SAML Single Sign-On into Joomla using PingFederate
Overview
miniOrange Joomla SAML SP SSO plugin helps you to integrate your Joomla site to PingFederate using SAML protocol.
The miniOrange Joomla SAML SP Single Sign-on (SSO) plugin is simple to set up PingFederate SSO into Joomla
and enable secure login into Joomla. As a result, users can access multiple Joomla applications with one login after
authenticating with their PingFederate IDP credentials.
Our plugin is compatible with Joomla 3 as well as Joomla 4 with all the SAML 2.0 compliant Identity Providers. Here
we will go through a step-by-step guide to configure SAML SSO login between the Joomla site and PingFederate by
considering PingFederate as IDP (Identity Provider) & Joomla as SP (Service Provider).
Configuration Steps
In this setup, PingFederate serves as the repository for storing users i.e. it will act as the IDP while Joomla is where users will log in using their credentials from PingFederate where Joomla SAML SP SSO Plugin will be installed.
Step 1: Install Joomla SAML SP Plugin
- Login into your Joomla site’s Administrator console.
- From left toggle menu, click on System, then under Install section click on Extensions.
- Now click on Or Browse for file button to locate and install the plugin file downloaded earlier.

- Installation of plugin is successful. Now click on Get Started!

- Go to the Service Provider Metadata tab and scroll down to copy the SP-EntityID and the ACS URL.

Step 2: Configure PingFederate as IDP (Identity Provider)
- Login to your PingFederate User Admin dashboard.
- Click on the Identity Provider in the left navigation menu.
- Under SP CONNECTION, click on Create New button.

- You will get the following screen. Click on Create App Integration button.

- Select the Browser SSO Profiles connection template on the Connection Type tab and click Next.

- Select Browser SSO on the Connection Options tab and click Next.

- Select File as the method for importing metadata and click Choose file to choose the miniOrange SSO plugin’s metadata on the Import Metadata tab. Click Next.

- Review the information on the Metadata Summary tab and click Next.
- In the General Info tab ensure that the Service Provider’s Entity ID, Connection Name, and Base URL fields pre-populate based on the metadata. Click Next.
- Navigate to the Browser SSO tab and click on the Configure Browser SSO. You will be redirected to Browser SSO Setup wizard.
- Select the IdP-Initiated SSO and SP-Initiated SSO options on the SAML Profiles tab and click Next.

- Enter your desired assertion validity time from on the Assertion Lifetime tab and click Next. By default, it is configured 5 minutes for both.
- Navigate to the Assertion Creation and click on the Configure Assertion Creation. You will be redirected to the assertion creation setup wizard.
- In the Identity Mapping tab select STANDARD and click Next.
- Select a Subject Name Format for the SAML_SUBJECT on the Attribute Contract tab and click Next.
- Click Map New Adapter Instance on the Authentication Source Mapping.
- Select an Adapter Instance and click Next. The adapter must include the user’s email address.
- Select the Use only the adapter contract values in the SAML assertion option on the Mapping Method tab and click Next.
- Select your adapter instance as the Source and the email as the Value on the Attribute Contract Fulfillment tab and click Next.
- (Optional) Select any authorization conditions you would like on the Issuance Criteria tab and click Next.
- Click Done on the Summary.
- Click Next on the Authentication Source Mapping tab.
- Click Done on the Summary tab.
- Click Next on the Assertion Creation.
- Navigate to the Protocol Settings tab of the Browser SSO wizard and click on the Configure Protocol settings.
- Select POST for Binding and specify the single sign-on endpoint URL in the Endpoint URL field on the Assertion Consumer Service URL Click Next.




- Select POST on the Allowable SAML Bindings tab and click Next.
- Select your desired signature policies for assertions on the Signature Policy tab and click Next.

- Select your desired encryption policy for assertions on the Encryption Policy tab and click Next.
- Click Done on the Protocol Settings Summary tab.
- Click Done on the Browser SSO Summary.
- Navigate to the Credentials and click on the Configure Credentials. You will be redirected to the Credentials setup wizard.
- Select the Signing Certificate to use with the Single Sign-On service and select Include the certificate in the signature element in the Digital Signature Settings tab. Click Done.

- Click Done on the Summary.
- Click Next on the Credentials.
- Select Active for the Connection Status on the Activation & Summary tab and click Save.
- Now, navigate to the Ping Federate User Admin dashboard Identity Provider.
- Click Manage All under SP Connections.
- Click Export Metadata for the desired service provider connection.
- Click Export on the Export & Summary tab and click Done.
Step 3: Configure Joomla as SP (Service Provider)
In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab. There are three ways to configure the plugin:
A. By uploading IDP metadata:
- In Joomla SAML plugin, go to Service Provider Setup tab, then click on Upload IdP Metadata.

B. By Metadata URL:
- Enter Metadata URL (Copy from IDP app) and click on Fetch button.

C. Manual Configuration:
- Copy SAML Entity ID, SAML Single-Sign-On Endpoint URL and X.509 certificate from Federation Metadata document and paste it in Idp Entity ID or Issuer, Single Sign-on URL, X.509 Certificate fields respectively in the plugin.
IdP Entity ID or Issuer | SAML Entity ID in the Federation Metadata document |
Single Sign-On URL | SAML Single-Sign-On Endpoint URL in the Federation Metadata document |
X.509 Certificate Value | X.509 Certificate in the Federation Metadata document |

Step 4: Attribute Mapping - Premium Feature
- Attributes are user details that are stored in your Identity Provider.
- Attribute Mapping helps you to get user attributes from your Identity Provider (IDP) and map them to Joomla user attributes like firstname, lastname, address, phone etc.
- While auto registering the users in your Joomla site these attributes will automatically get mapped to your Joomla user details.
- Go to Attribute Mapping tab and fill in all the fields.
Username: | Name of the username attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default) |
Email: | Name of the email attribute from IdP (Keep NameID by default) |
Name: | Name of the name attribute from IdP |

- You can check the Test Configuration Results under Service Provider Setup tab to get a better idea of which values to map here.
Note: You can see how Attribute Mapping works here.
Step 5: Group Mapping - Premium Feature
- Group/Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your Identity Provider (IdP).
- While auto registering, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.

- Group/Role mapping helps you to assign specific roles to users of a certain group in your Identity Provider (IdP).
- While auto registering, the users are assigned roles based on the group they are mapped to.
Note: You can see how Group/Role Mapping works here.
Step 6: Redirection & SSO Links
- Go to Login Settings tab. You can add login Url to Perform SAML SSO in your Joomla site by following the steps below.
- There are multiple features available in this tab like Auto redirect the user to Identity Provider and Enable Backend Login for Super Users. To use these features, click on the respective checkboxes.

- Click on the Upgrade tab to check out our complete list of features and various licensing plans. OR you can click here to check features and licensing plans.
- In case, you are facing some issue or have any question in mind, you can reach out to us by sending us your query through the Support button in the plugin or by sending us a mail at joomlasupport@xecurify.com.
FAQs
More FAQs ➔My test configuration was successful but when I try to log in I am stuck
in a redirect loop.
There are a couple of reasons why this can happen:
1. Caching is enabled on the website.
When auto-redirect is enabled, the user is redirected to the IDP login page and after logging in
back to the main site but as caching is enabled it redirects to the IDP login page hence a loop.
2. HTTP/HTTPS discrepancy:
This happens when HTTPS is not enforced on the site but is configured on the IDP side with an HTTPS
URL. This can be solved by enforcing HTTPS on the site by defining a redirect rule in the .htaccess
file or at the Apache level.
3. Cookie adulteration:
The cookie created by the plugin after logging in the user is altered by another plugin which causes
the user to not log in to the Joomla site but the session is created on IDP.
Why am I getting redirected to Joomla site instead of IDP when I click on
Test Configuration?
In Joomla SAML plugin, when an extension is not enabled after installing the plugin, after clicking
on ‘Test Configuration’ it takes you to your own site instead of redirecting you to IDP. To resolve
it, you need to enable all the extensions of the plugin after installing it.
Please follow the below steps to resolve this issue:
1. In the Joomla admin interface, go to Extensions -> Manage -> Manage.
2. Search for ‘miniorange’.
3. Enable all the extensions of the plugins.
I logged in to my Identity Provider and it redirected me to Joomla site,
but I’m not logged in?
Here are some frequent errors that can occur:
INVALID_ISSUER: This means that you have NOT entered the correct Issuer or Entity ID value provided
by your Identity Provider. You’ll see in the error message what was the expected value (that you
have configured) and what actually found in the SAML Response.
INVALID_AUDIENCE: This means that you have NOT configured Audience URL in your Identity Provider
correctly. It must be set to
https://base-url-of-your-joomla-site/plugins/authentication/miniorangesaml/ in your Identity
Provider.
INVALID_DESTINATION: This means that you have NOT configured Destination URL in your Identity
Provider correctly. It must be set to
https://base-url-of-your-joomla-site/plugins/authentication/miniorangesaml/saml2/acs.php in your
Identity Provider.
INVALID_SIGNATURE: This means that the certificate you provided did not match the certificate found
in the SAML Response. Make sure you provide the same certificate that you downloaded from your IdP.
If you have your IdP’s Metadata XML file then make sure you provide certificate enclosed in X509
Certificate tag which has an attribute use=’ signing’.
INVALID_CERTIFICATE: This means that the certificate you provided is not in a proper format. Make
sure you have copied the entire certificate provided by your IdP. If copied from IdP’s Metadata XML
file, make sure that you copied the entire value.
Unable to find a certificate matching the configured fingerprint.
This is possible only when a certificate coming in SAML Response does not match with the certificate configured in the plugin. Copy the certificate value shown in the Test Configuration window and paste it in X.509 Certificate field in the Service Provider tab in the plugin.
How to export configuration in Joomla SAML?
Please follow the steps to the export configuration:
1) Go to the miniOrange SAML SP plugin and navigate to the Service Provider Setup tab.
2) Then click on the Import/Export button at the bottom of the page and then click on the Export
Configuration button.
3) Navigate to System >> Manage and search miniOrange in the search bar. Then uninstall all
miniOrange extensions.
Please follow the steps to import configuration:
1) Install the latest plugin and log in with your miniOrange credentials in the plugin.
2) Navigate to the Service Provider Setup tab and click on Import/Export button.
3) Upload the downloaded configuration file and then click on the Import Configuration button.
Why am I getting missing table error, while updating Joomla SAML
plugin?
While updating Joomla SAML Plugin, if table or column is not added to the database then you will get
a missing table error. This issue generally arises when a table or column is not added to the
database while updating the plugin.
You can reinstall the plugin to resolve this issue, please follow the below steps:
Uninstall the existing plugin (Take the backup of the existing plugin before uninstalling the
plugin)
– Go to Extensions -> Manage -> Manage
– Search for miniOrange
– Select all the extensions and click ‘Uninstall’.
Now install the plugin again and configure it.
How to resolve the Fatal error: Cannot declare class, because the name is
already in use?
A Joomla site can be either used as a Service Provider or an Identity Provider using the relevant SP
or IDP plugin. You are facing this error probably because you have installed both the plugins on the
same site.
In order to resolve this issue, please follow the below-mentioned steps:
Delete the following folders from your Joomla directory:
1. /libraries/miniorangejoomlaidpplugin
2. /libraries/miniorangesamlplugin
3. /plugins/system/samlredirect
Now you should be able to log into your Joomla site.
Remove the remaining extensions:
1. In your Joomla site administrator console, go to Extensions -> Manage -> Manage.
2. Search for ‘miniorange’
3. Select all extensions and click Uninstall
SSO not working? Are you using Admin Tools along with SAML SP plugin?
The redirection issue occurs while using the Admin Tools plugin for Joomla SAML SSO, where the Admin
Tools plugin makes changes in the .htaccess file and adds certain rules that prevent redirection
from the site.
You can solve the above issue by following the steps given below:
1. Navigate to Admin tools >> Control Panel then click on the .htaccess maker option.
2. Then disable the option ‘Protect against common file injection attacks’.
Then clear the cache for your site and test for Single Sign-On.
How to check or download SAML Request/Response using SAML Tracer
Logs?
SAML Tracer Logs:
1. Download SAML tracer add-on : Firefox: [ Link
] | Chrome:[ Link ]
2. Open the SAML tracer from the Browser toolbar.
3. Keep the SAML tracer window open.
4. Perform SSO/Test configuration and reproduce the issue.
5. Go to SAML tracer window.
6. You will get the option to Export SAML Tracer Log in a file (On top menu bar). Save the logs to a
file, choose ‘None‘ when prompted and send us this file.
I see the error “we could not sign you in, please contact your
administrator” during login.
It seems that your Identity Provider is sending an error in the SAML Response. To troubleshoot this, please go to the Service Provider Setup tab of the SAML SP Plugin. Click on the Test Configuration and review the configuration result window. Ensure that the Attribute Mapping has been done correctly and verify that the X.509 Certificate Value is accurate.