SAML Single Sign On (SSO) Into Confluence Using Shibboleth3

Confluence SAML app gives the ability to enable SAML Single Sign On for Confluence Software. Confluence Software is compatible with all SAML Identity Providers. Here we will go through a guide to configure SSO between Confluence and Shibboleth3. By the end of this guide, Shibboleth3 users should be able to login and register to Confluence Software.

Step 1: Setup Shibboleth3 as Identity Provider

  • In conf/idp.properties, uncomment and set 'idp.encryption.optional' to true.
       eg. idp.encryption.optional = true
  • In conf/metadata-providers.xml, configure Service Provider like this
    • <MetadataProvider xmlns:samlmd="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
      id="miniOrangeInLineEntity" xsi:type="InlineMetadataProvider" sortKey="1">
      <samlmd:EntityDescriptor ID="entity" entityID="<SP-EntityID / Issuer from Service Provider Info tab in plugin.>"
        validUntil="2020-09-06T04:13:32Z">
        <samlmd:SPSSODescriptor AuthnRequestsSigned="false" WantAssertionsSigned="true"
        protocolSupportEnumeration="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol">
          <samlmd:NameIDFormat>
            urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
          </samlmd:NameIDFormat>
        <samlmd:AssertionConsumerService Binding="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST"
        Location="<ACS (AssertionConsumerService) URL from Step1 of the plugin under Identity Provider Tab.>"
          index="1" />
        </samlmd:SPSSODescriptor>
        </samlmd:EntityDescriptor>
    </MetadataProvider>
  • In conf/saml-nameid.properties, uncomment and set default NameID as Email Address like this
    • idp.nameid.saml2.default=urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress
  • In conf/saml-nameid-xml, search for shibboleth.SAML2NameIDGenerators. Uncomment the shibboleth.SAML2AttributeSourcedGenerator bean and comment all other ref beans
    • <!-- SAML 2 NameID Generation -->
    <util:list id="shibboleth.SAML2NameIDGenerators">
      <!--<ref bean="shibboleth.SAML2TransientGenerator" /> -->
      <!-->ref bean="shibboleth.SAML2PersistentGenerator" /> -->
      <bean parent="shibboleth.SAML2AttributeSourcedGenerator"
      p:format="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"
      p:attributeSourceIds="#{ {'email'} }" />
    </util:list>
  • Make sure you have defined AttributeDefinition in conf/attribute-resolver.xml.
    • <!-- Note: AttributeDefinitionid must be same as what you provided in attributeSourceIds in conf/saml-nameid.xml -->
    <resolver:AttributeDefinitionxsi:type="ad:Simple" id="email" sourceAttributeID="mail">
      <resolver:Dependency ref="ldapConnector" />
      <resolver:AttributeEncoderxsi:type="enc:SAML2String" name="email" friendlyName="email" />
    </resolver:AttributeDefinition >

    <resolver:DataConnector id="ldapConnector" xsi:type="dc:LDAPDirectory" ldapURL="%{idp.authn.LDAP.ldapURL}"
      baseDN="%{idp.authn.LDAP.baseDN}" principal="%{idp.authn.LDAP.bindDN}"
      principalCredential="%{idp.authn.LDAP.bindDNCredential}">
      <dc:FilterTemplate>
        <!-- Define you User Search Filter here -->
        <![CDATA[ (&(objectclass=*)(cn=$requestContext.principalName)) ]]>
      </dc:FilterTemplate>

      <dc:ReturnAttributes>*</dc:ReturnAttributes>
    </resolver:DataConnector>
  • Make sure you have AttributeFilterPolicy defined in conf/attribute-filter.xml.
    • <afp:AttributeFilterPolicy id="ldapAttributes">
    <afp:PolicyRequirementRulexsi:type="basic:ANY"/>
      <afp:AttributeRuleattributeID="email">
        <afp:PermitValueRulexsi:type="basic:ANY"/>
      </afp:AttributeRule>
    </afp:AttributeFilterPolicy>
  • Restart the Shibboleth Server.
  • You need to configure these endpoints in the Service Provider.
    • IDP Entity ID https://<your_domain>/idp/shibboleth
    Single Login URL https://<your_domain>/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO
    Single Logout URL https://<your_domain>/idp/shibboleth
    X.509 Certificate The public key certificate of your Shibboleth server

Step 2: Setup Confluence as Service Provider

Now we will go through the steps to setup Confluence as a Service Provider using miniOrange add-on:

Confluence Flow Driven Setup (quick setup)

Flow Driven Setup

Step 1: Quick Setup

  • Select your IdP from the list and click on download. You will get redirect to Step by Step setup guide for SSO configuration. You can skip this setup too.
  • If you are unable to find your IdP in the list then please contact us.
    • confluence sso-1

Step 2: SP Info

  • This section contains Service Provider endpoints. Note down the following information. This is required for creating an application in IdP.
    • confluence sso-2

Step 3: Configure IdP

  • IdP can be configured using one of these methods.

      • miniorange img By using Metadata URL:

      • Enter IdP Name, select URL option, enter metadata URL and click on import.
        • confluence sso-3

      miniorange img By using Metadata File :

      • Enter IdP Name, select File option, upload your IdP metadata file and click on import.
        • confluence sso-3

      miniorange img Using XML/Text :

      • Enter IdP Name, select XML/Text option, insert IdP metadata in the given text field and click on import.
        • confluence sso-4

      miniorange img Manual Configuration :

      • Enter following endpoints manually.

      a. IDP Name

      b. IDP Entity ID

      c. Single Sign On URL

      d. Single Logout URL

      e. X.509 Certificate

      confluence sso-5

Step 4: User Profile

  • Enter username attribute name & email address attribute name from IDP. If you are not sure about it then keep it as it is.
    • confluence sso-6

Step 5: Finish

  • It has few instructions for further plugin configurations like configuring user attributes. eg. name, groups etc
    • confluence sso-7

Configure Single Identity Provider (IdPs)

Configure Identity Provider

Step 1. Adding IDP settings in add-on

  • If you skip Quick setup, then you can configure your IdP using one of these 3 methods.

      • miniorange img By Metadata URL:

      • Click on Import from Metadata in Configure IDP tab.
      • Select IDP: Import From Metadata URL .
      • Enter your metadata URL.
      • If your IDP changes certificates at intervals, you can select Refresh metadata periodically. Select 5 minutes for the best results.
      • Click Import.
        • confluence sso-8

      miniorange img By uploading Metadata XML file:

      • Click on Import from Metadata in Configure IDP tab.
      • Select IDP: Import from Metadata File.
      • Upload metadata file.
      • Click Import.
        • confluence sso-9

      miniorange img Manual Configuration:

      • Go to Configure IDP tab and enter the following details.

        • IDP Name

        IDP Entity ID

        Single Sign On URL

        Single Logout URL

        X.509 Certificate

        confluence sso-10

Configure Multiple Identity Providers (IdPs)

Configure Multiple Identity Providers

Step 1: Add New IdP

  • Click on Add New IdP button given in the right topmost corner. You can configure IdP using one of these 3 methods.
    • confluence sso-11

Step 2: List of IdPs

  • Once the IdP endpoints are configured successfully, you will get to see list of all the IdPs.
  • You can edit Metadata endpoints using Edit option.
  • Click on Test to check your IdP response. It shows Test successful with set of attributes you configured in your IdP. You can perform Single Sign-On once the test is successful.
  • You can remove IdP from the list using Delete option.
    • confluence sso-12

Step 3: Single Sign On

  • Select your IdP from the list. It will redirect you to selected IdP login page.
    • confluence sso-13

Step 4 : Domain Mapping

  • Enable Domain mapping using Use Domain Mapping option.
  • Enter IdP domain name.
    • Note: For this feature you have to configure domain name for each and every IDP from the list.

    confluence sso-14

Step 5: Single Sign On using Domain mapping

  • Enter user email address. It will check your domain name with the configured domain if it match then it will redirect you to the respective Identity Provider Login page.
    • confluence sso-15

Step 3: Setting up Confluence user profile attributes

    We will be setting up user profile attributes for Confluence. If your users are stored in a directory that is Read Only, please check Disable Attribute Mapping in User Profile tab and follow steps given in Matching a User.

    confluence sso-15
    a. Finding correct attributes
    • Go to Configure IDP tab. Scroll down and click on Test Configuration.
    • You will see all the values returned by your IDP to Confluence in a table. If you don’t see value for First Name, Last Name, Email or Username, make the required settings in your IDP to return this information.
    • Once you see all the values in Test Configuration, keep the window open and go to User Profile tab.
    b. Setting profile attributes
    • In this tab, fill the values by matching the name of the attribute. For instance, if the Attribute Name in the Test Configuration window is NameID, enter NameID against Username
    • Setting up both Username and Email is required if you want to let users register. If you want existing users to only login, configure the attribute using which you will match user in Confluence.
    c. Matching a User

    When user logs into Confluence, one of the user’s data/attribute coming in from the IDP is used to search the user in Confluence. This is used to detect the user in Confluence and login the user to the same account.

    • Go to User Profile tab
    • Select Username or Email for Login/Search Confluence user account by
    • Enter the attribute name from IDP which corresponds to Username or Email using Finding Correct Attributes

Step 4: Assigning groups to users

    We will be setting up user group attributes for Confluence. If your users are stored in a directory that is Read Only, please check Disable Group Mapping in User Groups tab and skip to Setting default group.

    confluence sso-16
    a. Finding Group Attribute
    • Just like we found Attribute Name for User Profile attributes, we find group attribute.
    • Go to Configure IDP tab. Scroll down and click on Test Configuration.
    • You will see all the values returned by your IDP to Confluence in a table. If you don’t see value with groups, make the required settings in your IDP to return group names.
    • Once you see all the values in Test Configuration, keep the window open and go to User Groups tab.
    • Enter the Attribute Name of group against Group Attribute
    • At the bottom of the page, all groups in Confluence are shown. You can map groups in IDP which correspond to Confluence groups. For example, if you want all users in dev-ops and dev groups in IDP to be added to crucible-users, you will need to enter dev-ops;dev against crucible-users
    • If you want user mapping to work for only limited groups in Confluence, check the option Update User Groups
    b. Setting default group
    • Select the users’ Default Group in the tab User Groups. If no group is mapped, users are added by default to this group.
    • You can enable default groups for all users or only new users using the option Enable Default Groups for.

Step 5: SSO Settings

    The settings in Sign In Settings tab define the user experience for Single Sign On
    a. Sign In Settings
      confluence sso-17
    • Set button text for button on login page using Login Button Text
    • Set redirect URL after login using Relay State. Keep this empty for coming back to the same page user started from
    • Enable Auto-redirect to IDP if you want to allow users to login only using IDP. Enable backdoor for emergency
      • confluence sso-18
    b. Sign Out Settings
    • Enter a custom logout URL to redirect your users to a pre-defined logout page
    • Set a custom logout template to show custom logout page to users on logout
      • confluence sso-19
    c. SSO Error Settings
    • Set error template to redirect users to a custom error page instead of login page. Use this if you have Auto-redirect to IDP enabled.
      • confluence sso-20
    d. Advanced Settings
    • You can extend Confluence default session timeout using these steps. By default it is set to 60 mins.
      • confluence sso-21

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