SAML2 Services

SAML relying parties and services must be registered within the CAS service registry similar to the following example:

{
  "@class" : "org.apereo.cas.support.saml.services.SamlRegisteredService",
  "serviceId" : "the-entity-id-of-the-sp",
  "name" : "SAMLService",
  "id" : 10000003,
  "evaluationOrder" : 10,
  "metadataLocation" : "https://url/to/metadata.xml"
}

Entity ID Patterns

The serviceId field here should represent the entity id of the SAML2 service provider in form of a proper regular expression, allowing you to authorize and register multiple SAML2 service providers in your metadata file, if necessary. Remember to escape all the right characters when you build the expression pattern.

The following fields are available for SAML services:

Field	Description
`metadataLocation`	Location of service metadata defined from system files, classpath, directories or URL resources.
`metadataProxyLocation`	Proxy endpoint (`https://proxy-address:8901`) to fetch service metadata from URL resources.
`metadataSignatureLocation`	Location of the metadata signing certificate/public key to validate the metadata which must be defined from system files or classpath. If defined, will enforce the `SignatureValidationFilter` validation filter on metadata.
`metadataExpirationDuration`	If defined, will expire metadata in the cache after the indicated duration which will force CAS to retrieve and resolve the metadata again. Default is `60` minutes.
`requireSignedRoot`	Whether the metadata root element is required to be signed. Default is `true`.
`signUnsolicitedAuthnRequest`	When dealing with Unsolicited SSO, determine whether the authentication request should be forcefully signed.
`signAssertions`	Whether assertions should be signed. Default is `FALSE`. Accepted values are `TRUE`, `FALSE`, `UNDEFINED`. When set to `UNDEFINED`, CAS will respect the `WantAssertionsSigned` flag in the SAML service provider metadata.
`signResponses`	Whether responses should be signed. Default is `true`.
`encryptionOptional`	Encrypt whenever possible (i.e a compatible key is found in the peer’s metadata) or skip encryption otherwise. Default is `false`.
`encryptAssertions`	Whether assertions should be encrypted. Default is `false`.
`encryptAttributes`	Whether assertion attributes should be encrypted. Default is `false`.
`encryptableAttributes`	Set of attributes nominated for encryption, disqualifying others absent in this collection. Default (i.e. `*`) is to encrypt all once `encryptAttributes` is true.
`requiredAuthenticationContextClass`	If defined, will specify the SAML authentication context class in the final response. If undefined, the authentication class will either be `urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:unspecified` or `urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport` depending on the SAML authentication request. The value may be specified as a path to an external Groovy script.
`requiredNameIdFormat`	If defined, will force the indicated Name ID format in the final SAML response.
`skewAllowance`	If defined, indicates number of seconds used to skew authentication dates such as valid-from and valid-until elements, etc.
`metadataCriteriaPattern`	If defined, will force an entity id filter on the metadata aggregate based on the `PredicateFilter` to include/exclude specific entity ids based on a valid regex pattern.
`metadataCriteriaDirection`	If defined, will force the `PredicateFilter` to either include or remove entities from the resolved metadata. Allowed values are `INCLUDE`,`EXCLUDE`.
`metadataCriteriaRoles`	If defined, will allow the defined metadata roles (i.e. `SPSSODescriptor`, `IDPSSODescriptor`). Default is `SPSSODescriptor`.
`metadataCriteriaRemoveEmptyEntitiesDescriptors`	Controls whether to keep entities descriptors that contain no entity descriptors. Default is `true`.
`metadataCriteriaRemoveRolelessEntityDescriptors`	Controls whether to keep entity descriptors that contain no roles. Default is `true`.
`attributeNameFormats`	Map that defines attribute name formats for a given attribute name to be encoded in the SAML response.
`attributeFriendlyNames`	Map that defines attribute friendly names for a given attribute name to be encoded in the SAML response.
`attributeValueTypes`	Map that defines the type of attribute values for a given attribute name.
`nameIdQualifier`	If defined, will overwrite the `NameQualifier` attribute of the produced subject’s name id. Use `none` to skip.
`logoutResponseBinding`	If defined, will overwrite the binding used to prepare logout responses for the service provider.
`logoutResponseEnabled`	Control whether SAML2 logout responses should be generated and sent for this SAML2 service provider.
`signLogoutResponse`	Control whether SAML2 logout responses should be signed.
`issuerEntityId`	If defined, will override the issue value with the given identity provider entity id. This may be useful in cases where CAS needs to maintain multiple identity provider entity ids.
`assertionAudiences`	Comma-separated list of audience urls to include in the assertion. Will override the entity id.
`subjectLocality`	If defined, will overwrite the `SubjectLocality` attribute of the SAML2 authentication statement.
`serviceProviderNameIdQualifier`	If defined, will overwrite the `SPNameQualifier` attribute of the produced subject’s name id. Use `none` to skip.
`skipValidatingAuthnRequest`	Skip validating the SAML2 authentication request and its signature in particular. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingAssertionNameId`	Whether generation of a name identifier should be skipped for assertions. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingTransientNameId`	Whether transient name identifier generation should be skipped. Default is `false`.
`isSkipGeneratingResponseInResponseTo`	Whether generation of the `InResponseTo` element should be skipped for responses. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationInResponseTo`	Whether generation of the `InResponseTo` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationNotOnOrAfter`	Whether generation of the `NotOnOrBefore` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationAddress`	Whether generation of the `Address` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationRecipient`	Whether generation of the `Recipient` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationNotBefore`	Whether generation of the `NotBefore` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `true`.
`skipGeneratingSubjectConfirmationNameId`	Whether generation of the `NameID` element should be skipped for subject confirmations. Default is `true`.
`skipGeneratingServiceProviderNameIdQualifier`	Whether generation of the `SPNameQualifier` element should be skipped. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingAuthenticatingAuthority`	Whether generation of the `AuthenticatingAuthorities` element should be skipped. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingNameIdQualifier`	Whether generation of the `NameIdQualifier` element should be skipped. Default is `false`.
`skipGeneratingSessionNotOnOrAfter`	Whether generation of the `SessionNotOnOrAfter` element should be skipped. Default is `false`.
`signingCredentialFingerprint`	`SHA-1` digest of the signing credential’s public key, parsed as a regular expression, used for the purposes of key rotation when dealing with multiple credentials.
`signingCredentialType`	Acceptable values are `BASIC` and `X509`. This setting controls the type of the signature block produced in the final SAML response for this application. The latter, being the default, encodes the signature in `PEM` format inside a `X509Data` block while the former encodes the signature based on the resolved public key under a `DEREncodedKeyValue` block.
`signingSignatureReferenceDigestMethods`	Collection of signing signature reference digest methods, if any, to override the global defaults.
`signingKeyAlgorithm`	Signing key algorithm to forcibly use for signing operations when loading the private key. Default is `RSA`.
`signingSignatureAlgorithms`	Collection of signing signature algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`signingSignatureBlackListedAlgorithms`	Collection of rejected signing signature algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`signingSignatureWhiteListedAlgorithms`	Collection of allowed signing signature algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`signingSignatureCanonicalizationAlgorithm`	The signing signature canonicalization algorithm, if any, to override the global defaults.
`encryptionDataAlgorithms`	Collection of encryption data algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`encryptionKeyAlgorithms`	Collection of encryption key transport algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`encryptionBlackListedAlgorithms`	Collection of rejected encryption algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`encryptionWhiteListedAlgorithms`	Collection of allowed encryption algorithms, if any, to override the global defaults.
`whiteListBlackListPrecedence`	Preference value indicating which should take precedence when both whitelist and blacklist are non-empty. Accepted values are `INCLUDE` or `EXCLUDE`. Default is `INCLUDE`.

Keep What You Need!

You are encouraged to only keep and maintain properties and settings needed for a particular integration. It is UNNECESSARY to grab a copy of all service fields and try to configure them yet again based on their default. While you may wish to keep a copy as a reference, this strategy would ultimately lead to poor upgrades increasing chances of breaking changes and a messy deployment at that.

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

_{The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.}

_{The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This
flag indicates that the presence of the setting
is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or
the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your
configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.}

cas.authn.saml-idp.services.defaults=

Control the default, initial values for fields that are part of a SAML service definition. This is defined as a map where the key is the field name (i.e. signAssertions) and the value should be the default value. If a service definition explicitly defines a value for a field, that value will take over and the default defined here will be ignored. If a service definition does not define a value for a field and no defaults are specified for that field, then the default value that is directly assigned to the field in the body of the service definition will take over.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.saml.idp.SamlIdPServicesProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.authn.saml-idp.services.defaults=...

This is the most common form of property configuration that is recognized by CAS, regardless of the actual property source, which might in fact be managed separately outside the CAS environment, by another system or cloud framework.

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  authn: 
    saml-idp: 
      services: 
        defaults: "..."

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.authn.saml-idp.services.defaults="..." -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory. Note the placement of the system property which must be specified before the CAS web application is launched.

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_AUTHN_SAML_IDP_SERVICES_DEFAULTS="..."

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.authn.saml-idp.services.defaults="..."

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

Configuration Metadata

The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

Be Selective

This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

YAGNI

Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

Naming Convention

Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

Note

Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

Validation

Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

Indexed Settings

CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

Service Provider Integrations

A number of SAML2 service provider integrations are provided natively by CAS. To learn more, please review this guide.

Service Provider Metadata

SAML2 service provider metadata can be registered with and managed by CAS in several ways. To learn more, please review this guide.