Configure SAML Authentication

Obtain the certificates that the IdP and firewall will use to sign SAML messages.
If the certificates don’t specify key usage attributes, all usages are allowed by default, including signing messages. In this case, you can Obtain Certificates by any method.
If the certificates do specify key usage attributes, one of the attributes must be Digital Signature, which is not available on certificates that you generate on the firewall or Panorama. In this case, you must import the certificates:
Certificate the firewall uses to sign SAML messages
—Import the certificate from your enterprise certificate authority (CA) or a third-party CA.
Certificate the IdP uses to sign SAML messages
(
Required for all deployments
)—Import a metadata file containing the certificate from the IdP (see the next step). The IdP certificate is limited to the following algorithms:
Public key algorithms
—RSA (1,024 bits or larger) and ECDSA (all sizes). A firewall in FIPS/CC mode supports RSA (2,048 bits or larger) and ECDSA (all sizes).
Signature algorithms
—SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, and SHA512. A firewall in FIPS/CC mode supports SHA256, SHA384, and SHA512.
Add a SAML IdP server profile.
The server profile registers the IdP with the firewall and defines how they connect.
In this example, you import a SAML metadata file from the IdP so that the firewall can automatically create a server profile and populate the connection, registration, and IdP certificate information.
If the IdP doesn’t provide a metadata file, select
Device
Server Profiles
SAML Identity Provider
,
Add
the server profile, and manually enter the information (consult your IdP administrator for the values).
Export the SAML metadata file from the IdP to a client system from which you can upload the metadata to the firewall.
The certificate specified in the file must meet the requirements listed in the preceding step. Refer to your IdP documentation for instructions on exporting the file.
Select
Device
Server Profiles
SAML Identity Provider
or
Panorama
Server Profiles
SAML Identity Provider
on Panorama™ and
Import
the metadata file onto the firewall.
Enter a
Profile Name
to identify the server profile.
Browse
to the
Identity Provider Metadata
file.
Select
Validate Identity Provider Certificate
(default) to validate the chain of trust and optionally the revocation status of the IdP certificate.
To enable this option, a Certificate Authority (CA) must issue your IdP’s signing certificate. You must create a Certificate Profile that has the CA that issued the IdP’s signing certificate. In the Authentication Profile, select the SAML Server profile and Certificate Profile to validate the IdP certificate.
If your IdP signing certificate is a self-signed certificate, there is no chain of trust; as a result, you cannot enable this option. The firewall always validates the signature of the SAML Responses or Assertions against the Identity Provider certificate that you configure whether or not you enable the
Validate Identity Provider Certificate
option. If your IdP provides a self-signed certificate, ensure that you are using PAN-OS 9.1.3 or a later 9.1 version to mitigate exposure to CVE-2020-2021.
Validate the certificate to ensure it hasn’t been compromised and to improve security.
Enter the
Maximum Clock Skew
, which is the allowed difference in seconds between the system times of the IdP and the firewall at the moment when the firewall validates IdP messages (default is 60; range is 1 to 900). If the difference exceeds this value, authentication fails.
Click
OK
to save the server profile.
Click the server profile Name to display the profile settings. Verify that the imported information is correct and edit it if necessary.
Whether you import the IdP metadata or manually enter the IdP information, always ensure that the signing certificate of your SAML identity provider is the
Identity Provider Certificate
for your server profile and your IdP sends signed SAML Responses, Assertions, or both.
Configure an authentication profile.
The profile defines authentication settings that are common to a set of users.
Select
Device
Authentication Profile
and
Add
a profile.
Enter a
Name
to identify the profile.
Set the
Type
to
SAML
.
Select the
IdP Server Profile
you configured.
Select the
Certificate for Signing Requests
.
The firewall uses this certificate to sign messages it sends to the IdP. You can import a certificate generated by your enterprise CA or you can generate a certificate using the root CA that was generated on the firewall or Panorama.
(
Optional
)
Enable Single Logout
(disabled by default).
Select the
Certificate Profile
that the firewall will use to validate the
Identity Provider Certificate
.
Enter the
Username Attribute
that IdP messages use to identify users (default
username
).
When you predefine dynamic administrator roles for users, use lower-case to specify the role (for example, enter
superreader
, not
SuperReader
). If you manage administrator authorization in the IdP identity store, specify the
Admin Role Attribute
and
Access Domain Attribute
also.
Select
Advanced
and
Add
the users and user groups that are allowed to authenticate with this authentication profile.
Click
OK
to save the authentication profile.
Assign the authentication profile to firewall applications that require authentication.
Assign the authentication profile to:
Administrator accounts that you manage locally on the firewall. In this example, Configure a Firewall Administrator Account before you verify the SAML configuration later in this procedure.
Administrator accounts that you manage externally in the IdP identity store. Select
Device
Setup
Management
, edit the Authentication Settings, and select the
Authentication Profile
you configured.
Authentication policy rules that secure the services and applications that end users access through Captive Portal. See Configure Authentication Policy.
GlobalProtect portals and gateways that end users access.
Commit
your changes.
The firewall validates the
Identity Provider Certificate
that you assigned to the SAML IdP server profile.
Create a SAML metadata file to register the firewall application (management access, Captive Portal, or GlobalProtect) on the IdP.
Select
Device
Authentication Profile
and, in the Authentication column for the authentication profile you configured, click
Metadata
.
In the
Commands
drop-down, select the application you want to register:
management
(default)—Administrative access to the web interface.
captive-portal
—End user access to services and applications through Captive Portal.
global-protect
—End user access to services and applications through GlobalProtect.
(
Captive Portal or GlobalProtect only
) for the
Vsysname Combo
, select the virtual system in which the Captive Portal settings or GlobalProtect portal are defined.
Enter the interface, IP address, or hostname based on the application you will register:
management
—For the
Management Choice
, select
Interface
(default) and select an interface that is enabled for management access to the web interface. The default selection is the IP address of the MGT interface.
captive-portal
—For the
IP Hostname
, enter the IP address or hostname of the
Redirect Host
(see
Device
User Identification
Captive Portal Settings
).
global-protect
—For the
IP Hostname
, enter the hostname or IP address of the GlobalProtect portal or gateway.
Click
OK
and save the metadata file to your client system.
Import the metadata file into the IdP server to register the firewall application. Refer to your IdP documentation for instructions.
Verify that users can authenticate using SAML SSO.
For example, to verify that SAML is working for access to the web interface using a local administrator account:
Go to the URL of the firewall web interface.
Click
Use Single Sign-On
.
Enter the username of the administrator.
Click
Continue
.
The firewall redirects you to authenticate to the IdP, which displays a login page. For example:

Log in using your SSO username and password.
After you successfully authenticate on the IdP, it redirects you back to the firewall, which displays the web interface.
Use your firewall administrator account to request access to another SSO application.
Successful access indicates SAML SSO authentication succeeded.