Ruby SAML

The Ruby SAML library is for implementing the client side of a SAML authorization, i.e. it provides a means for managing authorization initialization and confirmation requests from identity providers.

SAML authorization is a two step process and you are expected to implement support for both.

The initialization phase

This is the first request you will get from the identity provider. It will hit your application at a specific URL (that you’ve announced as being your SAML initialization point). The response to this initialization, is a redirect back to the identity provider, which can look something like this (ignore the saml_settings method call for now):

def initialize
  request = Onelogin::Saml::Authrequest.new
  redirect_to(request.create(saml_settings))
end

Once you’ve redirected back to the identity provider, it will ensure that the user has been authorized and redirect back to your application for final consumption, this is can look something like this (the authorize_success and authorize_failure methods are specific to your application):

def consume
  response          = Onelogin::Saml::Response.new(params[:SAMLResponse])
  response.settings = saml_settings

  if response.is_valid? && user = .users.find_by_email(response.name_id)
    authorize_success(user)
  else
    authorize_failure(user)
  end
end

In the above there are a few assumptions in place, one being that the response.name_id is an email address. This is all handled with how you specify the settings that are in play via the saml_settings method. That could be implemented along the lines of this:

def saml_settings
  settings = Onelogin::Saml::Settings.new

  settings.assertion_consumer_service_url = "http://#{request.host}/saml/finalize"
  settings.issuer                         = request.host
  settings.idp_sso_target_url             = "https://app.onelogin.com/saml/signon/#{OneLoginAppId}"
  settings.idp_cert_fingerprint           = OneLoginAppCertFingerPrint
  settings.name_identifier_format         = "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"

  settings
end

What’s left at this point, is to wrap it all up in a controller and point the initialization and consumption URLs in OneLogin at that. A full controller example could look like this:

# This controller expects you to use the URLs /saml/initialize and /saml/consume in your OneLogin application.
class SamlController < ApplicationController
  def initialize
    request = Onelogin::Saml::Authrequest.new
    redirect_to(request.create(saml_settings))
  end

  def consume
    response          = Onelogin::Saml::Response.new(params[:SAMLResponse])
    response.settings = saml_settings

    if response.is_valid? && user = .users.find_by_email(response.name_id)
      authorize_success(user)
    else
      authorize_failure(user)
    end
  end

  private

  def saml_settings
    settings = Onelogin::Saml::Settings.new

    settings.assertion_consumer_service_url = "http://#{request.host}/saml/consume"
    settings.issuer                         = request.host
    settings.idp_sso_target_url             = "https://app.onelogin.com/saml/signon/#{OneLoginAppId}"
    settings.idp_cert_fingerprint           = OneLoginAppCertFingerPrint
    settings.name_identifier_format         = "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"

    settings
  end
end

If are using saml:AttributeStatement to transfare metadata, like the user name, you can access all the attributes through response.attributes. It contains all the saml:AttributeStatement with its ‘Name’ as a indifferent key and the one saml:AttributeValue as value.

response          = Onelogin::Saml::Response.new(params[:SAMLResponse])
response.settings = saml_settings

response.attributes[:username]

Full Example

Please check github.com/onelogin/ruby-saml-example for a very basic sample Rails application using this gem.

Note on Patches/Pull Requests

  • Fork the project.

  • Make your feature addition or bug fix.

  • Add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a future version unintentionally.

  • Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)

  • Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.