PingFederate Server

Defining issuance criteria for token translator mapping

Use the PingFederate issuance criteria features to process requests based on individual attributes.

On the Issuance Criteria tab, define the criteria to satisfy for PingFederate to further process a request. Use this token authorization feature to conditionally approve or reject requests based on individual attributes.

Begin this optional configuration by choosing the source that contains the attribute to verify. Some sources are common to almost all use cases, such as Mapped Attributes. Other sources depend on the type of configuration, such as JDBC. Irrelevant sources are automatically hidden. After you select a source, choose the attribute to verify. Depending on the selected source, the available attributes or properties vary. Specify the comparison condition and the desired value to compare to.

You can define multiple criteria, which must all be satisfied for PingFederate to move a request to the next phase. A criterion is satisfied when the runtime value of the selected attribute matches or does not match the specified value, depending on the chosen comparison method. The multi-value contains …​ or multi-value does not contain …​ comparison methods are intended for attributes that can contain multiple values. Such a criterion is considered satisfied if one of the multiple values match or does not match the specified value. Values are compared verbatim. If you require complex evaluations, including conditional criteria or partial matching, define them using attribute mapping expressions

All criteria defined must be satisfied or evaluated as true for a request to move forward, regardless of how the criteria were defined. As soon as one criterion fails, PingFederate rejects the request and returns an error message.

Steps

  1. Depending on the selection, the Attribute Name list populates with associated attributes. See the following table for more information.

    Source Description

    Context

    Select to evaluate properties returned from the context of the transaction at runtime.

    The HTTP Request and STS SSL Client Certificate Chain context values are retrieved as a Java object rather than text. For this reason, attribute mapping expressions are more appropriate to evaluate and return values.

    JDBC, LDAP, or other types of datastore (if configured)

    Select to evaluate attributes returned from a data source.

    Mapped Attributes

    Select to evaluate the mapped attributes.

    Token

    Select to evaluate attributes from the token processor instance.

  2. Select the attribute to evaluate under Attribute Name.

    To evaluate the STS Basic Authentication Username, STS SSL Client Certificate Chain, or STS SSL Client Certificate’s Subject DN context value, ensure that the associated authentication is enabled and configured on System → Server → Protocol Settings to open the WS-Trust STS Settings window.

  3. In the Condition list, select the comparison method.

    Available methods:

    • equal to

    • equal to (case insensitive)

    • equal to DN

    • not equal to

    • not equal to (case insensitive)

    • not equal to DN

    • multi-value contains

    • multi-value contains (case insensitive)

    • multi-value contains DN

    • multi-value does not contain

    • multi-value does not contain (case insensitive)

    • multi-value does not contain DN

      The first six conditions are intended for single-value attributes. Use one of the multi-value …​ conditions for PingFederate to validate whether one of the attribute values matches the specified value. When an attribute has multiple values, using a single-value condition causes the criteria to fail.

      To evaluate the STS SSL Client Certificate’s Subject DN context value, you must select one of the …​ DN conditions. These methods normalize the DN before comparison to accommodate for different string representations that are still considered equivalent, such as case sensitivity or white space.

      Values are compared verbatim. If you require complex evaluations, including conditional criteria or partial matching, define them using attribute mapping expressions. For more information, see Attribute mapping expressions.

  4. In the Error Result field, enter a custom error message. The Error Result field is used by the faultstring element for SOAP 1.1 and the Reason/Text element for SOAP 1.2. For more information on SOAP, see the World Wide Web Consortium’s http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/NOTE-SOAP-20000508/#_Toc478383507.

    Using an error code in the Error Result field allows an application to process the code in a variety of ways, such as display an error message or e-mail an administrator.

    To use localized descriptions, enter a unique alias in the Error Result field, such as someIssuanceCriterionFailed. Insert the same alias with the desired localized text in the applicable language resource files, located in the <pf_install>/pingfederate/server/default/conf/language-packs directory.

    If not defined, PingFederate returns ACCESS_DENIED when the criterion fails at runtime.

  5. Click Add.

  6. Optional: Repeat to add more criteria.

  7. If you require complex evaluations, including conditional criteria or partial matching, define them using attribute mapping expressions.

    For more information, see Attribute mapping expressions.

    1. Click Show Advanced Criteria.

    2. In the Expression field, enter the required expressions.

    3. In the Error Result field, enter an error code or message.

      If the expressions resolve to a string value instead of true or false, the returned value overrides the Error Result field value.

    4. Click Add.

    5. Click Test, enter values in the applicable fields, and verify the results.

    6. Repeat to add multiple criteria using attribute mapping expressions.