One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions 6.0.7 - Administration Guide

How Authentication and Authorization plugins work

If a Connection Policy has an Authentication and Authorization plugin (AA plugin) configured, One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions (SPS) executes the plugin as the last step of the connection authorization phase. SPS can request the client to perform other types of authentication before executing the plugin. Using an AA plugin in a Connection Policy is treated as gateway authentication if:

• the plugin authenticates the user

• authentication is successful

• the plugin returns the gateway_user and gateway_groups elements, identifying the user it has authenticated

Other types of gateway authentication will come before authentication by the AA plugin, so information from any other type of gateway authentication (for example, the username and usergroups of this authentication) will already be available and therefore can be used by the plugin. If the Authentication and Authorization plugin does perform gateway authentication, you can use a Credential Store as well.

However, for technical reasons, the web-based gateway authentication (that is, authenticating on the SPS web interface if the Require Gatweay Authentication on the SPS Web Interface option is selected in the Connection Policy) is performed after the AA plugin, so using AA plugin and ticking Require Gateway Authentication on the SPS Web Interface at the same time is not a valid configuration.

The plugin can interactively request additional information from the client in the SSH, Telnet, and RDP protocols.

SPS executes the authorize method after the authentication method and any inband gateway authentication or inband destination selection steps. As a result, the authorize method already has access to the IP address of the target server and the remote username (the username used in the server-side connection).

Optionally, the plugin can return the gateway_user and gateway_groups values. SPS will only update the gateway username and gateway groups fields in the connection database if the plugin returns the gateway_user and gateway_groups values. The returned gateway_user and gateway_groups values override any such attributes already available on SPS about the connection (that means that channel policy evaluations will be affected), so make sure that the plugin uses the original values appropriately.

If the plugin returns the gateway_user and gateway_groups values, you may have to configure an appropriate Usermapping policy in the Connection Policy. If the plugin returns a gateway_user that is different from the remote user, the connection will fail without a usermapping policy. For details on usermapping policies, see "Configuring usermapping policies" in the Administration Guide.

Optionally, the plugin can return the gateway_user and gateway_groups elements. SPS will only update the gateway username and gateway groups fields in the connection database if the plugin returns the gateway_user and gateway_groups elements. The returned gateway username and gateway groups override any such attributes already available on SPS about the connection, so make sure that the plugin uses the original values appropriately.

If the plugin returns the gateway_user and gateway_groups elements, you may have to configure an appropriate Usermapping Policy in the Connection Policy. If the plugin returns a gateway_user that is different from the remote user, the connection will fail without a Usermapping Policy. For details on Usermapping Policies, see "Configuring usermapping policies" in the Administration Guide.

Using a custom Authentication and Authorization plugin to authenticate on the target hosts

The following describes how to configure One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions (SPS) to use an Authentication and Authorization plugin (AA plugin) before accessing the target host.

To configure SPS to use an Authentication and Authorization plugin before accessing the target host

1. To upload the custom plugin you received, navigate to Basic Settings > Plugins, browse for the file and click Upload.

   NOTE: It is not possible to upload or delete plugins if SPS is in "Sealed mode" in the Administration Guide.

   Your plugin .zip file may contain an optional sample configuration file. This file serves to provide an example configuration that you can use as a basis for customization if you wish to adapt the plugin to your site's needs.

2. If your plugin supports configuration, then you can create multiple customized configuration instances of the plugin for your site. Create an instance by completing the following steps:

   1. Go to Policies > AA Plugin Configurations. Select the plugin to use from the Plugin list.

   2. The Configuration textbox displays the example configuration of the plugin you selected. You can edit the configuration here if you wish to create a customized instance of the plugin.

      NOTE: Plugins created and issued before the release of SPS 5 F1 do not support configuration. If you create a configuration for a plugin that does not support this, the affected connection will stop with an error message.

      Figure 263: Policies > AA Plugin Configurations — Creating a customized plugin configuration instance

      

3. Navigate to the Connection policy where you want to use the plugin (for example, to RDP Control > Connections), select the plugin configuration instance to use in the AA plugin field, then click .

4. If the plugin sets or overrides the gateway username of the connection, configure a Usermapping policy and use it in the Connection policy. For details, see "Configuring usermapping policies" in the Administration Guide.

5. Verify that the configuration works properly: try to establish a test connection. For details, see "Performing authentication with AA plugin in Remote Desktop connections" in the Administration Guide. If the plugin is configured to store any metadata about the connection, these data will be available in the Additional metadata field of the SPS Search interface.

Performing authentication with AA plugin in terminal connections

The following describes how to establish a terminal connection (SSH, TELNET, or TN3270) to a server.

To establish a terminal connection (SSH, TELNET, or TN3270) to a server

1. Connect to the server.

   To encode additional data as part of the username, you can use the @ as a field separator, for example:

   ssh token_id=id@user@server

   Replace id with your actual token ID.

2. If One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions (SPS) prompts you for further information (for example, a one-time password), enter the requested information.

3. Authenticate on the server.

4. If authentication is successful, you can access the server.

Performing authentication with AA plugin in Remote Desktop connections

The following describes how to establish a Remote Desktop (RDP) connection to a server when the AA plugin is configured.

To establish an RDP connection to a server when the AA plugin is configured

1. Open your Remote Desktop client application.

2. If you have to provide additional information to authenticate on the server, you must enter this information in your Remote Desktop client application into the User name field, before the regular content (for example, your username) of the field.

   To encode additional data, you can use the following special characters:

   • % as a field separator

   • ~ as the equal sign

   • ^ as a colon (for example, to specify the port number or an IPv6 IP address)

   For example, to add a token ID before your username, use the following format:

   domain\token_id~12345%Administrator

   Note how domain information is provided. If your server is in a domain, make sure that you specify the domain in this format: putting it in front, followed by a backslash (\).

3. Connect to the server.

4. If One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions (SPS) prompts you for further information (for example, a one-time password), enter the requested information.

5. Authenticate on the server.

6. If authentication is successful, you can access the server.