Are these saml request-response good enough? - single-sign-on

Question

I have set up a single sign on(SSO) for my services. All the services confirm the identity of the user using the IDPorvider(IDP). In my case I am also the IDP.
In my saml request, I have included the following:
1. the level for which auth. is required.
2. the consumer url
3. the destination service url.
4. Issuer
Then, encrypting this message with the SP's(service provider) private key and then with the IDP's Public key. Then I am sending this request.
The IDP on receiving the request, first decrypts with his own private key and then with SP's public key. In the saml response:
1. destination url
2. Issuer
3. Status of the response
Is this good enough? Please give your suggestions?

Answer 1

In general it goes something like this. There is encryption and then there is singing in SAML. You never want to be in production without digital signature sbeing used for SAML. You can disable signature processing for testing purposes I suppose. We alow this in SiteMinder Federation Servcies (SMFSS) for testing purposes only. So, with that being said you're not saying anything about digital signatures and are only talking about encryption.
But here is a rundown of the two in my own very dumbed down description which although I sound silly with the way I explain it I am hoping it will help you. And if you already know this I apologize in advance. One more thing is that this is very basic but you can get more details on google searching for encrytpion, decryption, certificates, etc.
Actually, here is a rundown of what I use to train new support folks for Federation with SMFSS (SiteMinder Federation Services) and at the end is the section I wrote on certs. This was just something I wrote up very quickly and is not very slick looking but it defintiely gets the job done, and quickly. It was written as sort of a copy of what I do with POC SAML 2.0 POST customers who already have SiteMinder setup. I just figured I would give you this since it has a lot of tools you may find useful once you get going in case you were not aware of them already. ;-)
You will need two environments with Agent, Agent OP, Policy Server, Policy Server OP. Need two agents so one can be IDP and one SP.
To set up Agent Option Pack see:
Chapter 8: Federation Web Services Application Setup & Deploy Federation Web Services as a Web Application & Configure ServletExec to Work with Federation Web Services
Now set up the SAML 2.0 POST authentication: You should use the following as it is step by step. But first see the chapter on settings that must match as they need to match for the IDP and SP sides. The chapters below for IDP and SP set up are pretty much step by step, really, Follow 14 and 16 step by step and you’re good to go.
Chapter 22: Configuration Settings that Must Use the Same Values
Then use this to set up the IDP and SP:
Chapter 14: Configure SiteMinder as a SAML 2.0 Identity Provider
Chapter 16: Configure SiteMinder as a SAML 2.0 Service Provider
Run your SAML 2.0 transaction and get a Fiddler Trace of it. Pull out the certs and create a .cer file. Pull out the assertion and check the XML online using the tools below.
Set up Fiddler Tool and make sure you have HTTPS Decryption enabled. I had the link here but just go to gllgle and type in "Fiddler Tool HTTPS decryption" and you'll get it.
Used to review the URL posted or redirected with SAML transactions taken out of Fiddler Usually:
https://rnd.feide.no/simplesaml/module.php/saml2debug/debug.php
I have used this one multiple times to validate XML (the assertion) when I get parsing errors or other errors with partners saying our assertion is not good or if we have a partners assertion that is not good. I like to check the syntax first and if that is fine then check SAML specs to see if they have correct values in the SAML assertion itself. In other words make sure it is SAML compliant.
http://www.w3schools.com/dom/dom_validate.asp
HINT: You can take the base 64 encoded cert info out of our logs or the Fiddler Traces and paste to a notepad and save it as name.cer. Then when you open this file you can look at the cert the customer is using. This is helpful because then you can see if they have the right cert and see who their Root CA is or their intermediate Root CA. Make sure you get all the data including the = or == that may be at the end of the lines for the cert info.
When performing SLO or Artifact the partner will need to connect on the back channel to a web server on the other partners site. When this happens the Web Server being connected to is being served over SSL/HTTPS. This means that the one connecting to that server must have the ROOT CA cert which signed the web sever’s cert in it’s keystore. The theory of this is the same as when you open a browser and connect to an HTTPS web server. All browsers come with the major Root CA certs already imported into them. The whole point of this is that when you put a cert on a web server it is not really for protection it is to let anyone who connects know that you really are that website and really are who you say you are. The fact that you have a cert makes your site be HTTPS and the reason you believe they are who they say they are is that they give you their cert when you connect and if you have the ROOT CA for that cert on the website then this means you trust their ROOT CA. if you trust their ROOT CA then you can connect. If you do not have the ROOT CA cert imported into your browser then you can not connect over SSL/HTTPS to that webserver.
**Encryption and Decryption (if a packet is reads off the wire then the data is encrypted for safety of packet data):
Encryption is done on the IDP side and you can encrypt the entire assertion, NameID value, Attributes and perhaps more?
Encryption is done on the IDP side using the PUBLIC Key Certificate (SP’s cert) which is given to the IDP offline by the SP.
When the SP gets the assertion (or whatever the IDP encrypted) then it must have it’s private key in it’s keystore so that it can decrypt the data and read it. This is the decryption.
The reason this is secure and protects the data is that ONLY the SP should have their own PRIVATE key. Thus if this packet was stolen no one can decrypt it but them.
***Signing and verification – This is not SECURE as it does not encrypt the data. It is not meant to be secure for the packets it is meant to tell someone you really are who you say you are. So if you sign and assertion your partner will know it came from the IDP they expected it to come from.
The IDP must use their public/private key PAIR to sign the data.
The SP must use the IDP’s PUBLIC key (given to the SP offline) to verify the signature. The reason you know the data is from that IDP is that ONLY data signed with the IDP’s private key and be decrypted with their public key. In other words, you can’t pretend you are that IDP and send signed data to the SP and get them to think it is the IDP because the public key for the IDP can only be used to verify things signed with the matching private key. This proves you are who you say you are.
end silly technote I wrote**
I hope you find the certs info and tools useful in your future SAML endeavours! Happy Federating!
update - I was not able to post all the links but some were just base 64 decryption as it will allow me to post only two I am posting the most needed two.
Thanks!
Crissy Stone
CA Technologies SiteMinder Support