
Safeguard supports both Service Provider (SP) initiated and Identity Provider (IdP) initiated logins.
- For SP initiated, the user will first browse to Safeguard and choose External Federation as the authentication provider. After entering just their email address, they will be redirected to the external STS to enter their credentials and perform any two-factor authentication that may be required by that STS. After successful authentication, they will be redirected back to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords and logged in.
- For IdP initiated logins, a user will first go to their IdP STS and authenticate. Typically, the customer will have configured Safeguard as an application within their STS, allowing the user to just click on a link or icon and be redirected to Safeguard, automatically being logged in without having to enter any further credentials.
NOTE: Additional two-factor authentication can be assigned to the associated Safeguard for Privileged Passwords user to have the user authenticate again after being redirected back from the external STS.
To use external federation, you must first download a copy of, or have the URL to the federation metadata XML of your STS. For example, in Microsoft AD FS, you can download the federation metadata XML from: https://<adfs server>/FederationMetadata/200706/FederationMetadata.xml. Or if the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords appliance can directly access that URL, it can be used as well when creating the provider.
It is the responsibility of the Appliance Administrator to configure the external federation service providers in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords.
To add an external federation service provider
- Go to Appliance Management > Safeguard Access > Identity and Authentication.
- Click Add then select External Federation.
- In the External Federation dialog, supply the following information:
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Name: Enter a unique display name for the external federation service provider. The name is used for administrative purposes only and will not be seen by end users.
Limit: 100 characters
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Realm: Enter a unique realm value, typically a DNS suffix, like contoso.com, that matches the email addresses of users intended to use this STS for authentication. Values can be separated by a space, comma, or semi-colon. A case-insensitive comparison will be used on the value(s) when performing Home Realm Discovery.
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Federation Metadata: Select one of the following options:
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From File: When using this option, Safeguard for Privileged Passwords stores a static copy of the metadata. It is the responsibility of the administrators to update the metadata, when necessary, by repeating this process. For example, when the signing certificate used by the STS changes.
You must first download the federation metadata XML for your STS and save it to a file locally. For example, for Microsoft's AD FS, you can download the federation metadata XML from: https://<adfs server>/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml.
Click Browse to select the STS federation metadata xml file.
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From URL: When using this option, Safeguard for Privileged Passwords will automatically download the STS metadata and refresh it on a periodic basis, so it should always have the current signing certificates and other information used by the STS.
Specify the complete HTTPS URL to the STS metadata. The SSL/TLS certificate used by the HTTPS URL must be trusted on every node of the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords cluster, and each node of the cluster will need network/internet access to be able to download from the specified HTTPS URL. It is strongly recommended to verify that you can successfully log in on each node of the cluster after initially creating the Identity Provider.
After the external federation provider is created, you can manually trigger Safeguard for Privileged Passwords to update the metadata from the configured URL by clicking the Update Metadata button. This may be useful to help minimize any downtime when you know that the STS metadata has changed.
NOTE: A proxy server may be configured. For more information, see Networking.
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Download Safeguard Federation Metadata: If you have not done so before, click the link to download a copy of Safeguard for Privileged Passwords's federation metadata XML. You will need this file when creating the corresponding trust relationship on your STS server.
NOTE: The federation metadata XML files typically contain a digital signature and cannot be modified in any way, including white space. If you receive an error regarding a problem with the metadata, ensure that it has not been edited.
- Click OK.
The process for creating the relying party trust in your STS (Security Token Service) will differ between applications and services. However, as stated earlier, you can download a copy of Safeguard for Privileged Passwords's federation metadata by clicking the link when you entered the STS information in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords. You can also download the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords federation metadata at any time using one of the following methods:
- Go to Appliance Management > Safeguard Access > Identity and Authentication.
- Click Download Safeguard Federation Metadata.
- Download the file from the following URL:
https://<Safeguard for Privileged Passwords server>/RSTS/Saml2FedMetadata
If the STS does not support importing federation metadata, but instead requires you to manually input values, you will typically need an App ID and Login or Redirect URL. Both of these values can be copied from the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords federation metadata XML file you downloaded.
You must then configure or ensure that the STS returns the authenticated user's email address as a SAML attribute claim. The email address must appear in either the standard SAML email address claim or name claim:
- http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress
- http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name
If the emailaddress and name attribute claims are not present in the SAML assertion, the SAML Subject NameID can be used.
NOTE: Any other attributes or claims will be ignored.
The SAML Response or Assertion must be signed, but not encrypted. When the signing certificate used by your STS expires, you may need to update the metadata for the associated external federation provider in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords depending on how it and your STS are configured:
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If the external federation provider in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords was configured by uploading a copy of the STS metadata file, then that needs to be repeated with the new copy of the STS metadata file containing the new signing certificate.
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If the external federation provider in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords was configured to use the URL that points to the STS metadata (and the STS supports having multiple active signing certificates for seamless rollover), then you shouldn't have to do anything. Safeguard for Privileged Passwords periodically attempts to download the metadata and will use the new certificate when it becomes active. Otherwise, you can manually trigger Safeguard for Privileged Passwords to download and refresh the STS metadata from the configured URL by selecting the external federation provider and clicking the Update Signing Certificates and Metadata toolbar button.
NOTE: Your STS's metadata can contain more than one signing certificate to allow for a grace period between an expiring certificate and a new one.
For further details regarding specific STS servers, see the following knowledge base articles on the One Identity support site:
- Configuring Microsoft's AD FS Relying Party Trust for Safeguard for Privileged Passwords: KB Article 233669
- Configuring Microsoft's Azure AD for Safeguard for Privileged Passwords: KB Article 233671
It is the responsibility of either the Authorizer Administrator or the User Administrator to add an associated external federation Safeguard for Privileged Passwords user.
Preparation
You must add external federation service providers to Safeguard for Privileged Passwords before you can add external federation users.
No user information, such as first name, last name, phone number, email address, is ever imported from the STS claims token. You must enter that information manually when creating the user in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords if you need it.
To add a user
- Navigate to User Management > Users.
- In Users, click New User from the toolbar.
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In the User dialog, provide information in each of the tabs: