ProtocolSoup

IdP-Initiated SSO

Identity Provider initiated Single Sign-On where the IdP sends an unsolicited SAML Response to the SP without a preceding AuthnRequest (saml-profiles §4.1.5). The user starts at the IdP portal and selects an application to access. This flow has inherently weaker security properties than SP-initiated SSO because the SP cannot correlate the response to an original request, making replay and CSRF attacks harder to detect.

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XML-BasedSSO

Sequence Diagram

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UserIdPSP1User Selects Application at IdP2IdP Creates Unsolicited Response3POST Response to SP4SP Validates Unsolicited Response5Session Created and Access Granted
Request
Response
Redirect
Internal

Step-by-Step Breakdown

1
User Selects Application at IdP
User → Identity Provider
2
IdP Creates Unsolicited Response
Identity Provider → Identity Provider
3
POST Response to SP
Identity Provider → Service Provider
4
SP Validates Unsolicited Response
Service Provider → Service Provider
5
Session Created and Access Granted
Service Provider → User

Token Inspector

Specs for this flow

Sections of the protocol that normatively define this flow, plus the security considerations that apply to it.

Core specs

· The specifications that define this protocol.

Security & privacy

· Dedicated security and privacy considerations.
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