SAML v2

Overview

This API has been available since 1.6.0

SAML v2 identity providers connect to external SAML v2 login systems. This type of login will optionally provide a Login with … button on FusionAuth’s login page. This button is customizable by using different properties of the identity provider.

Optionally, this identity provider can define one or more domains it is associated with. This is useful for allowing employees to log in with their corporate credentials. As long as the company has an identity solution that provides SAML v2, you can leverage this feature. This is referred to as a Domain Based Identity Provider. If you enable domains for an identity provider, the Login with … button will not be displayed. Instead, only the email form field will be displayed initially on the FusionAuth login page. Once the user types in their email address, FusionAuth will determine if the user is logging in locally or if they should be redirected to this identity provider. This is determined by extracting the domain from their email address and comparing it to the domains associated with the identity provider.

FusionAuth will locate the user’s email address in the SAML assertion which will be used to create or lookup the existing user. Additional claims from the SAML response can be used to reconcile the User to FusionAuth by using a SAML v2 Reconcile Lambda. Unless you assign a reconcile lambda to this provider, on the email address will be used from the available assertions returned by the SAML v2 identity provider.

Integration Details

The following values will likely be required by your SAML v2 Identity Provider in order to trust FusionAuth as a relying party.

These values are autogenerated and viewable within the UI after creating the Identity Provider. They can be viewed by navigating to Settings -> Identity Providers -> SAMLv2 -> View .

<base_url> is the URL for your FusionAuth instance, something like https://login.piedpiper.com.

<identityProviderId> is the Id of the Identity Provider, and will be a valid UUID.

<applicationId> is the id of the application that is the target of the login, and will be a valid UUID.

For an SP-initiated configuration:

Callback URL (ACS): <base_url>/samlv2/acs

For an IdP-initiated configuration (per application):

Callback URL (ACS): <base_url>/samlv2/acs/<identityProviderId>/<applicationId>

Issuer: <base_url>/samlv2/sp/<identityProviderId>

Metadata URL: <base_url>/samlv2/sp/metadata/<identityProviderId>

Note: To receive a refresh token when completing the OAuth2 workflow when using an IdP initiated login, ensure you request the offline_access scope. To request a scope, add the following query parameter to your configured ACS in your IdP, ?scope=offline_access. When logging into the FusionAuth admin UI, this step is optional as the offline_access scope will be implicitly added.

Create a SAML v2 Identity Provider

Request

Create a SAML v2 Identity Provider using a randomly generated Id

POST /api/identity-provider

Create a SAML v2 Identity Provider with the provided unique id

POST /api/identity-provider/{identityProviderId}

The type property in the request JSON indicates you are managing a SAML v2 identity provider.

Request Parameters

identityProviderIdUUIDDefaults to secure random UUID

The Id to use for the new Identity Provider. If an id is not provided, a secure random UUID is generated.

Request Body

identityProvider.applicationConfigurationMap<UUID, Object>

The configuration for each Application that the identity provider is enabled for.

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].buttonImageURLString

This is an optional Application specific override for the top level buttonImageURL .

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].buttonTextString

This is an optional Application specific override for the top level buttonText .

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].createRegistrationBooleanDefaults to true

Determines if a UserRegistration is created for the User automatically or not. If a user doesn’t exist in FusionAuth and logs in through an identity provider, this boolean controls whether or not FusionAuth creates a registration for the User in the Application they are logging into.

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].enabledBooleanDefaults to false

Determines if this identity provider is enabled for the Application specified by the applicationId key.

identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.alternatesArrayAvailable since 1.43.0

The array of URLs that FusionAuth will accept as SAML login destinations if the identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.policy setting is AllowAlternates.

identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.policyStringDefaults to EnabledAvailable since 1.43.0

The policy to use when performing a destination assertion on the SAML login request.

The possible values are:

Enabled - Verifies the Destination attribute in the SAML response is equal to the expected Destination which is the FusionAuth ACS (Assertion Consumer Service) URL. This is the default and the recommended setting.
Disabled - Do not validate the Destination attribute. This is not recommended, please use with caution.
AllowAlternates - Verifies the Destination attribute is either the expected FusionAuth ACS, or one of the configured alternate values. This option is intended to assist with migrations from third-party IdPs and should be used with caution.

identityProvider.assertionDecryptionConfiguration.enabledBooleanDefaults to falseAvailable since 1.55.1

Determines if FusionAuth requires encrypted assertions in SAML responses from the identity provider.

When true, SAML responses from the identity provider containing unencrypted assertions will be rejected by FusionAuth.

identityProvider.assertionDecryptionConfiguration.keyTransportDecryptionKeyIdUUIDAvailable since 1.55.1

The Id of the key stored in Key Master that is used to decrypt the symmetric key on the SAML response sent to FusionAuth from the identity provider. The selected Key must contain an RSA private key.

Required when identityProvider.assertionDecryptionConfiguration.enabled is true.

identityProvider.buttonImageURLString

The top-level button image (URL) to use on the FusionAuth login page for this Identity Provider.

identityProvider.buttonTextStringrequired

The top-level button text to use on the FusionAuth login page for this Identity Provider.

identityProvider.debugBooleanDefaults to falseAvailable since 1.7.3

Determines if debug is enabled for this provider. When enabled, an Event Log is created each time this provider is invoked to reconcile a login.

This is useful for debugging purposes, but is not intended to be left on during production. It should be enabled during integration or if you are experiencing an issue with this identity provider.

identityProvider.domainsArray<String>

This is an optional list of domains that this SAML v2 provider should be used for. This converts the FusionAuth login form to a domain-based login form. This type of form first asks the user for their email. FusionAuth then uses their email to determine if an identity provider should be used. If an identity provider should be used, the browser is redirected to the login URL of that identity provider. Otherwise, the password field is revealed on the form so that the user can login using FusionAuth.

identityProvider.emailClaimString

The name of the email claim (attribute in the Assertion element) in the SAML response that FusionAuth uses to uniquely identity the user.

Required when identityProvider.useNameIdForEmail is false.

identityProvider.enabledBooleanDefaults to false

Determines if this provider is enabled. If it is false then it will be disabled globally.

identityProvider.idpEndpointStringrequired

The SAML v2 login page of the identity provider. Must be a valid URL.

identityProvider.idpInitiatedConfiguration.enabledBooleanDefaults to falseAvailable since 1.43.0

Determines if FusionAuth will accept IdP initiated login requests from this SAMLv2 Identity Provider. A valid license is required to use this feature.

In general FusionAuth does not recommend you utilize this type of login due to the inherent risks of accepting an unsolicited authentication response from a third-party identity provider.

In a service provider initiated login, the SAML Authentication Response is returned to the service provider (FusionAuth) in response to an authentication request. This means FusionAuth can validate certain parameters and only accept a response for a request that FusionAuth initiated. In contrast, during an identity provider initiated login, the third-party identity provider sends FusionAuth a SAML Authentication Response indicating a user has been authenticated without any context. The problem is that FusionAuth did not initiate this so it is unexpected, and this limits what can be verified and requires FusionAuth to allow a cross site request from this third party.

If you must enable this feature to support a legacy integration or because the user experience is of the highest concern, then you may proceed.

identityProvider.idpInitiatedConfiguration.issuerStringAvailable since 1.43.0

The EntityId (unique identifier) of the SAML v2 identity provider. This value should be provided to you.

Required when identityProvider.idpInitiatedConfiguration.enabled is true.

identityProvider.keyIdUUIDrequired

The Id of the key stored in Key Master that is used to verify the SAML response sent back to FusionAuth from the identity provider. This key must be a verification only key or certificate (meaning that it only has a public key component).

identityProvider.lambdaConfiguration.reconcileIdUUID

The Id of a SAML reconcile lambda that is applied when the identity provider sends back a successful SAML response.

The specified Lambda Id must be of type SAMLv2Reconcile.

identityProvider.linkingStrategyStringDefaults to LinkByEmailAvailable since 1.28.0

The linking strategy to use when creating the link between the SAML v2 Identity Provider and the user.

The possible values are:

CreatePendingLink - Do not automatically link, instead return a pending link identifier that can be used to link to an existing user.
Disabled - Disables linking automatically. You must use the API to create links. Available since 1.37.0
LinkAnonymously - Always create a link based upon the unique Id returned by the identify provider. A username or email is not required and will not be used to link the user. A reconcile lambda will not be used in this configuration.
LinkByEmail - Link to an existing user based upon email. A user will be created with the email returned by the identity provider if one does not already exist.
LinkByEmailForExistingUser - Only link to an existing user based upon email. A user will not be created if one does not already exist with email returned by the identity provider.
LinkByUsername - Link to an existing user based upon username. A user will be created with the username returned by the identity provider if one does not already exist.
LinkByUsernameForExistingUser - Only link to an existing user based upon username. A user will not be created if one does not already exist with username returned by the identity provider.

identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.enabledBooleanDefaults to trueAvailable since 1.43.0

When enabled and HTTP-Redirect bindings are used, FusionAuth will provide the username or email address when available to the IdP as a login hint using the configured parameter name set by the identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.parameterName to initiate the AuthN request.

identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.parameterNameStringDefaults to login_hintAvailable since 1.43.0

The name of the parameter used to pass the username or email as login hint to the IDP when enabled, and HTTP redirect bindings are used to initiate the AuthN request.

Required when identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.enabled is true.

identityProvider.nameStringrequired

The name of this SAML v2 identity provider. This is only used for display purposes. Must be unique across all identity providers.

identityProvider.nameIdFormatStringrequired

The Name Id is used to facilitate communication about a user between a Service Provider (SP) and Identity Provider (IdP). The SP can specify the preferred format in the AuthN request regarding a user. The identity Provider will attempt to honor this format in the AuthN response. When this parameter is omitted a default value of urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent will be used.

identityProvider.postRequestBooleanAvailable since 1.20.0

When true the authentication request will use the HTTP POST binding with the identity provider instead of the default Redirect binding which uses the HTTP GET method.

identityProvider.requestSigningKeyIdUUIDAvailable since 1.20.0

The key pair Id to use to sign the SAML request.

Required when identityProvider.signRequest is true.

identityProvider.signRequestBooleanAvailable since 1.20.0

When true authentication requests sent to the identity provider will be signed.

identityProvider.tenantConfigurationMap<UUID, Object>Available since 1.32.0

The configuration for each Tenant that limits the number of links a user may have for a particular identity provider.

identityProvider.tenantConfiguration[tenantId].limitUserLinkCountObjectAvailable since 1.32.0

The policy that governs identity provider links on a Tenant.

identityProvider.tenantConfiguration[tenantId].limitUserLinkCount.enabledBooleanDefaults to falseAvailable since 1.32.0

When enabled, the number of identity provider links a user may create is enforced by maximumLinks .

identityProvider.tenantConfiguration[tenantId].limitUserLinkCount.maximumLinksIntegerDefaults to 42Available since 1.32.0

The maximum number of links that a user can have for a particular identity provider. This configuration is specific to this IdP. So a user can have more links than this number, but for this particular IdP, the number of links will be limited and enforced.

identityProvider.typeStringrequired

This field must be set to SAMLv2.

identityProvider.uniqueIdClaimString

The name of the unique claim in the SAML response that FusionAuth uses to uniquely link the user. If this is not set, the emailClaim will be used when linking user.

identityProvider.useNameIdForEmailBoolean

Whether or not FusionAuth will use the NameID element value as the email address of the user for reconciliation processing. If this is set to false, then the emailClaim property must be set.

identityProvider.usernameClaimString

The name of the claim in the SAML response that FusionAuth uses to identity the username. If this is not set, the NameId value will be used to link a user. This property is required when identityProvider.linkingStrategy is set to LinkByUsername or LinkByUsernameForExistingUser

identityProvider.xmlSignatureC14nMethodStringAvailable since 1.20.0

The XML signature canonicalization method used when digesting and signing the SAML request.

Required when identityProvider.signRequest and identityProvider.postRequest are true.

The possible values are:

exclusive: The URI for this method is http://www.w3.org/2001/10/xml-exc-c14n#
exclusive_with_comments: The URI for this method is http://www.w3.org/2001/10/xml-exc-c14n#WithComments
inclusive: The URI for this method is http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-c14n-20010315
inclusive_with_comments: The URI for this method is http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xml-c14n-20010315#WithComments

Example SAML v2 Request JSON

{
  "identityProvider": {
    "applicationConfiguration": {
      "2c73b816-f48c-4c36-964b-40589a9ae629": {
        "buttonText": "Login with SAML (app text)",
        "createRegistration": true,
        "enabled": true
      }
    },
    "assertionConfiguration": {
      "destination": {
        "alternates": [],
        "policy": "Enabled"
      }
    },
    "assertionDecryptionConfiguration": {
      "enabled": true,
      "keyTransportDecryptionKeyId": "ce0ca33d-3555-4b89-9777-0ef1276f7b26"
    },
    "buttonText": "Login with SAML",
    "debug": false,
    "emailClaim": "email",
    "enabled": true,
    "idpEndpoint": "https://www.example.com/login",
    "idpInitiatedConfiguration": {
      "enabled": false,
      "issuer": "https://www.example.com"
    },
    "keyId": "a60f46c9-5d8e-48af-ac23-dbaa00579c57",
    "lambdaConfiguration": {
      "reconcileId": "0bf07e2d-08fa-4d56-8f63-9f9d40ee7fd5"
    },
    "linkingStrategy": "LinkByEmail",
    "loginHintConfiguration": {
      "enabled": true,
      "parameterName": "login_hint"
    },
    "name": "My SAML provider",
    "nameIdFormat": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent",
    "postRequest": true,
    "requestSigningKeyId": "3168129b-91fa-46f4-9676-947f5509fdce",
    "signRequest": true,
    "tenantConfiguration": {
      "e872a880-b14f-6d62-c312-cb40f22af465": {
        "limitUserLinkCount": {
          "enabled": false,
          "maximumLinks": 42
        }
      }
    },
    "type": "SAMLv2",
    "xmlSignatureC14nMethod": "exclusive",
    "uniqueIdClaim": "userId",
    "useNameIdForEmail": true,
    "usernameClaim": "username"
  }
}

Response

Response Codes

Code	Description
200	The request was successful. The response will contain a JSON body.
400	The request was invalid and/or malformed. The response will contain an Errors JSON Object with the specific errors. This status will also be returned if a paid FusionAuth license is required and is not present.
401	You did not supply a valid Authorization header. The header was omitted or your API key was not valid. The response will be empty. See Authentication.
500	There was an internal error. A stack trace is provided and logged in the FusionAuth log files. The response will be empty.

Response Body

identityProvider.applicationConfigurationMap<UUID, Object>

The configuration for each Application that the identity provider is enabled for.

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].buttonImageURLString

This is an optional Application specific override for the top level button image URL.

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].buttonTextString

This is an optional Application specific override for the top level button text.

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].createRegistrationBoolean

identityProvider.applicationConfiguration[applicationId].enabledBoolean

Determines if this identity provider is enabled for the Application specified by the applicationId key.

identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.alternatesArrayAvailable since 1.43.0

The array of URLs that FusionAuth will accept as SAML login destinations if the identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.policy setting is AllowAlternates.

identityProvider.assertionConfiguration.destination.policyStringAvailable since 1.43.0

The policy to use when performing a destination assertion on the SAML login request.

The possible values are:

Enabled - Verifies the Destination attribute in the SAML response is equal to the expected Destination which is the FusionAuth ACS (Assertion Consumer Service) URL. This is the default and the recommended setting.
Disabled - Do not validate the Destination attribute. This is not recommended, please use with caution.
AllowAlternates - Verifies the Destination attribute is either the expected FusionAuth ACS, or one of the configured alternate values. This option is intended to assist with migrations from third-party IdPs and should be used with caution.

identityProvider.assertionDecryptionConfiguration.enabledBooleanAvailable since 1.55.1

Determines if FusionAuth requires encrypted assertions in SAML responses from the identity provider.

When true, SAML responses from the identity provider containing unencrypted assertions will be rejected by FusionAuth.

identityProvider.assertionDecryptionConfiguration.keyTransportDecryptionKeyIdUUIDAvailable since 1.55.1

The Id of the key stored in Key Master that is used to decrypt the symmetric key on the SAML response sent back to FusionAuth from the identity provider. The selected Key must contain an RSA private key.

identityProvider.buttonImageURLString

The top-level button image (URL) to use on the FusionAuth login page for this Identity Provider.

identityProvider.buttonTextString

The top-level button text to use on the FusionAuth login page for this Identity Provider.

identityProvider.debugBoolean

Determines if debug is enabled for this provider. When enabled, each time this provider is invoked to reconcile a login an Event Log will be created.

identityProvider.domainsArray<String>

identityProvider.emailClaimString

The name of the email claim (attribute in the Assertion element) in the SAML response that FusionAuth uses to uniquely identity the user.

identityProvider.enabledBoolean

Determines if this provider is enabled. If it is false then it will be disabled globally.

identityProvider.idUUID

The Id of the provider.

identityProvider.idpEndpointString

The SAML v2 login page of the identity provider.

identityProvider.idpInitiatedConfiguration.enabledBooleanAvailable since 1.43.0

Determines if FusionAuth will accept IDP-initiated login requests from this SAMLv2 Identity Provider. A valid license is required to use this feature.

identityProvider.idpInitiatedConfiguration.issuerStringAvailable since 1.43.0

The EntityId (unique identifier) of the SAML v2 identity provider. This value should be provided to you.

identityProvider.insertInstantLong

The instant that the provider was added to the FusionAuth database.

identityProvider.lastUpdateInstantLong

The instant that the provider was updated in the FusionAuth database.

identityProvider.keyIdUUID

The Id of the key stored in KeyMaster that is used to verify the SAML response sent back to FusionAuth from the identity provider. This key must be a verification only key or certificate (meaning that it only has a public key component).

identityProvider.lambdaConfiguration.reconcileId

The Id of a SAML reconcile lambda that is applied when the identity provider sends back a successful SAML response.

identityProvider.linkingStrategyStringDefaults to LinkByEmailAvailable since 1.28.0

The linking strategy to use when creating the link between the SAML v2 Identity Provider and the user.

The possible values are:

CreatePendingLink - Create pending link.
Disabled - Disables linking automatically. Available since 1.37.0
LinkAnonymously - Anonymous Link.
LinkByEmail - Link on email. Create the user if they do not exist.
LinkByEmailForExistingUser - Link on email. Do not create the user if they do not exist.
LinkByUsername - Link on username. Create the user if they do not exist.
LinkByUsernameForExistingUser - Link on username. Do not create the user if they do not exist.

identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.enabledBooleanAvailable since 1.43.0

identityProvider.loginHintConfiguration.parameterNameStringAvailable since 1.43.0

The name of the parameter used to pass the username or email as login hint to the IDP when enabled, and HTTP redirect bindings are used to initiate the AuthN request.

identityProvider.nameString

The name of this SAML v2 identity provider. This is only used for display purposes.

identityProvider.nameIdFormatString