Moodle plugins directory: SAML2 Single sign on | Moodle.org
SAML2 Single sign on
Brendan Heywood, 
Rossco HellmansWhat is this?
This plugin does authentication, user auto creation with field mapping.
Why is it better?
- 100% configured in the Moodle GUI - no installation of a whole separate app, and no touching of config files or generating certificates.
- Minimal configuration needed, in most cases just copy the IdP metadata in and then give the SP metadata to your IdP admin and that's it.
- Fast! - 3 redirects instead of 7
- Supports back channel Single Logout which most big organisations require (unlike OneLogin)
How does it work?
It completely embeds a SimpleSamlPHP instance as an internal dependancy which is dynamically configured the way it should be and inherits almost all of it's configuration from Moodle configuration. In the future we should be able to swap to a different internal SAML implementation and the plugin GUI shouldn't need to change at all.
Features
- Dual login VS forced login for all as an option, with ?saml=off on the login page for manual accounts, and ?saml=on supported everywhere to deep link and force login via saml if dual auth is on.
- SAML attributes to Moodle user field mapping
- Automatic certificate creation
- Optionally auto create users
Features not yet implemented:
- Enrolment - this should be an enrol plugin and not in an auth plugin
- Role mapping - not yet implemented
Installation
1) Install the plugin the same as any standard moodle plugin either via the Moodle plugin directory, or you can use git to clone it into your source:
git clone git@github.com:catalyst/moodle-auth_saml2.git auth/saml2
2) Then run the Moodle upgrade 3) If your IdP has a publicly available XML descriptor, copy this url into the SAML2 auth config settings page 4) If your IdP requires whitelisting each SP then in the settings page is links to download the XML, or you can provide that url to your IdP administrator.
For most simple setups this is enough to get authentication working, there are many more settings to define how to handle new accounts, dual authentication, and to easily debug the plugin if things are not working.
If you have issues please log them in github here:
https://github.com/catalyst/moodle-auth_saml2/issues
Or if you want paid support please contact Catalyst IT Australia:
https://www.catalyst-au.net/contact-us
Testing
This plugin has been tested against:
- SimpleSamlPHP set up as an IdP
- openidp.feide.no
- testshib.org
- An AAF instance of Shibboleth
Other SAML plugins
The diversity and variable quality and features of SAML Moodle plugins is a reflection of a great need for a solid SAML plugin, but the neglect to do it properly in core. SAML2 is by far the most robust and supported protocol across the internet and should be fully integrated into moodle core as both a Service Provider and as an Identity Provider, and without any external dependencies to manage.
Here is a quick run down of the alternatives:
Core:
- /auth/shibboleth - This requires a separately installed and configured Shibbolleth install
One big issue with this, and the category below, is as there is a whole extra application between moodle and the IdP, so the login and logout processes have more latency due to extra redirects. Latency on potentially slow mobile networks is by far the biggest bottle neck for login speed and the biggest complaint by end users in our experience.
Plugins that require SimpleSamlPHP
These are all forks of each other, and unfortunately have diverged quite early or have no common git history making it difficult to cross port features or fixes between them.
Plugins which embed a SAML client lib:
These are generally much easier to manage and configure as they are standalone.
https://moodle.org/plugins/view/auth_onelogin_saml - This one uses it's own embedded saml library which is great and promising, however it doesn't support 'back channel logout' which is critical for security in any large organisation.
This plugin, with an embedded and dynamically configured SimpleSamlPHP instance under the hood
Warm thanks
Thanks to the various authors and contributors to the other plugins above.
Thanks to LaTrobe university in Melbourne for sponsoring the initial creation of this plugin:
Thanks to Centre de gestion informatique de l’éducation in Luxembourg for sponsoring the user autocreation and field mapping work:
This plugin was developed by Catalyst IT Australia:
Screenshots
Contributors
Thanks again Brendan and Daniel!
Any ideas? The previous version of SAML worked for me.
We are slowly rolling out the update into our Moodle instances, so far I have not encountered this problem. Something that has come up is related to the settings when updating from a version for Moodle 32 or older, please see if this is related.
A few settings in the plugin could be potentially lost, or not applied properly. You mentioned before that you could not apply the metadata as an URL, has it been fixed for you now?
As we unified the plugin for all Moodle versions, there were a few inconsistencies such as default values and setting names being different. I found and raised a few of them, but there could be more.
My suggestion is to check again if the plugin settings are correct after the update. If you still have problems and have a test site where you can tweak the plugin config database (check for auth/saml2 and auth_saml2 -- there should be no more settings with slashes only underscore). Another suggestion is to clean sitedata/saml2 folder and recreate the metadata and certificates, if you find something on those areas that is related to the problem please let me know so I can investigate further.
Thanks for reporting, let me know if any of that helps.
I reproduced that bug, created https://github.com/catalyst/moodle-auth_saml2/issues/195 if you want to follow once we have a solution.
Cheers,
Daniel
1, We did an upgrade from Moodle 3.1 to 3.4, so yes this problem could be related to a pre-3.2 installation
2. The URL can still not be put in the first field, I need to copy and paste the XML there
3. I had a tech-guy from our organisation look at it. He commented this routine out in /auth/saml2/extlib/simplesamlphp/modules/saml/lib/Messages.php
/*
// get the NameIDPolicy to apply. IdP metadata has precedence.
$nameIdPolicy = array();
if ($idpMetadata->hasValue('NameIDPolicy')) {
$nameIdPolicy = $idpMetadata->getValue('NameIDPolicy');
} elseif ($spMetadata->hasValue('NameIDPolicy')) {
$nameIdPolicy = $spMetadata->getValue('NameIDPolicy');
}
if (!is_array($nameIdPolicy)) {
// handle old configurations where 'NameIDPolicy' was used to specify just the format
$nameIdPolicy = array('Format' => $nameIdPolicy);
}
$nameIdPolicy_cf = SimpleSAML_Configuration::loadFromArray($nameIdPolicy);
$policy = array(
'Format' => $nameIdPolicy_cf->getString('Format', \SAML2\Constants::NAMEID_TRANSIENT),
'AllowCreate' => $nameIdPolicy_cf->getBoolean('AllowCreate', true),
);
$spNameQualifier = $nameIdPolicy_cf->getString('SPNameQualifier', false);
if ($spNameQualifier !== false) {
$policy['SPNameQualifier'] = $spNameQualifier;
}
$ar->setNameIdPolicy($policy);
*/
Now everything works fine again. However, afterwards I have seen there are different routines in different versions for the above. One of them actually honours the 'NameIDPolicy' => null setting and skips the above routine when this is set.
So I don't know exactly what's going on... maybe you do?
I already removed the "regenerate certificate" part and now I am looking into the upgrade script to see how can I automate that, but at least the workaround seems to be working fine (save again the configuration).
I've read earlier comments that this plugin does not support an IDP initiated process but there may be an opportunity to sponsor this feature being built. We currently have a requirement for this and it is something we would be interested in sponsoring. I can see from your website there are various offices over the world so who would be best to contact regarding this? We are a UK based company.
Cheers
My idp has a certificate through letsencrypt.
I got my idp metadata xml to the plugin and when trying to test a login i recieve the following error
Exception: Failure Signing Data: error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line - 1
sorry in advance if this doesn't fit here, I'm not sure if this is something related to the plugin or to my simplesamlphp configuration
But now i have another issue which i'm pretty sure is related to the plugin, after authenticating through my idp which is successful i'm redirected to moodle to the profile edit page (i checked "auto create users"), but i am not able to add any details and save them because i keep getting thrown back into the login page after pressing the save button.
I've checked the database and in the "password" column for this newly created user it says "not cached", isn't the password supposed to get updated in moodle from the idp?
Regarding not being able to save the profile fields -- if you are still having problems -- I'd suggest opening an issue at: https://github.com/catalyst/moodle-auth_saml2/issues
Remember you can also map the user fields from you IDP so they are filled in Moodle automatically.
The password should not be saved inside Moodle as the authentication is done by the IdP, Moodle does not need to know the user's password.
Cheers,
Daniel
I just wanted to know whether it is possible to get the password from Active Directory?
If yes, can we update it in MOODLE similar to other data mapping fields?
Reference site: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/active-directory-token-and-claims
Required claim rule to get the user account password: http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/authenticationmethod/password
Looking forward for your valuable suggestion.
Regards
Razzak
I have problems when using SAML2 authentication on mobile device. The mobile app (Moodle official app) does not redirect me to my college SSO page. The access through desktop or mobile web browser is work well!!!!
And I tried another saml auth plugin (but they have another problem so I don't want to choose it) and it can successfully redirect me to SSO in Moodle official mobile app.
If I make any mistakes on the setting?
Thanks.
Harold
0 [builtin] (N/A)
Caused by: Exception: Unable to validate signature on query string.
Backtrace:
Again only uninstalling your plugin and reinstalling it fix it. It doesn't this time. Do have any suggestions here?