Pass-through authentication

Pass-through authentication lets you validate passwords with a remote service.

Overview

Secure systems typically store passwords using one-way hash algorithms to make the passwords hard to crack. Unless all systems support the same one-way hash algorithms, however, using this security measure alone can impede password synchronization.

A better security practice is to synchronize hashed passwords only between services that support the same password storage schemes. This ensures that the target service will always get passwords that it can read or compare. Only synchronize hashed passwords directly between services that support the same password storage schemes; otherwise, the target service will get passwords that it cannot read or compare!

For example, Active Directory stores passwords using a hash algorithm that DS doesn’t support, and when you import identities based on Active Directory accounts, IDM can’t synchronize the users' passwords. As a result, these users have no local credentials to authenticate to ForgeRock Identity Platform.

The Pass-through Authentication node uses a connector to validate credentials against the remote Active Directory service. The remote system verifies the user’s password even if ForgeRock Identity Platform doesn’t support the hash algorithm.

Prepare for pass-through authentication

Before using pass-through authentication:

Set up a connector to the remote authentication service.
If ForgeRock Identity Platform saves a copy of the password on successful authentication, align password policies so the remote password is certain to pass password validation.
If you synchronize ForgeRock Identity Platform profiles from the remote accounts, do not synchronize the passwords from the remote service to ForgeRock Identity Platform.

ForgeRock Identity Platform uses the local account to find the appropriate identifier, and the connector to authenticate remotely.

Migrate passwords

When you cannot synchronize hashed passwords, you can use the pass-through authentication node to capture them. The following example journey demonstrates password capture and storage.

ForgeRock Identity Platform performs authentication through a connector. It also stores the captured password securely using a strong, one-way hash algorithm. ForgeRock Identity Platform can then act as the service of record for authentication of that account. After the user has authenticated successfully through this journey, the user can authenticate locally in ForgeRock Identity Platform. The user no longer needs to authenticate using the remote service:

Example pass-through authentication with password sync

Here’s what happens in this example journey:

The Platform Username node and Platform Password node in the Page node prompt the user for credentials.
The Data Store Decision node attempts local authentication.
- If authentication succeeds, the Data Store Decision node processes the authentication like the sample login journey.
- If authentication fails, the Pass-through Authentication node attempts remote authentication.
When configuring the Pass-through Authentication node, you must identify the connector to the remote authentication service in the node’s System Endpoint field.
The Identify Existing User node and Required Attributes Present node ensure that ForgeRock Identity Platform has the data needed to update the account.
The Patch Object node updates the account with the password used for successful remote authentication.

When configuring this node, be sure to select Patch As Object.
The rest of the journey processes the authentication like the sample login journey.

This journey can fail when the remote password does not respect the password policy.

This results in a Failed policy validation error displayed to the user as the Patch Object node unsuccessfully tries with a password that fails password validation for the realm:

To avoid this problem, align password policies so that the remote password is sure to pass password validation.

Remote authentication

You can use the Pass-through Authentication node for remote authentication. This is useful when you cannot synchronize hashed passwords or use ForgeRock Identity Platform as the service of record for authentication.

The example journey below does not capture the password on successful authentication, but you could adapt the journey to capture the password. Then you could the cache authentication credentials in ForgeRock Identity Platform temporarily. ForgeRock Identity Platform then serves as a backup authentication service when the remote service is not available. If you adapt the journey in this way, be sure to configure the journey to authenticate periodically with the remote service, and to refresh the cached password.

The following journey demonstrates remote authentication when local authentication fails:

The Platform Username node and Platform Password node in the Page node prompt the user for credentials.
The Data Store Decision node attempts local authentication.
- If authentication succeeds, the Data Store Decision node processes the authentication like the sample login journey.
- If authentication fails, the Pass-through Authentication node attempts remote authentication.
The rest of the journey processes the authentication like the sample login journey.