SP remote metadata reference

This is a reference for metadata options available for metadata/saml20-sp-remote.php . The file has the following format: 

<?php
/* The index of the array is the entity ID of this SP. */
$metadata['entity-id-1'] = [
    /* Configuration options for the first SP. */
];
$metadata['entity-id-2'] = [
    /* Configuration options for the second SP. */
];
/* ... */

Common options

The following options can be set:

attributes
This should indicate which attributes an SP should receive. It is used by for example the consent:Consent module to tell the user which attributes the SP will receive, and the core:AttributeLimit module to limit which attributes are sent to the SP.
authproc
Used to manipulate attributes, and limit access for each SP. See the authentication processing filter manual .
description
A description of this SP. Will be used by various modules when they need to show a description of the SP to the user.
This option can be translated into multiple languages in the same way as the name -option.
name
The name of this SP. Will be used by various modules when they need to show a name of the SP to the user.
If this option is unset, the organization name will be used instead (if it is available).
This option can be translated into multiple languages by specifying the value as an array of language-code to translated name: 
'name' => [
    'en' => 'A service',
    'no' => 'En tjeneste',
],
OrganizationName
The name of the organization responsible for this SPP. This name does not need to be suitable for display to end users.
This option can be translated into multiple languages by specifying the value as an array of language-code to translated name: 
'OrganizationName' => [
    'en' => 'Example organization',
    'no' => 'Eksempel organisation',
],

Note : If you specify this option, you must also specify the OrganizationURL option.

OrganizationDisplayName
The name of the organization responsible for this IdP. This name must be suitable for display to end users. If this option isn't specified, OrganizationName will be used instead.
This option can be translated into multiple languages by specifying the value as an array of language-code to translated name.
Note : If you specify this option, you must also specify the OrganizationName option.
OrganizationURL
A URL the end user can access for more information about the organization.
This option can be translated into multiple languages by specifying the value as an array of language-code to translated URL.
Note : If you specify this option, you must also specify the OrganizationName option.
AssertionConsumerService
The URL of the AssertionConsumerService endpoint for this SP. This option is required - without it you will not be able to send responses back to the SP.
The value of this option is specified in one of several endpoint formats .
attributeencodings
What encoding should be used for the different attributes. This is an array which maps attribute names to attribute encodings. There are three different encodings:
  • string : Will include the attribute as a normal string. This is the default.
  • base64 : Store the attribute as a base64 encoded string.
  • raw : Store the attribute without any modifications. This makes it possible to include raw XML in the response.
attributes.NameFormat
What value will be set in the Format field of attribute statements. This parameter can be configured multiple places, and the actual value used is fetched from metadata by the following priority:
  1. SP Remote Metadata
  2. IdP Hosted Metadata

The default value is: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri

Some examples of values specified in the SAML 2.0 Core Specification:

  • urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:unspecified
  • urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri (The default in Shibboleth 2.0, mandatory as per SAML2INT)
  • urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:basic (The default in Sun Access Manager)

You can also define your own value.

Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. This entry in the SP-remote metadata overrides the option in the IdP-hosted metadata.

audience
An array of additional entities to be added to the AudienceRestriction. By default the only audience is the SP's entityID.
certData
The base64 encoded certificate for this SP. This is an alternative to storing the certificate in a file on disk and specifying the filename in the certificate -option.
certificate
Location of certificate data for this SP. The certificate is used to verify the signature of messages received from the SP (if redirect.validate is set to TRUE ), and to encrypting assertions (if assertion.encryption is set to TRUE and sharedkey is unset.)
encryption.blacklisted-algorithms
Blacklisted encryption algorithms. This is an array containing the algorithm identifiers.
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. This entry in the SP-remote metadata overrides the option in the IdP-hosted metadata .
The RSA encryption algorithm with PKCS#1 v1.5 padding is blacklisted by default for security reasons. Any assertions encrypted with this algorithm will therefore fail to decrypt. You can override this limitation by defining an empty array in this option (or blacklisting any other algorithms not including that one). However, it is strongly discouraged to do so. For your own safety, please include the string 'http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5' if you make use of this option.
ForceAuthn
Set this TRUE to force the user to reauthenticate when the IdP receives authentication requests from this SP. The default is FALSE .
NameIDFormat
The NameIDFormat this SP should receive. This may be specified as either a string or an array.
The three most commonly used values are:
  1. urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:transient
  2. urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent
  3. urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress

The transient format will generate a new unique ID every time the SP logs in.

To properly support the persistent and emailAddress formats, you should configure NameID generation filters on your IdP.

nameid.encryption
Whether NameIDs sent to this SP should be encrypted. The default value is FALSE .
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. This entry in the SP-remote metadata overrides the option in the IdP-hosted metadata .
saml20.sign.response
Whether <samlp:Response> messages should be signed. Defaults to TRUE .
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.
saml20.sign.assertion
Whether <saml:Assertion> elements should be signed. Defaults to TRUE .
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.
signature.algorithm
The algorithm to use when signing any message sent to this specific service provider. Defaults to RSA-SHA256.
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.
Possible values:
signature.privatekey
Location of private key data for this IdP, in PEM format.
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. This entry in the SP-remote metadata overrides the option privatekey in the IdP-hosted metadata.
signature.privatekey_pass
Passphrase for the private key. Leave this option out if the private key is unencrypted.
Note that this option only is used if signature.privatekey is present.
signature.certificate
Location of certificate data included by IdP for KeyInfo within the signature for the SP, in PEM format.
If signature.privatekey is present and signature.certificate is left blank, X509Certificate will not be included with the signature.
sign.logout
Whether to sign logout messages sent to this SP.
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.
simplesaml.attributes
Whether the SP should receive any attributes from the IdP. The default value is TRUE .
SingleLogoutService
The URL of the SingleLogoutService endpoint for this SP. This option is required if you want to implement single logout for this SP. If the option isn't specified, this SP will not be logged out automatically when a single logout operation is initialized.
The value of this option is specified in one of several endpoint formats .
SingleLogoutServiceResponse
The URL logout responses to this SP should be sent. If this option is unspecified, the SingleLogoutService endpoint will be used as the recipient of logout responses.
SPNameQualifier
SP NameQualifier for this SP. If not set, the IdP will set the SPNameQualifier to be the SP entity ID.
validate.authnrequest
Whether we require signatures on authentication requests sent from this SP. Set it to:
  • true: authnrequest must be signed (and signature will be validated)
  • null: authnrequest may be signed, if it is, signature will be validated
  • false: authnrequest signature is never checked

Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.

validate.logout
Whether we require signatures on logout messages sent from this SP.
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. The value in the SP-remote metadata overrides the value in the IdP-hosted metadata.
skipEndpointValidationWhenSigned
Whether to skip validating that the AssertionConsumerServiceURL sent in authentication requests exist in SP metadata. Only allowed for signed requests. This option must be a simple boolean (true/false - although a value of false essentially has no effect) or a callable. When used as a callable, the static class method must accept the SP metadata config as a parameter and return a boolean.

Encrypting assertions

It is possible to encrypt the assertions sent to a SP. Currently the only algorithm supported is AES128_CBC or RIJNDAEL_128 .

There are two modes of encryption supported by SimpleSAMLphp. One is symmetric encryption, in which case both the SP and the IdP needs to share a key. The other mode is the use of public key encryption. In that mode, the public key of the SP is extracted from the certificate of the SP.

assertion.encryption
Whether assertions sent to this SP should be encrypted. The default value is FALSE .
Note that this option also exists in the IdP-hosted metadata. This entry in the SP-remote metadata overrides the option in the IdP-hosted metadata.
sharedkey
Symmetric key which should be used for encryption. This should be a 128-bit, 192-bit or 256-bit key based on the algorithm used. If this option is not specified, public key encryption will be used instead.
sharedkey_algorithm
Algorithm which should be used for encryption. Possible values are:

Fields for signing and validating messages

SimpleSAMLphp only signs authentication responses by default. Signing of logout requests and logout responses can be enabled by setting the redirect.sign option. Validation of received messages can be enabled by the redirect.validate option.

These options overrides the options set in saml20-idp-hosted .

redirect.sign
Whether logout requests and logout responses sent to this SP should be signed. The default is FALSE .
redirect.validate
Whether authentication requests, logout requests and logout responses received from this SP should be validated. The default is FALSE

Example: Configuration for validating messages 

'redirect.validate' => true,
'certificate' => 'example.org.crt',

Fields for scoping

Only relevant if you are a proxy/bridge and wants to limit the idps this sp can use.

IDPList
The list of scoped IdPs, i.e. the list of entityids for IdPs that are relevant for this SP. It will override any list set in the IdP's metadata.

Example: Configuration for scoping 

'IDPList' => ['https://idp1.wayf.dk', 'https://idp2.wayf.dk'],