Mechanisms to use network session identifiers for software-as-a-service authentication

• US 8,949,938 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2011
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sowatskey, Nathan, Cam-Winget, Nancy, Thomson, Susan E., Jones, David, Ansari, Morteza, Wierenga, Klaas, Salowey, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Traore, Fatoumata
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Khoi
• Application Number:
  US13/282,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20130111549A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263

Abstract

Techniques are provided for authenticating a subject of a client device to access a software-as-a-service (SaaS) server. A network access device receives a request from a client device to establish a network session and transfers identity information of the subject, the client device and the network session to a session directory database. A request is sent to access an application on a SaaS server. If it does not contain an identity assertion that identifies the subject, the request is redirected to an identity provider device (IdP), to provide identity assertion services to the subject. A network session identifier is inserted into the request by a network access device and the request is forwarded to the IdP. The IdP uses the network session identifier to query the session directory database for the identity information to be used for a security assertion of the subject to the SaaS server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a network access device of a network, receiving a request from a client device to establish a network session to access a server;

sending identity information of the client device to a session directory database that is configured to store identity information of a plurality of client devices associated with the network access device;

receiving a request from the client device to access an identity provider device that provides identity assertion services to the client device, wherein the identity assertion services include identity and context information associated with a subject of the client device;

obtaining from the session directory database a unique network session identifier that identifies a network session and the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device to access the network session;

inserting the network session identifier into the request from the client device to access the identity provider device such that the network session identifier is available only to the identity provider device and the network session identifier is not revealed to the subject of the client device; and

forwarding the request with the inserted network session identifier to the identity provider device, wherein the identity provider device generates an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, where the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server, and the identity provider device forwards the encrypted security assertion to the client device for insertion into a request from the client device to access the server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authenticating the subject of the client device to obtain authentication information associated with the subject of the client device; and

sending the authentication information associated with the subject of the client device to the session directory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a request comprises receiving a uniform resource locator (URL) request from the client device to access the identity provider device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the URL request comprises receiving the URL request as a result of a redirect from an identity boundary device in response to a client device requesting access to application services outside of the enterprise network.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein inserting comprises inserting the network session identifier information to a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) header of the URL request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting comprises inserting the network session identifier that comprises a pseudorandom number that is unique to the network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving comprises receiving the request originating from a subject of the client device to access the identity provider device.

8. A method comprising:

at an identity provider device in a network that provides identity assertion services, receiving a request, from a network access device originating from a client device seeking to access a server, to access the identity provider device, wherein the identity assertion services include identity and context information associated with a subject of the client device;

extracting a network session identifier from the request, wherein the network session identifier is unique to the network access device and uniquely identifies a network session for the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device;

querying a session directory database to obtain information associated with the network session identifier;

receiving from the session directory database the information associated with the network session identifier that uniquely identifies the subject;

generating an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, using the information associated with the network session identifier, wherein the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server; and

sending the encrypted security assertion to the client device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the request comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) request from the network access device originating from the client device for the client device to access the identity provider device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein extracting comprises extracting the network session identifier from a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) header of the URL request.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein generating comprises generating a security assertion markup language (SAML) assertion.

12. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive a request from a client device in a network to establish a network session to request access to a server;

send identity information of the client device to a session directory database that is configured to store identity information of a plurality of client devices associated with the network access device;

receive a request from the client device to access an identity provider device that provides identity assertion services to the client device, wherein the identity assertion services include identity and context information associated with a subject of the client device;

obtain from the session directory database a unique network session identifier that identifies a network session and the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device to access the network session;

insert the network session identifier into the request from the client device to access the identity provider device such that the network session identifier is available only to the identity provider device and the network session identifier is not revealed to the subject of the client device; and

forward the request with the inserted network session identifier to the identity provider device, wherein the identity provider device generates an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, where the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server, and the identity provider device forwards the encrypted security assertion to the client device for insertion into a request from the client device to access the server.

13. The computer readable storage media of claim 12, further comprising instructions operable to:

authenticate subject of the client device to obtain authentication information associated with the subject of the client device; and

send the authentication information associated with the subject of the client device to the session directory.

14. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions and when the software is executed operable to:

receive an access request, from a network access device and originating from a client device seeking to access a server, to access an identity provider device, wherein the identity provider device provides identity assertion services which include identity and context information associated with a subject of the client device;

extract a network session identifier from the request, wherein the network session identifier is unique to the network access device and uniquely identifies a network session for the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device;

query a session directory database to obtain information associated with the network session identifier;

receive from the session directory database the information associated with the network session identifier from the session directory;

generate an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, using the information associated with the network session identifier, wherein the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server; and

send the encrypted security assertion to the client device.

15. The computer readable storage media of claim 14, further comprising instructions operable to determine after receiving the request from the network access device whether the request contains network session identifier information to be extracted from the request.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface unit configured to enable communications over a network;

a switch unit coupled to the network interface unit;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the switch unit and the memory and configured to;

receive a request from a client device to establish a network session to access a server;

send identity information of the client device to a session directory database that is configured to store identity information of a plurality of client devices;

receive a request from the client device to access an identity provider device that provides identity assertion services to the client device, wherein the identity assertion services include identity and context information associated with a subject of the client device;

obtain from the session directory database a unique network session identifier that identifies a network session and identifies the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device to access the network session;

insert the network session identifier into the request from the client device to access the identity provider device such that the network session identifier is available only to the identity provider device and the network session identifier is not revealed to the subject of the client device; and

forward the request with the inserted network session identifier to the identity provider device to cause the identity provider device to generate an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, where the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server, and the identity provider device forwards the encrypted security assertion to the client device for insertion into a request from the client device to access the server.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

authenticate the subject of the client device to obtain authentication information associated with the subject of the client device; and

send the authentication information associated with the subject of the client device to the session directory.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface unit configured to enable communications over a network;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the network interface unit and the memory and configured to;

receive a request from a network access device, originating from a client device seeking to access a server;

extract a network session identifier from the request, wherein the network session identifier is unique to the network access device and uniquely identifies a network session for the subject of the client device that has authenticated with the network access device;

query a session directory database to obtain information associated with the network session identifier;

receive from the session directory database the information associated with the network session identifier from the session directory;

generate an encrypted security assertion of an identity of a user associated with the network session, using the information associated with the network session identifier wherein the encrypted security assertion is signed using a certificate shared by the identity provider device and the server; and

send the encrypted security assertion to the client device.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to determine, after receiving the request from the network access device, whether the request contains network session identifier information to be extracted from the request.