Configure Auth0 as a SAML Service Provider

Learn how to configure Auth0 to serve as a service provider in a SAML federation.

To configure Auth0 as the service provider (SP) in a SAML federation, you will need to create an Enterprise connection in Auth0 and then update your SAML identity provider (IdP) with the connection’s metadata.

Auth0 supports using Auth0 as the SP in configurations that conform to the SAML 1.1 or SAML 2.0 protocol.

Get metadata and certificate from the IdP

You’ll need to collect some configuration metadata from the IdP to create a connection in Auth0:

Field	Description
Sign In URL	The URL where SAML authentication requests are sent. This is also called the single sign-on (SSO) endpoint.
Sign Out URL	The URL where SAML logout requests are sent. This is also called the single logout (SLO) endpoint.
X509 Signing Certificate	The public-key certificate required by the SP to validate the signature of the authentication assertions that have been digitally signed by the IdP. Auth0 accepts the .pem and .cer formats.

Create SAML Enterprise connection in Auth0

You can create a SAML Enterprise connection in the Auth0 Dashboard or with the Auth0 Management API:

Dashboard

1. Go to Dashboard > Authentication > Enterprise and select SAML.
2. Select Create Connection.
3. Configure the following settings:

Setting	Description
Connection Name	Enter a connection name such as SAML-SP.
Sign In URL	Enter the Sign In URL that you obtained from the IdP.
X509 Signing Certificate	Upload the X509 Signing Certificate file (in .pem or .cer format) that you obtained from the IdP.
Enable Sign Out	Enable the Sign Out URL field.
Sign Out URL	Enter the Sign Out URL obtained from the IdP.
User ID Attribute	Enter the attribute in the SAML token that will be mapped to the user_id property in Auth0. If not set, then the user_id will be retrieved from the following (in listed order): http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/upn http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name
Debug Mode	Enable Debug Mode for more verbose logging.
Sign Request	Enable signed SAML authentication requests.
Sign Request Algorithm	From the dropdown menu, select the hash algorithm to use.
Sign Request Algorithm Digest	From the dropdown menu, select the algorithm to use to check the validity of the assertion.
Protocol Binding	From the dropdown menu, select one of the following options: HTTP-Redirect: Enables messages to be transmitted within URL parameters. HTTP-POST: Enables messages to be transmitted within an HTML form.
Sync user profile attributes at each login	Enable syncing user profile attributes during each login.

4. Select Create.

Management API

The Auth0 Management API Create a Connection endpoint supports the following properties on the options object when creating a SAML connection:

Field	Type	Required?	Description
signInEndpoint	String	Required	The Sign In URL of the IdP.
signingCert	String	Required	Contents of the X509 signing certificate (in .pem or .cer format) encoded in Base64.
debug	Boolean	Optional	Toggles Debug Mode, which includes more verbose logging during the authentication process. Set to false for connections used in production environments.
destinationUrl	String	Optional	The URL where Auth0 will send SAML authentication requests. Only required when using a proxy gateway.
digestAlgorithm	String	Optional	The algorithm used to encrypt the digest element of authentication requests. Accepted values are sha256 and sha1.
disableSignout	Boolean	Optional	Toggles the Sign Out URL. If false, you must provide a Sign Out URL to accept logout requests. If true, logout requests will be sent to the Sign In URL.
fieldsMap	Object	Optional	Contains attribute mappings to be applied to the authentication responses from the IdP. For example: "email": "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier".
idpinitiated	Object	Optional	Contains options for IdP-Initiated SSO: enabled: Boolean. Toggles IdP-Initiated SSO. client_id: String. The client ID of the default application. client_protocol: String. The response protocol used to communicate with the default application. Accepted values are oauth2, samlp, and wsfed. client_authorizequery: String. The query string sent to the default application.
protocolBinding	String	Optional	The protocol binding used for authentication requests. Accepted values are: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-Redirect urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST
recipientUrl	String	Optional	The URL where the IdP will send SAML authentication responses. Only required when using a proxy gateway.
signatureAlgorithm	String	Optional	The algorithm used to sign authentication requests. Accepted values are rsa-sha256 and rsa-sha1.
signSAMLRequest	Boolean	Optional	Toggles the signing of authentication requests sent by Auth0.
user_id_attribute	String	Optional	The name of the attribute in the authentication responses to map to the User ID property. This field will supersede any mappings for the user_id property in the fieldsMap object.

Example request

{
	"strategy": "samlp",
	"name": "example-samlp-connection",
	"options": {
		"signingCert": "{X509_CERTIFICATE_IN_BASE64}",
		"signInEndpoint": "https://example.com/samlp/login",
		"disableSignout": false,
		"signOutEndpoint": "https://example.com/samlp/logout",
		"fieldsMap": {
			"email": "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier",
			"user_id": [
				"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress",
				"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/upn",
				"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name"
			],
			"given_name": "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier",
			"address_name": "http://schemas.auth0.com/address_name",
			"address_street_address": "http://schemas.auth0.com/address_street_address"
		},
		"user_id_attribute": "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier",
		"idpinitiated": {
			"enabled": true,
			"client_id": "{DEFAULT_APPLICATION_CLIENT_ID}",
			"client_protocol": "oauth2",
			"client_authorizequery": "response_type=code&scope=openid email profile"
		},
		"signSAMLRequest": true,
		"signatureAlgorithm": "rsa-sha256",
		"digestAlgorithm": "sha256",
		"protocolBinding": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-Redirect",
		"debug": true
	}
}

Configure SAML connection for proxy gateways

If you have Auth0 behind a proxy gateway, you’ll need to configure the SAML connection’s destinationUrl and recipientUrl fields accordingly.

1. Get your SAML connection’s current configuration with the Management API Get a connection endpoint.
2. Copy the value of the options object from the returned response.
3. Add the following fields to the options object:

Field	Type	Value
destinationUrl	String	URL of the proxy gateway.
recipientUrl	String	URL of the proxy gateway.

4. Call the Management API Update a connection endpoint with the entire updated options object in the request body.

Customize the request template

When Auth0 sends the authentication request to the IdP, the request body contains an AuthnRequest object. You can customize the template used for this object:

1. Go to Dashboard > Authentication > Enterprise > SAML, and select your connection.
2. Switch to the Settings view, and locate the Request Template field.
3. Modify the template.
4. Select Save Changes.

Template variables

Variables can be placed into the AuthnRequest template using the @@VariableName@@ syntax. The following variables are available:

Name	Description
AssertionConsumerServiceURL	The URL where the IdP sends the response after the user signs in. Include the ProtocolBinding attribute in the request template if you use this.
Connection.<options-key>	Use dot notation on the Connection key to access any of the connection’s options values as returned from the Auth0 Management API’s Get a Connection endpoint. For example, if the connection has options.some_property: "value", then you can use @@Connection.some_property@@ in the template.
Destination	The URL where Auth0 sends the request. This should be the Sign In URL configured for the connection.
ID	The transaction ID.
IssueInstant	The transaction date timestamp.
Issuer	The entity ID of the SP in urn format. For example, urn:auth0:<YOUR_AUTH0_TENANT_NAME>:<YOUR_AUTH0_CONNECTION_NAME>.
LoginHint	The username or email of the user logging in. If you are using Identifier First Authentication, Auth0 can send this value to the IdP to pre-populate it in the IdP’s login form.
ProtocolBinding	The protocol binding type.
ProviderName	The name of the application that initiated the request. This always returns the Auth0 tenant name.
AssertServiceURLAndDestination	Deprecated. For new configurations, use AssertionConsumerServiceURL and Destination instead.

Configure the IdP

Go to SAML Identity Provider Configuration Settings to find the metadata you’ll need to provide to the IdP.

Auth0 supports all SAML IdPs that conform to the SAML 1.1 or SAML 2.0 protocol. We have detailed instructions for configuring specific providers below.

Test connection

To test your connection in the Dashboard:

1. Go to Dashboard > Authentication > Enterprise > SAML.
2. Locate the connection you created, select the … (three dots) menu icon, and select Try.
3. A Universal Login Page will appear and prompt you to enter credentials.
4. Enter the email address of a user who exists in the IdP. If you configured Home Realm Discovery, make sure you enter an email address that uses one of the specified domains.
5. After you are redirected to the login screen for the IdP, log in as you normally would.
6. You will be redirected to a page on Auth0 that displays the contents of the authentication assertion sent to Auth0 from the IdP.

Troubleshoot connection

If your connection is not working as expected, try the following steps:

• Clear your browser history, cookies, and cache before each test. If you do not, the browser may not pick up the latest configuration information, or it may have stale cookies that affect execution.
• Ensure that your browser allows cookies and has JavaScript enabled.
• Capture a HAR file of the transaction, and then use the Auth0 SAML Tool to decode the SAML assertion and inspect its contents.