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Set Up OpenID Generic Provider for Authentication

Instructions on how to connect an OIDC-compliant Identity Provider to Authorization Control Plane.

About OIDC Connector

OIDC is an interoperable authentication protocol based on the OAuth 2.0 family of specifications. All OIDC-compliant Identity Providers can be connected to SecureAuth for user authentication purposes, in accordance with the Bring Your Own Identity philosophy that SecureAuth follows. For more information about OIDC itself, you can read the OIDC specification.

Some IDPs, such as Okta, have their own dedicated connection templates in SecureAuth, which you're strongly recommended to use whenever possible. Use the generic OIDC connector only to bind OIDC-compliant IDPs which do not have a dedicated connection template in SecureAuth.

The generic OIDC connector can be used, for example, to connect bank IDPs which require Private Key JWT authentication.

Prerequisites

  • Your IDP must implement the OIDC specification.

  • You must have an OAuth application registered with your IDP.

    1. Create an OAuth application with your IDP. Follow the IDP documentation for help.

      Redirect URL for your application

      When prompted for the redirect URL, use the Redirect URL from SecureAuth as explained in step 2 under Connect IDP . Use this Redirect URL in your application configuration.

    2. Configure your application to

      • Use the authorization code grant flow

      • Request the following scopes: openid, email, and profile.

Connect IDP

  1. In your workspace, go to Authentication > Providers > Create Connection.

    Result: A list of identity provider templates is displayed.

  2. Select the OpenID Connect template and click Next.

    Result: The Register OpenID Connect form opens. You can now use the redirect URL to complet registering an OAuth application with your IDP.

  3. In the Register OpenID Connect form, enter the Issuer URL, Client ID, and client authentication data.

    Parameter

    Description

    Issuer URL

    URL where SecureAuth can find the OpenID configuration of the IDP. Use the bare URL of the issuer, for example https://accounts.google.com. Do not append /.well-known/openid-configuration.

    Client ID

    Client ID of the OAuth application registered with your IDP

    Authentication method

    Select how your IDP client application should authenticate with SecureAuth. In case of Financial-grade IDPs (for example bank IDPs), Private Key JWT authentication is required.

    Client secret

    If your IDP client uses the Client Secret flow to authenticate with SecureAuth, add the secret of your OAuth application registered with your IDP. You need to get the secret on the IDP side - check the vendor documentation for details.

    Client private key

    If your IDP client authenticates with a private key JWT, enter the client private key. You need to get the private key on the IDP side - check the vendor documentation for details.

  4. Optionally, enable Authentication context caching.

    Tip

    You can enable the authentication context caching if you wish to store the user's authentication context locally. If you do, specify the cache Time To Live as well. Learn more by reading Stateful authorization with SecureAuth.

  5. Select Save.

    Result: Your new IDP connection is created. Users can now authenticate via the OIDC-compliant IDP.

Configure Advanced Settings

To configure your new IDP advanced settings

  1. From the Authentication > Providers > YOUR_IDENTITY_PROVIDER > Configuration page, select Advanced settings at the bottom.

  2. In the Scopes field, add scopes to be returned in the IDP response after user authentication.

    Note

    Since multiple clients can use the same IDP for user authentication, you may need to further restrict specific client's ability to request a given scope. For more information, read about Configuring applications in SecureAuth.

  3. In the Authentication Method Reference you can select an authentication method to be written into the amr object returned by the IDP. The amr object is written if it doesn't exist. If it exists, its values are replaced with the selected item.

  4. Optionally, enable the Get user info option.

    Note

    If you enable the Get user info option, the connector calls the OIDC userinfo endpoint to retrieve additional user attributes.

  5. Select Save.

Add custom OIDC IDP attributes

If your IDP returns custom claims outside of the standard OIDC scope, make sure to add them to the IDP connector so that they can be recognized and mapped to the authentication context. Some IDPs (for example Cognito) may require you to set custom attribute permissions first.

  1. Go to Authentication > Providers and select an IDP from the list.

  2. Open the Attributes page. A standard list of OIDC attributes returned by this IDP appears.

  3. Select Add attribute.

  4. In Source, select the data source for the custom attribute

    Source

    Description

    Access token

    Get data from the access token received from the IDP

    ID token

    Get data from the ID token received from the IDP

    User info

    Get data data returned by the OIDC user info endpoint (note that this must be explicitly enabled on the IDP connector)

  5. Fill in the rest of the form.

    Option

    Description

    Claim name

    Name of your custom attribute matching the incoming IDP claim

    Display name

    User-friendly name for the custom attribute

    Data type

    Data type matching that of the incoming IDP claim

    Claim names with a . character

    If the incoming attribute has a . character in the name, the dot must be explicitly escaped using \. when defining the IDP attribute. For example, claim name https://example.com/groups must be entered as https://example\.com/groups.

  6. Save your changes and proceed to mapping the attributes to the authentication context.

Map IDP Attributes to Authentication Context

If you've added custom attributes for an IDP, you need to make sure they are mapped to the SecureAuth authentication context. You can do it either from the IDP configuration page (as explained here) or use Data Lineage instead.

Default OIDC/SAML attributes are mapped out of the box.

  1. Go to Authentication > Providers and select an IDP from the list.

  2. Open the Mappings page. A standard attribute mapping for this IDP appears.

  3. Select Add mapping and map any custom IDP attributes to an existing authentication context attribute.

    Note

    If you need to create new authentication context attributes, read the Managing Authentication Context.

  4. Optionally, you can enrich authentication context before issuing the token to the client. Attributes returned by the script do not need to be separately mapped to the authentication context.

  5. Save your changes. Your mapped custom attributes should now be shared in the ID token issued to your client application, given that the target application requests them (you can check this in Data Lineage).

Connect Extensions to your IDP

  1. Go to Authentication > Providers > YOUR_IDP > Extensions.

  2. Assign a Post Authentication script to the IDP. This script will be executed upon user authentication via this IDP.

  3. Connect your application to the IDP in the Post Authentication application field. Users will be redirected to this application upon authentication via this IDP.

    Note

    Post Authentication applications must be explicitly enabled in your tenant using the custom_apps feature flag.

Test IDP

Prerequisite

Your provider is configured as a user-authentication method by your administrator. Demo workspace is available.

Test

  1. Open the user portal.

  2. Select LOGIN TO DEMO APP.

  3. Select your configured IDP and, next, authenticate in IDP.

    Result: SecureAuth displays the consent page that lists data scopes to be shared with the application. When you proceed to the application (ALLOW ACCESS), the PII data coming from IDP is delivered through the access token and the ID token generated by SecureAuth.

    token_issued.png

Note

For information on granting and managing SecureAuth consents, see Consents.

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