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Log in with Shibboleth

This source lets users authenticate with their Shibboleth credentials by configuring Shibboleth as a federated identity provider with SAML.

Preparation​

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

  • authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.
  • shibboleth.company is the FQDN of the Shibboleth IdP installation.
  • shibboleth-slug is the slug to assign to the SAML source in authentik (for example, shibboleth).

authentik configuration​

To integrate Shibboleth with authentik, create a SAML source in authentik.

Create a SAML source in authentik​

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.

  2. Navigate to Directory > Federation and Social login and click New Source.

  3. Select SAML Source and configure the following settings:

    • Set Name to Shibboleth.

    • Set Slug to shibboleth (this sets the slug used in Shibboleth's metadata URL).

    • Set SSO URL to https://shibboleth.company/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO.

    • Set Binding Type to Redirect.

    • Set Issuer override to https://authentik.company/source/saml/<shibboleth-slug>/metadata/ (optional; the source defaults to this value).

    • Set NameID Policy to Transient.

      Temporary user accounts

      Shibboleth supports the Transient NameID by default. With this format, authentik creates a temporary account and deletes it when the user logs out of authentik. If the user does not log out, periodic cleanup deletes the account after it expires, even if its session is still active. Delete temporary users after sets the lifetime from account creation and defaults to days=1.

      For users who need to keep the same authentik account across logins, configure Shibboleth to issue persistent NameIDs and select Persistent instead. Changing only authentik's policy does not override the NameID format sent by Shibboleth. See Transient users and account lifetime for details.

    • Set Signing keypair to an authentik certificate (e.g., the default authentik Self-signed Certificate).

    • Set Encryption Certificate to an authentik certificate (e.g., the default authentik Self-signed Certificate).

  4. Click Finish.

Display new source on login screen

For instructions on how to display the new source on the authentik login page, refer to the Add sources to default login page documentation.

Embed new source in flow Enterprise

For instructions on embedding the new source within a flow, such as an authorization flow, refer to the Source Stage documentation.

Shibboleth configuration​

To integrate Shibboleth with authentik, add authentik as a service provider in your Shibboleth IdP.

Add authentik as a service provider​

  1. Edit /opt/shibboleth-idp/conf/metadata-providers.xml on the Shibboleth IdP server.
  2. Add the following MetadataProvider element before the final closing tag of the existing MetadataProvider block:
<MetadataProvider id="Authentik"
                  xsi:type="FileBackedHTTPMetadataProvider"
                  backingFile="%{idp.home}/metadata/authentik-metadata.xml"
                  metadataURL="https://authentik.company/source/saml/<shibboleth-slug>/metadata/" />
  1. Restart the Shibboleth IdP to apply the changes.

Source property mappings​

Source property mappings allow you to modify or gather extra information from sources. See the overview for more information.

Resources​