---
layout: docs
page_title: SAML - Auth Methods
description: >-
  The "saml" auth method allows users to authenticate with Vault using their
  identity in a SAML identity provider.
---

# SAML auth method

<EnterpriseAlert />

The `saml` auth method allows users to authentication with Vault using their identity
within a [SAML V2.0](https://saml.xml.org/saml-specifications) identity provider.
Authentication is suited for human users by requiring interaction with a web browser.

## Authentication

<Tabs>

<Tab heading="Vault CLI">

The CLI login defaults to the `/saml` path. If this auth method was enabled at a
different path, specify `-path=/my-path` in the CLI.

```shell-session
$ vault login -method=saml role=admin

Complete the login via your SAML provider. Launching browser to:

    https://company.okta.com/app/vault/abc123eb9xnIfzlaf697/sso/saml?SAMLRequest=fJI9b9swEIZ3%2FwqBu0SJ%2FpBDRAZce4iBtDViN0MX40Sda...
```

The CLI opens the default browser to the generated URL where users must authenticate
with the configured SAML identity provider. The URL may be manually entered into the
browser if it cannot be automatically opened.

The CLI login behavior may be customized with the following optional parameters:

- `skip_browser` (default: `false`): If set to `true`, automatic launching of the default
  browser will be skipped. The SAML identity provider URL must be manually entered in a
  browser to complete the authentication flow.
- `abort_on_error` (default: `false`): If set to `true`, the CLI returns an error and
  exits with a non-zero value if it cannot launch the default browser.

</Tab>

<Tab heading="Vault UI">

1. Select "SAML" from the "Method" select box.
1. Enter a role name for the "Role" field or leave blank to use
   the [default role](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#default_role).
1. Press **Sign in with SAML Provider** and complete the authentication with the
   configured SAML identity provider.

</Tab>

</Tabs>

## Configuration

Auth methods must be configured in advance before users or machines can
authenticate. These steps are usually completed by an operator or configuration
management tool.

1. Enable the SAML authentication method with the `auth enable` CLI command:

   ```shell-session
   $ vault auth enable saml
   ```

1. Use the `/config` endpoint to save the configuration of your SAML identity provider and
   set the default role. You can configure the trust relationship with the SAML Identity
   Provider by either providing a URL for its Metadata document:

   ```shell-session
   $ vault write auth/saml/config \
      default_role=admin \
      idp_metadata_url=https://company.okta.com/app/abc123eb9xnIfzlaf697/sso/saml/metadata \
      entity_id="https://my.vault/v1/auth/saml" \
      acs_urls="https://my.vault/v1/auth/saml/callback"
   ```

   or by setting the configuration Metadata manually:

   ```shell-session
   $ vault write auth/saml/config \
      default_role=admin \
      idp_sso_url=https://company.okta.com/app/abc123eb9xnIfzlaf697/sso/saml \
      idp_entity_id=https://www.okta.com/abc123eb9xnIfzlaf697 \
      idp_cert=@path/to/cert.pem \
      entity_id="https://my.vault/v1/auth/saml" \
      acs_urls="https://my.vault/v1/auth/saml/callback"
   ```

1. Create a named role:

   ```shell-session
    $ vault write auth/saml/role/admin \
       bound_subjects="*@hashicorp.com" \
       bound_subjects_type="glob" \
       token_policies="writer" \
       bound_attributes=group="admin" \
       ttl=1h
   ```

   This role authorizes users that have a subject with an `@hashicorp.com` suffix and
   are in the `admin` group to authenticate. It also gives the resulting Vault token a
   time-to-live of 1 hour and the `writer` policy.

Refer to the SAML [API documentation](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml) for a
complete list of configuration options.

### Assertion consumer service URLs

The [`acs_urls`](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#acs_urls) configuration parameter determines
where the SAML response will be sent after users authenticate with the configured SAML
identity provider in their browser.

The values provided to Vault must:

- Match or be a subset of the configured values for the SAML application within the
  configured identity provider.
- Be directed to the auth method's [assertion consumer service
  callback](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#assertion-consumer-service-callback) API.

<Note>
  It is highly recommended and enforced by some identity providers to TLS-protect the
  assertion consumer service URLs. A warning will be returned from Vault if any of the
  configured assertion consumer service URLs are not protected by TLS.
</Note>

#### Configuration for replication

To support a single auth method mount being used across Vault [replication](/vault/docs/enterprise/replication)
clusters, `acs_urls` supports configuration of multiple values. For example, to support
SAML authentication on a primary and secondary Vault cluster, the following `acs_urls`
configuration could be given:

   ```shell-session
   $ vault write auth/saml/config \
      acs_urls="https://primary.vault/v1/auth/saml/callback,https://secondary.vault/v1/auth/saml/callback"
   ```

The Vault UI and CLI will automatically request the proper assertion consumer service URL
for the cluster they're configured to communicate with. This means that the entirety of the
authentication flow will stay within the targeted cluster.

#### Configuration for namespaces

The SAML auth method can be used within Vault [namespaces](/vault/docs/enterprise/namespaces).
The assertion consumer service URLs configured in both Vault and the identity provider must
include the namespace path segment.

The following table provides assertion consumer service URLs given different namespace paths:

| Namespace path  | Assertion consumer service URL                        |
|-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| `admin/`        | `https://my.vault/v1/admin/auth/saml/callback`        |
| `org/security/` | `https://my.vault/v1/org/security/auth/saml/callback` |

### Bound attributes

Once the user has been authenticated the authorization flow will validate
that both the [`bound_subjects`](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#bound_subjects) and
[`bound_attributes`](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#bound_attributes) match expected
values configured for the role. This can be used to restrict access to Vault for
a subset of users in the SAML identity provider.

For example, a role with `bound_subjects=*@hashicorp.com` and
`bound_attributes=groups=support,engineering` will only authorize users whose subject has
an `@hashicorp.com` suffix and that are in either the `support` or `engineering` group.

Whether it should be an exact match or interpret `*` as a wildcard can be
controlled by the [`bound_subjects_type`](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#bound_subjects_type) and
[`bound_attributes_type`](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml#bound_attributes_type) parameters.

## API

The SAML authentication plugin has a full HTTP API. Refer to the
[SAML API documentation](/vault/api-docs/auth/saml) for more details.
