Introduction
vSEC:CMS enables passkey lifecycle management for Okta IdP, integrating via the Okta REST API. Using a credential management system to manage your passkeys allows you to:
- Enforce passkey usage: Require passkeys for authentication within your Okta environment.
- Delegate passkey management: Offload the complexities of passkey storage, synchronization, and recovery to specialized third-party providers.
- Centralize policy enforcement: Maintain control over authentication policies and user access through Okta.
- Improve security: Benefit from the enhanced security of passkeys while simplifying user experience.
FIDO2 credentials typically use HID interface for communicating with the device. If attempting to use/manage the FIDO2 credential over an RDP connection then this will not be possible as USB forwarding of HID supported devices is not possible out of the box. Therefore, when managing such credentials with vSEC:CMS you need to do this directly on a host where the device is attached.
It is required to install the RSDM service on any client where self-service FIDO2 operations are to be allowed. The RSDM service will allow for administration operations to be performed when issuing a FIDO2 credential or setting/changing the FIDO2 PIN.
Using an NFC reader for your credentials? You'll need to make sure the reader supports extended APDUs. Check your NFC reader's documentation or with the manufacturer to confirm this feature is supported.
Configure IdP
Navigate to Options - Connections and select FIDO2 (IdP) if it exist, otherwise click Add and add FIDO2 (IdP).
Click Add and enter a name for the template and select OKTA IdP from the Type drop-down list.
In the Host Parameters section enter the Client ID applicable to your Okta setup. Browse to the location of the Private Key used when authenticating to Okta OAuth API. This key should have been created when setting up your OAuth API in Okta. This private key is encrypted internally by vSEC:CMS with an AES key. Enter the appropriate URLs for the Authentication URL and Api URL in the fields provided.
Enable Challenge Timeout if it is required to have a timeout period between issuing the credential and the end user setting the actual PIN (also referred to as PIN activation). You can set, in minutes, between 5 and 1440 minutes.
What is the Challenge Timeout?
The passkey authentication flow in Okta involves the following key steps:
1. vSEC:CMS gets a "challenge" (a nonce/random data) from Okta and sends to the user's token.
2. The user's authenticator (e.g., a FIDO2 security key) signs the challenge using their private passkey.
3. The signed challenge is sent back to Okta for verification when vSEC:CMS activates the user's token PIN.
The challenge timeout is the maximum time a user has to successfully complete step 2 and 3—that is, to interact with their authenticator (activate PIN) and transmit the signed response back to Okta.
If the user takes too long to activate the token, then it will not be possible to use the token to authenticate. You will need to restart the entire process in this case.
If you do not set a value the default value of 5 minutes will be applied.
Click Save to save the settings and complete this step.
Configure Credential Template for Central Issuance
If you plan to have operators/helpdesk persons issue credentials on behalf of users then follow the instructions in this section to configure such a template.
It will be required to perform the next steps from a client that has the vSEC:CMS Admin application installed (see the article Install Admin Application on how to set this up if you don't have this setup already).
We need to create a FIDO2 passkey template to begin with. Navigate to Templates - FIDO2 - FIDO2 Passkey Templates and click Add.
Enter a template name. In the Select FIDO2 IdP select the IdP already configured in your system from the drop-down field. You can click Manage to double check that you are going to use the correct one.
In the Display Name field either enter a static value or click the Configure button to use an already configured internal variable that maps to an attribute from the user directory. This might be required to set a more precise name for the display name, such as the users actual name.
The maximum length for the display name is 64 characters. This is enforced by the IdP.
To enable seamless login, activate Force Discoverable Credential. This feature, if supported by the IDP, stores your username within the credential, eliminating the need to type it during authentication.
n the Relying Party section for the Name enter the human-palatable name of the relaying party. The Id should be a valid domain string identifying the WebAuthn relying party on whose behalf a given registration or authentication ceremony is being performed. The Origin should match the endpoint the user is provided to access the signing service, as is the case in a standard WebAuthn service.
Click Save to save and close.
Navigate to Templates - Credential Templates and click Add. Click the Edit link beside General.
Enter a template name and click the Detect button. Make sure that you have the FIDO2 token attached and selected from the reader drop-down list and click Ok. You should see something similar to below.
Enable the Enable FIDO2 check box and leave all other settings as is and click Ok at the bottom of the dialog.
In the Issue Credential section enable Assign user ID and select the user directory that you wish to use from the drop-down list.
In the FIDO2 Options section click the Manage button. Click Add and enter a name for the template.
In the FIDO2 Configuration section the following settings can be configured:
- Perform FIDO2 Reset Before Issuance: Reset the device's FIDO2 applet to its default state before issuance by enabling this setting. This option is only available for devices that do not require detachment and reattachment during a FIDO2 reset.
- Always Require User Verification: User verification during authentication is optional for some IDPs. To require user verification, enable this setting. This feature is only available for devices supporting CTAP 2.1.
-
Enable BIO Enrollment: Enable this setting if the device
supports FIDO2 BIO enrolment.
- Number of Enrollments: This is the minimum number of finger prints you need to enrol.
- Enrollment Timeout(ms): This is time (in milisecods) you have to enrol at least one finger print.
- Enable FIDO2 PIN: A FIDO2 PIN is required. This setting is for informational purposes only and cannot be disabled.
- Set Minimum PIN Length: If configured, this will be the device's minimum PIN length, which will be set within the FIDO2 applet extension minPinLength. This applies to CTAP 2.1 compatible devices.
- Minimum PIN Length RP ID List: Only specify Relying Party (RP) IDs here if the minPinLength extension is supported. This parameter is strictly prohibited when the extension is not supported. For example, to put this RP ID okta.com double click the label and enter the value. To delete an entry, right click and select Delete. To edit the RP ID double click the entry.
The setting Enable BIO Enrollment is not yet fully implemented. Depending on the version of vSEC:CMS the settings will be shown or they will be hidden. This feature will be available in a future version of vSEC:CMS.
In the Passkey(s) to Issue section enable the check boxes for the IdP(s) used in your environment that you want passkeys issued to.
Click the Edit link for Initiate Credential and enable Update Credentials at FIDO2 IdP. This will push the passkey for the user to the IdP when setting the FIDO2 PIN on the credential.
Click the Edit link for Inactivate Credential and enable Update Credentials at FIDO2 IdP. This will remove the passkey on the IdP. You might do this if a user is on leave and you want to disable their passkey.
You cannot temporarily disable a passkey with the IdP. Therefore, if you disable a credential, you must reissue it entirely, i.e. revoke - retire - unregister and issue again.
Click the Edit link for Revoke Credential and enable Update Credentials at FIDO2 IdP. This will update the IdP when the authenticator is revoked. Additionally, enable Force FIDO2 Authenticator data deletion at IdP which will cancel the credential revocation process if the FIDO2 passkey could not be removed from the IdP.
Click Ok so save and close the configuration for the template.
Issue Passkey Credential Centrally
The credential can be issued either using the vSEC:CMS Admin or Agent applications. For either of these application refer to these articles Install Admin Application and Install Agent Application for instructions on how to set these up.
In this guide we will use the Agent Application.
Navigate to the Life Cycle tab and with a credential attached select the Issued oval along with the template from the available drop-down list and click Execute.
This will trigger the issuance flow. You will be prompted to select a user from your directory who the token will be issued to and follow closely the on-screen prompts to complete the issuance.
At the end of the issuance the token will be Issued. You can activate the token by selecting Active and setting a FIDO2 PIN that can then be used by the end used.
Alternatively, the end user can set the FIDO2 PIN using the vSEC:CMS User application. The vSEC:CMS User application needs to be online and connected to the backend vSEC:CMS service to perform setting a FIDO2 PIN.
Now the user, for example, can try to login to their IdP.
From the vSEC:CMS Admin console you can see details about the managed credential from Repository - Credentials by selecting a credential and clicking the Details button.
If you then need to revoke the credential, for whatever reason, the credential will be revoked on the IdP. For example, from the Life Cycle tab search for a user who you wish to revoke and you can then verify that the credential is revoked on the IdP by trying to log in with the hardware credential.
Enable Logging
If you’re having trouble with Okta, you can enable logging to help diagnose the problem. Follow the instructions below to get started. If the issue persists, you may need to open a support ticket.
- On the host where vSEC:CMS is installed, open File Explorer and navigate to the root of the installation folder (typically here: C:\Program Files\Versasec\vSEC_CMS).
- Go into the plugins folder. Make a copy of the file named OktaPluginDll.cfg and name it OktaPluginDll.cfg.BACKUP.
- Open the file OktaPluginDll.cfg with Notepad (open Notepad as administrator).
-
Look for the section below
<logging> <file> <enable>00000000</enable> <level>00000005</level> <filename>c:\3\OktaPluginDll#e#_#p#_#s#.xml</filename> </file> </logging> -
Change the value in the
enabletag to 1 to enable the logging such that the section now looks like below:<logging> <file> <enable>00000001</enable> <level>00000005</level> <filename>c:\3\OktaPluginDll#e#_#p#_#s#.xml</filename> </file> </logging> - The tag
<filename>is the location where the log file will be written to. By default the log will be written to a folder named 3 on the root of the c:\ drive. If you wish to write to a different location then change the folder where you wish the logs to be written to, for example, if you wish to write to temp folder then change the location to<filename>c:\temp\OktaPluginDll#e#_#p#_#s#.xml</filename>. Note that the folder needs to exist and that the vSEC:CMS application needs to be able to write to the folder. - Save the changes and recreate the issue(s) you are encountering. Check the log to see if the root cause is determinable.
- Once you have completed the investigation you should disable the logging. Navigate to the plugins folder and delete the file OktaPluginDll.cfg. Rename the file OktaPluginDll.cfg.BACKUP to OktaPluginDll.cfg.