Versions Compared

Old Version 5

changes.mady.by.user Caleb Miller

Saved on

compared with

New Version 6

changes.mady.by.user Caleb Miller

Saved on

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

Note

Read this section before attempting an SSO setup. It contains important information which will help you understand the configuration you will be performing!

Understanding the Roles of Identity and Service Providers in Relation to ASM

SSO enables customers that have adopted a centralized SAML 2.0-compatible Identity Provider (IdP) to integrate this with the ASM WPM portal login and also to manage and administrate its users.

...

  • Centrify

  • Okta

  • CA SSO (formerly CA Siteminder)

  • Azure and ADFS

  • OpenAM

  • Symantec/Broadcom VIP Access Manager

Understanding SP-initiated Authentication vs. IdP-initiated Authentication

In order to correctly set up/define RelayState, you must first determine which kind of authentication flow you need. There is a difference between a Service Provider (SP)-Initiated authentication and an Identity Provider (IdP)-Initiated authentication flow.

SP-Initiated authentication flow

  • In this first case, the SP-Initiated authentication flow is when you type the Service Provider URL and it redirects to the IdP. This is considered a common setup, where Apica is sending the request to the IDP for authentication.

    • The RelayState here is a token/value.

...

  • Therefore, in this case, the IdP knows who is initiating the (SAML) authentication flow.

    • This is important because the IdP can serve more than one SP, so the IdP knows who is sending the request: We do not need to modify the URL to tell the IDP who we are.

    • So, the RelayState is a token/value that gets relayed (without modification/inspection) between Apica (the SP) and the IdP.

IdP-Initiated authentication flow

  • In this second case, the IdP-Initiated authentication flow is when you type the IdP URL into a browser (a browser is a User-Agent) and therefore the IdP does not know who is sending the SAMLRequest.

    • In this case, you’d need to authenticate to the IdP and attempt to access an SP asset via the IdP. A set of predetermined, additional, attributes associated with the authenticated user would be populated in the SAML response back/POSTed to the SP.

    • An IdP-Initiated authentication flow uses RelayState to signal to the SP what URL the SP should POST/Redirect to after successful sign-on.

      • The SAML 2.0 Standard, states that RelayState “MAY be the URL of a resource at the service provider.”

    • So, in this IdP-initiated SSO case, the RelayState field in the SAML post from the browser is empty/absent but used by the IdP for the URL redirect for the POST for the SP.

Panel
panelIconId1f510
panelIcon:closed_lock_with_key:
panelIconText🔐
bgColor#DEEBFF

An Apica example is where you would do a Single Sign-On, SAML 2.0, Login from your IdP (e.g. Okta, Centrify, Azure AD., etc.) and, from there, click on a link to ASM. The IdP would send the browser acustomerName and RelayState attribute in the SAML response, which will redirect the user to the dashboard.

Understanding SP-initiated Authentication as it Relates to Apica SSO Login

The following diagram explains the roles of the Service Provider, User Agent, and Identity Provider in the SSO login process as it relates to ASM when SP-initiated authentication is used

...

Step

Technical Detail

  1. Request the target resource at the Service Provider (SP).

    1. In this case, the address in the User Agent/Browser is the login page at https://wpm.apicasystem.com/ and the Service Provider is the ASM service

User-Agent/Browser: “I want to log in/get access to an ASM resource using my SSO.”

The principal (via an HTTP user agent, the browser) requests a target resource at the service provider:

Code Block
 https://sp.example.com/myresource

The service provider performs a security check on behalf of the target resource. If a valid security context at the service provider already exists, skip steps 2–7.

The service provider may use any kind of mechanism to discover the identity provider that will be used, e.g., ask the user, use a preconfigured IdP, etc.

  1. The service provider (ASM) returns a redirect to the browser with a SAML request).

The UA/Browser follows the redirect to the IdP (e.g. Centrify, Okta, CA Siteminder, Azure, ADFS, etc.)

ASM: “Please check with your Identity Provider.”

The service provider generates an appropriate SAMLRequest (and RelayState, if any), then redirects the browser to the IdP SSO Service using a standard HTTP 302 redirect.

Code Block
302 Redirect
Location: https://idp.example.org/SAML2/SSO/Redirect?SAMLRequest=request&RelayState=token

The RelayState token is an opaque reference to state information maintained at the service provider. The value of the SAMLRequest parameter is a deflated, base64-encoded and URL-encoded value of an <samlp:AuthnRequest> element:

Code Block
  <samlp:AuthnRequest
    xmlns:samlp="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol"
    xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
    ID="identifier_1"
    Version="2.0"
    IssueInstant="2004-12-05T09:21:59Z"
    AssertionConsumerServiceIndex="0">
    <saml:Issuer>https://sp.example.com/SAML2</saml:Issuer>
    <samlp:NameIDPolicy
      AllowCreate="true"
      Format="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:transient"/>
  </samlp:AuthnRequest>

The SAMLRequest may be signed using the SP signing key. Typically, however, this is not necessary.

  1. The UA/browser requests the SSO Service at the IdP.

UA/Browser to IdP: “Here’s my SSO request to gain access to a ASM resource (login/asset).”

The IdP authenticates the user.

The user agent issues a GET request to the SSO service at the identity provider:

Code Block
GET /SAML2/SSO/Redirect?SAMLRequest=request&RelayState=token HTTP/1.1
Host: idp.example.org

where the values of the SAMLRequest and RelayState parameters are the same as those provided in the redirect. The SSO Service at the identity provider processes the <samlp:AuthnRequest> element (by URL-decoding, base64-decoding and inflating the request, in that order) and performs a security check. If the user does not have a valid security context, the identity provider identifies the user with any mechanism.

  1. IdP responds with an XHTML form.

The identity provider returns an authentication form most commonly a login page but could utilize a 2-factor authentication.

IdP to UA/Browser: “Here are your authorization details in this form.”

The SSO Service validates the request and responds with a document containing an XHTML form:

Code Block
  <form method="post" action="https://sp.example.com/SAML2/SSO/POST" ...>
    <input type="hidden" name="SAMLResponse" value="response" />
    <input type="hidden" name="RelayState" value="token" />
    ...
    <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
  </form>

The value of the RelayState parameter has been preserved from step 3. The value of the SAMLResponse parameter is the base64 encoding of the following <samlp:Response> element:

Code Block
  <samlp:Response
    xmlns:samlp="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol"
    xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
    ID="identifier_2"
    InResponseTo="identifier_1"
    Version="2.0"
    IssueInstant="2004-12-05T09:22:05Z"
    Destination="https://sp.example.com/SAML2/SSO/POST">
    <saml:Issuer>https://idp.example.org/SAML2</saml:Issuer>
    <samlp:Status>
      <samlp:StatusCode
        Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/>
    </samlp:Status>
    <saml:Assertion
      xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
      ID="identifier_3"
      Version="2.0"
      IssueInstant="2004-12-05T09:22:05Z">
      <saml:Issuer>https://idp.example.org/SAML2</saml:Issuer>
      <!-- a POSTed assertion MUST be signed -->
      <ds:Signature
        xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">...</ds:Signature>
      <saml:Subject>
        <saml:NameID
          Format="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:transient">
          3f7b3dcf-1674-4ecd-92c8-1544f346baf8
        </saml:NameID>
        <saml:SubjectConfirmation
          Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer">
          <saml:SubjectConfirmationData
            InResponseTo="identifier_1"
            Recipient="https://sp.example.com/SAML2/SSO/POST"
            NotOnOrAfter="2004-12-05T09:27:05Z"/>
        </saml:SubjectConfirmation>
      </saml:Subject>
      <saml:Conditions
        NotBefore="2004-12-05T09:17:05Z"
        NotOnOrAfter="2004-12-05T09:27:05Z">
        <saml:AudienceRestriction>
          <saml:Audience>https://sp.example.com/SAML2</saml:Audience>
        </saml:AudienceRestriction>
      </saml:Conditions>
      <saml:AuthnStatement
        AuthnInstant="2004-12-05T09:22:00Z"
        SessionIndex="identifier_3">
        <saml:AuthnContext>
          <saml:AuthnContextClassRef>
            urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport
         </saml:AuthnContextClassRef>
        </saml:AuthnContext>
      </saml:AuthnStatement>
    </saml:Assertion>
  </samlp:Response>

  1. UA/Browser requests the Assertion Consumer Service at the SP/ASM.

UA/Browser to ASM: “Here’s my IdP information that grants me this set of privileges/rights.”

The user agent issues a POST request to the Assertion Consumer Service at the service provider:

Code Block
POST /SAML2/SSO/POST HTTP/1.1
Host: sp.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: nnn
 
SAMLResponse=response&RelayState=token

where the values of the SAMLResponse and RelayState parameters are taken from the XHTML form at step 4.

  1. ASM redirects the response to the target resource

ASM: “Thank you. With those privileges, please request that resource again with your access rights.”

The assertion consumer service processes the response, creates a security context at the service provider and redirects the user agent to the target resource.

  1. UA/Browser requests the target resource at the ASM again

UA/Browser: “Please login/get an ASM Asset/Resource with these rights.”

The user agent requests the target resource at the service provider (again):

Code Block
 https://sp.example.com/myresource

  1. ASM responds with the requested resource to the UA/Browser which is a redirect to the target landing page within Apica WPM. i.e. Apica WPM returns the landing page.

ASM: “You are cleared/logged in/able to get the resource you requested. Here’s your content.”

Since a security context exists, the service provider returns the resource to the user agent.

Understanding Single-Sign-On Flow

When Single sign-on is used, the user primarily interacts with Synthetic Monitoring, and is redirected as needed to the Identity Provider configured for their Customer account.

...

  1. The user directs the browser to to ASM.

  2. The browser accesses the ASM SSO login.

  3. ASM returns a Identity Provider redirect with a SAML request.

  4. The browser contacts the Identity Provider.

  5. The identity provider returns an authentication form.

  6. The form is shown to the user.

  7. The user submits the form.

  8. The identity provider authenticates the user.

  9. The identity store provides the user authentication.

  10. The identity provider returns a a SAML response including the user attributes and roles.

  11. The browser sends SAML response to ASM for validation.

  12. ASM returns a redirect to the landing page.

  13. The browser requests the landing page.

  14. ASM returns the landing page.

Setting up SSO From Within Apica

Info

Before you begin, make sure you meet the following prerequisites:

  1. SSO must be enabled by Apica for your Customer Account. Apica will perform this step for you.

  2. SSO must be configured for your user account. This step must be performed by your organization.

The workflow to get SSO working in Synthetic Monitoring consists of two major steps:

1: Set up the Identity Provider - setting up users and user roles in the identity provider

2: Configure Synthetic Monitoring - setting up connection and mapping user roles between the systems

Note

In the security model deployed to the Apica WPM API, there is a static access token issued per user. SSO users will not have access to this static token because it could be used to authenticate and access the API after a user's access has been revoked within the IdP. Therefore, SSO users can only utilize their API tokens while logged in and for 15 minutes after they have logged out. As such, it is generally beneficial to create a static user whose API key you can use for static automations.

Step 1: Set Up Identity Provider

For information about how to set up accounts in your Identity Provider, see that provider's documentation. You will need some information about the SAML setup for the Synthetic Monitoring configuration.

Step 2: Configure ASM to Utilize SSO

After the Identity Provider and Service Provider has been setup the Administrators will need to map the user roles in the Identity Provider with the available Roles (Synthetic Monitoring User).

All available user roles in ASM can be mapped to any user role that the customer might have within their Identity Provider.

Step 2a: Navigate to Single Sign On Page

The Single Sign-On view allows you to enable and configure settings for Single Sign-On. First, navigate to the “Settings” page from the dropdown under your username in the top right of the ASM screen:

...

Next, click the “Single Sign-On (SAML 2.0)” button to access the Single Sign-On Configuration Page.

...

Note

The “Single Sign-On (SAML 2.0)” button is only available to users with the Customer Admin role!

...

Step 2b: Configure Details in Single Sign-on (SAML 2.0) Page

The SSO view contains all settings needed to connect a user account with a SAML provider account. Configure this page with IdP-specific details as instructed in the following screenshot:

...

Step 3: Log in to ASM Using SSO

Step

Screenshot

Open the Apica Synthetic Monitoring login page

Click Sign In using SSO

Image Added

The SSO login dialog is shown.

  • Enter your Customer name

  • Click Continue

Image Added

If you have not Enabled your Customer Account for SSO, you will get a error to contact your Account Administrator. If you are unsure how to proceed at this point, contact support.

Image Added