Configuring authorization server settings

Authorization Code Timeout (Seconds)

The amount of time in seconds that an authorization code is considered valid. The default value is 60.

Authorization Code Entropy (Bytes)

The length in bytes of the authorization code returned to clients. The default value is 30.

Disallow the Plain PKCE Code Challenge Method

(optional)

When selected, PingFederate, acting as the authorization server, rejects an authorization request that uses the PKCE plain code_challenge_method.

By default this check box is cleared.

For more information, see Proof Key for Code Exchange by OAuth Public Clients.

Include Issuer in Authorization Response

When selected, PingFederate’s issuer identifier iss parameter is returned in the authorization response. By default this check box is cleared.

Track User Sessions for Logout

When selected, PingFederate links the sessions for identity provider (IdP) adapters that are used by clients to the PingFederate authentication session of the resource owner. When a user initiates logout, PingFederate sends logout requests to close the adapter sessions through the browser.

Selecting this check box also allows per-client logout endpoints to be defined, which will be invoked during logout.

By default, this check box is cleared.

Client Secret Retention Period

The amount of time in minutes that the previous client secret is retained after changing the secret.

If value is 0, client secrets will not be retained. Maximum value is one month or 43800 minutes.

Pushed Authorization Request (PAR) Settings

PAR Status

This field determines whether clients can or must use the PAR endpoint /as/par.oauth2 on the AS to initiate authorization flows. The default setting is Enabled.

This setting works in conjunction with each client’s Require Pushed Authorization Requests check box on the Client window.

For example:

For more information about PAR, see Pushed authorization requests endpoint and Configuring OAuth clients.

PAR Reference Timeout (Seconds)

Specifies the lifetime of the request Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that the PAR endpoint returns to the client. The default is 60 seconds. The allowable values are 1 to 1800.

PAR Reference Entropy (Bytes)

Specifies the length of the request URI. Longer request URIs are more secure. The default is 24 bytes. The allowable values are 20 to 256.

Refresh Token and Persistent Grant Settings

Persistent Grant Max Lifetime

This field determines whether persistent grants should expire, and if so, the default maximum lifetime for persistent grants.

The default selection is Grants Do Not Expire.

Persistent Grant Idle Timeout

This field determines whether persistent grants should expire due to inactivity, regardless of whether the maximum lifetime has been reached, and the default idle timeout period.

If you configure an idle timeout value, the idle timeout window slides when a persistent grant updates. When you have an idle timeout value configured without a maximum lifetime, persistent grants remain valid until they expire due to inactivity or until the grant storage revokes or removes them. When you have an idle timeout value configured with a maximum lifetime, persistent grants remain valid until they expire due to inactivity or lifetime expiration or until the grant storage removes them.

Learn more in Transient grants and persistent grants.

For new installations, the default inactivity allowance is 30 days. For upgrades, Grants Do Not Timeout Due To Inactivity is the default selection unless a specific value was set previously.

Refresh Token Length (Characters)

The length of the refresh tokens in numerical characters.

The default value is 42.

Roll Refresh Token Values (Default Policy)

When selected, PingFederate generates a new refresh token when a new access token is issued. Otherwise, each refresh token is used until it becomes invalid, either by manual revocation or another security setting that renders the token invalid.

This check box is cleared by default.

Minimum Interval to Roll Refresh Tokens (Hours)

The minimum number of hours that must pass before a new refresh token can be issued. This setting provides a way to allow for rolling refresh tokens without having to send a new refresh token on every request.

The default value is 0.

Refresh Token Rolling Grace Period (seconds)

The amount of time in seconds that a rolled refresh token is still valid in the event that the client failed to receive an updated one during a roll.

The maximum value is 86400. For security reasons, we recommend setting the custom value as low as possible.

Reuse Existing Persistent Access Grants for Grant Types

If a client makes multiple requests for the same user and the same or lesser scope, select the grant types that you want PingFederate to reuse the existing grant for, rather than creating a new grant for each request.

Reusing an existing persistent grant imposes a limit of one grant per client, per user. In the context of refresh tokens, only the most recently issued is valid, and the previously issued refresh token is invalidated. If the same client are installed on multiple devices and used regularly by the same user, the grant type used by this client should be cleared.

The applicable grant types are:

When the Implicit check box is selected, PingFederate requests consent from the user only once. The user is not asked for authorization on subsequent requests until the access grant is revoked.

When the Authorization Code check box is selected, the same is true if the Bypass Authorization for Previously Approved Persistent Grants check box is also selected.

Allow Unidentified Clients to Make Resource Owner Password Credentials Grants

When selected, PingFederate allows resource owners to obtain access tokens without client ID or client authentication.

The check box is cleared by default.

Allow Unidentified Clients to Request Extension Grants

When selected, PingFederate allows user-initiated or client-initiated events, such as a mobile application or a scheduled task, to obtain access tokens without the client presenting a client_id or client_secret for the extension grant types, namely:

The check box is cleared by default.

Token Endpoint Base URL

When clients authenticate with the private_key_jwt authentication method, PingFederate validates the aud parameter value found inside the signed JSON Web Token (JWT) against its base URL or any configured virtual host names. If the values do not match, the authentication fails.

Enter a separate base URL that PingFederate can take into consideration as well when validating the aud parameter.

If configured, the OpenID Provider configuration endpoint /.well-known/openid-configuration uses the Token Endpoint Base URL field value as the base for the token endpoint.

This field has no default value.

Persistent Grant Extended Attributes

Attributes

Extend persistent grants to include additional attributes from your authentication systems.

This field has no default entry. PingFederate allows multiple entries.

Authorization Consent

Bypass Authorization for Previously Approved Persistent Grants

When selected, PingFederate requests consent from the user only once. The user is not asked for authorization on subsequent requests until the access grant is revoked. This applies only when using the authorization code grant type and when the Reuse Existing Persistent Access Grants for Grant Types check box is selected.

The check box is cleared by default.

Consent User Interface

Specifies whether PingFederate or a trusted web application should handle consent approval.

OAuth Administrative Web Services Settings

Password Credential Validator

Selects a password credential validator (PCV) instance to manage clients using the OAuth Client Management Service or to manage persistent grants using the OAuth Access Grant Management Service.

This setting has no default selection. When no PCV is selected, neither service can be used.

Persistent Grant Management API

The Persistent Grant Management API allows clients to assume the responsibility of grant management if the users authorize the clients to do so. In this scenario, a client prompts the user to approve a specific scope for managing persistent grants on the user’s behalf. If the user approves, the client requests an access token with such scope from PingFederate. As long as the access token remains valid, the client can retrieve and revoke persistent grants and their associated extended attribute names and values for that user. For more information, see OAuth Persistent Grant Management API.

Access Token Manager

Selects an Access Token Management instance under which one or more clients can use the access tokens issued to manage persistent grants on their users.

Such clients must also be configured to use this Access Token Management instance in their client configurations.

Required Scope

Selects the scope that PingFederate looks for in access tokens prior to granting clients the permission to manage persistent grants for their users.

Clients must obtain access tokens with this scope and include them in their grant-management requests.

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing Settings

Allowed Origin

Enter any number of trusted origins to enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) support for the following OAuth endpoints:

After configuration, client-side web applications from the trusted origins are allowed to make requests to the PingFederate authorization server for the purpose of accessing protected resources, such as obtaining or renewing access tokens with refresh tokens, presenting access tokens for revocation, querying additional claims (user attributes), and retrieving OpenID Provider configuration information and JSON Web Key Sets(JWKS).

Learn more about CORS in W3C’s recommendation on Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.

Here are some example entries and their behaviors:

This field has no default entry. PingFederate allows multiple entries.

Device Authorization Grant Settings

The OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant specification defines the process of a user granting authorization to a device using a browser on a second device, such as a smartphone or a computer. For more information, see Device authorization grant.

User Authorization URL

(Optional)

This field determines whether PingFederate should use a different URL, possibly for ease of use or branding purposes, when formulating the verification URLs to be included in its device authorization responses. For more information, see Device authorization endpoint.

For example, if this field is configured with a value of https://www.example.org/welcome, PingFederate returns https://www.example.org/welcome and https://www.example.org/welcome?user_code=<activationcode> as the verification URIs.

After processing the device authorization response, which includes the verification URIs, the device presents one of them to the user. The user is expected to browse to the presented verification URI on a second device.

For instance, if the base URL of your PingFederate server is https://www.example.com and this field is configured with a value of https://www.example.org/welcome, the target web server must redirect as follows:

This field has no default value.

Registered Authorization Path

(Optional)

This field controls whether PingFederate should replace the user authorization endpoint with a different path, perhaps for ease of use or branding purposes, when formulating the verification URLs to be included in its device authorization responses. Learn more in Device authorization endpoint. The domain portion remains to be the base URL of PingFederate. For example, if the base URL is https://www.example.com and this field is configured with a value of /go, PingFederate returns https://www.example.com/go and https://www.example.com/go?user_code=<activationcode> as the user authorization URLs.

If PingFederate receives a device authorization request at one of the configured virtual host names, PingFederate preserves the virtual host name in its device authorization responses.

This field is ignored when the User Authorization URL field is configured here or in the individual client records.

The configured value must begin with a forward slash.

This field has no default value.

Pending Authorization Timeout (seconds)

The lifetime of an activation code, the user_code parameter value, in seconds.

The default value is 600.

Device Polling Interval (seconds)

The amount of time in seconds that the device waits between polling requests to the PingFederate token endpoint.

The default value is 5.

Check Activation Code

This setting determines whether the activation code verification step should happen before or after the user is authenticated. One advantage of checking before authentication is that it allows PingFederate to determine up front the client ID and scopes for the flow. As a result, selectors such as the OAuth Client Set Authentication Selector, the Extended Property Authentication Selector, and the OAuth Scope Authentication Selector will work as expected in deciding the authentication policy for the user.

The default setting is After Authentication.

Bypass Activation Code Confirmation

When PingFederate receives a verification request that includes an activation code, the user_code parameter value, it prompts the user to confirm the activation code. This field determines whether PingFederate skips this confirmation step.

Select the Bypass Activation Code Confirmation check box for PingFederate to skip the confirmation step.

This check box is cleared by default.

JWT Secured Authorization Response Mode (JARM)

JARM is a mechanism to enhance the security of the standard authorization response. It adds support for signing and encryption, sender authentication, and audience restriction. It also offers protection from replay, credential leakage, and mix-up attacks. JARM can be combined with any response type. Learn more in the JARM specification.

JWT Lifetime (Seconds)

The lifetime of the authorization response token that PingFederate returns.

The default value is 600 seconds.