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Duo Protection for Cisco Webex (with Control Hub) with Duo Access Gateway

Last Updated: February 15th, 2022

Duo offers a variety of methods for adding two-factor authentication and flexible security policies to Webex SSO logins, complete with inline self-service enrollment and Duo Prompt.

Duo Access Gateway reaches Last Day of Support on October 26, 2023 for Duo Essentials, Advantage, and Premier customers. As of that date Duo Support may only assist with the migration of existing Duo Access Gateway applications to Duo Single Sign-On. Customers may not create new DAG applications after May 19, 2022. Please see the Guide to Duo Access Gateway end of life for more details.

Use the Duo Single Sign-on for Webex application to protect Webex with Duo Single Sign-On, our cloud-hosted identity provider featuring Duo Central and the Duo Universal Prompt.

If your administrator login URL is https://admin.webex.com/login continue below. If your administrator login URL for Cisco Webex is https://yourdomain.webex.com/admin visit the documentation for Cisco Webex Meetings (with Site Admin).

These Webex clients support Trusted Endpoints:

  • Webex Meetings on Windows and macOS
  • Webex Teams 3.0.12427.0 and later on macOS with the Duo Certifier for macOS installed
  • Webex Teams 3.0.12427.0 and later on Windows

Overview

As business applications move from on-premises to cloud hosted solutions, users experience password fatigue due to disparate logons for different applications. Single sign-on (SSO) technologies seek to unify identities across systems and reduce the number of different credentials a user has to remember or input to gain access to resources.

While SSO is convenient for users, it presents new security challenges. If a user's primary password is compromised, attackers may be able to gain access to multiple resources. In addition, as sensitive information makes its way to cloud-hosted services it is even more important to secure access by implementing two-factor authentication and zero-trust policies.

Duo Access Gateway

Duo Access Gateway (DAG), our on-premises SSO product, layers Duo's strong authentication and flexible policy engine on top of Webex logins using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 authentication standard. Duo Access Gateway acts as an identity provider (IdP), authenticating your users using existing on-premises or cloud-based directory credentials and prompting for two-factor authentication before permitting access to Webex.

Duo Access Gateway is included in the Duo Premier, Duo Advantage, and Duo Essentials plans, which also include the ability to define policies that enforce unique controls for each individual SSO application. For example, you can require that Salesforce users complete two-factor authentication at every login, but only once every seven days when accessing Webex. Duo checks the user, device, and network against an application's policy before allowing access to the application.

Deploy or Update Duo Access Gateway

  1. Install Duo Access Gateway on a server in your DMZ. Follow our instructions for deploying the server, configuring DAG settings, and adding your primary authentication source.

  2. Add the attribute from the table below that corresponds to the Duo Mail attribute in the "Attributes" field when configuring your Active Directory or OpenLDAP authentication source in the DAG admin console. For example, if Active Directory is your authentication source, enter mail in the "Attributes" field.

    Duo Attribute Active Directory OpenLDAP
    Mail attribute mail mail

    If your organization uses another directory attribute than the ones listed here then enter that attribute name instead. If you've already configured the attributes list for another cloud service provider, append the additional attributes not already present to the list, separated by a comma.

  3. After completing the initial DAG configuration steps, click Applications on the left side of the Duo Access Gateway admin console.

  4. Scroll down the Applications page to the Metadata section. This is the information you need to provide to Webex when configuring SSO. Click the Download XML metadata link to obtain the DAG metadata file (the downloaded file is named "dag.xml").

    DAG Metadata Information

Download Your Cisco Webex Metadata File

  1. Log into Control Hub as an administrative user.

  2. Click on Settings in the left-hand navigation bar.

  3. Next to "Authentication" click Modify. A pop-up will appear with new options.

  4. On the "Single Sign-On" page select Integrate a 3rd-party identity provider. (Advanced) and click Next.

  5. On the "Export Directory Metadata" page click Download Metadata File. You'll need this file later.

  6. Leave this page open in a tab, you'll return to it later.

Create the Webex Application in Duo

  1. Log on to the Duo Admin Panel and navigate to Applications.

  2. Click Protect an Application and locate the entry for Cisco Webex (with Control Hub) with a protection type of "2FA with SSO self-hosted (Duo Access Gateway)" in the applications list. Click Protect to the far-right to start configuring Cisco Webex (with Control Hub). See Protecting Applications for more information about protecting applications in Duo and additional application options.

  3. Upload the metadata file you downloaded earlier to the XML File section.

  4. Webex uses the Mail attribute when authenticating. We've mapped Mail attribute to DAG supported authentication source attributes as follows:

    Duo Attribute Active Directory OpenLDAP SAML IdP Google Azure
    Mail attribute mail mail mail email mail

    If you are using a non-standard email attribute for your authentication source, check the Custom attributes box and enter the name of the attribute you wish to use instead.

  5. Click Save Configuration to generate a downloadable configuration file.

    Duo Webex Application Settings
  6. You can adjust additional settings for your new SAML application at this time — like changing the application's name from the default value, enabling self-service, or assigning a group policy — or come back and change the application's policies and settings after you finish SSO setup. If you do update any settings, click the Save Changes button when done.

  7. The XML File section should now display a green checkmark showing that it is configured. You can upload a new XML file in the future to override the existing one.

  8. Click the Download your configuration file link to obtain the Webex application settings (as a JSON file).

    Important: This file contains information that uniquely identifies this application to Duo. Secure this file as you would any other sensitive or password information. Don't share it with unauthorized individuals or email it to anyone under any circumstances!

Add the Webex Application to Duo Access Gateway

Before you do this, verify that you updated the "Attributes" list for your Duo Access Gateway authentication source as specified here.

  1. Return to the Applications page of the DAG admin console session.

  2. Click the Choose File button in the "Add Application" section of the page and locate the Webex SAML application JSON file you downloaded from the Duo Admin Panel earlier. Click the Upload button after selecting the JSON configuration file.

  3. The Webex SAML application is added.

    Webex Application Added

Configure Webex SSO in Control Hub

  1. Return to Control Hub as an administrative user.

  2. Continuing from where you were earlier on the "Export Directory Metadata" page click Next.

  3. On the "Import IdP Metadata" page drag your dag.xml file you downloaded earlier over to the page. Under "Signing of Metadata" select Allow self-signed certificate in Metadata. Click Next.

  4. On the "Test SSO Setup" page click Test SSO Connection. A new page will open and you’ll be redirected to login with the Duo Access Gateway by completing primary authentication and Duo second-factor. Upon successful login you’ll be taken to a page that says "Single Sign-on succeeded." Close this window and return to the Control Hub page.

  5. As long as the authentication was successful select The test was successful. Enable Single Sign On. and click **Next. If it was not successful, double-check instructions and settings. Do not continue until you get a successful test authentication.

  6. Once the settings successfully save you’ll return to the "Settings" page and SSO will be enabled for Webex.

    Webex Single Sign-On Setting Edit

Learn more about Webex SSO at Webex Help.

Verify SSO

You can log on by navigating to Webex Login. Type your e-mail address the text field and click Next. You'll be redirected to the Duo Access Gateway login page. Enter your primary directory logon information, approve Duo two-factor authentication, and get redirected back to the Webex site after authenticating.

DAG Login and Authentication Prompt

Congratulations! Your Webex users now authenticate using Duo Access Gateway.

Configure Allowed Hostnames

If you plan to permit use of WebAuthn authentication methods (security keys, U2F tokens, or Touch ID) in the traditional Duo Prompt, Duo recommends configuring allowed hostnames for this application and any others that show the inline Duo Prompt before onboarding your end-users.

The Duo Universal Prompt has built-in protection from unauthorized domains so this setting does not apply.

Users can also log in using their desktop and mobile app clients for Webex Meetings and Webex Teams.

Microsoft AD FS

Microsoft's Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) is a popular choice for SSO because it easily integrates with the AD identity store many organizations already have deployed. Duo's support for cloud applications and SSO drops in to an existing AD FS installation to provide secondary authentication after a user passes primary authentication (successful Active Directory logon).

If you don't already have AD federation running the first step is to install and configure Microsoft AD FS in your organization. Deployment Guides for AD FS versions 2.1, and 3.0/4.0 are available from Microsoft.

Once your AD FS services are up and running, the second step is to configure the SSO partnership between your AD FS service and the external cloud resource, in this case Webex. Learn more about configuring Webex SSO with AD FS at the Webex Help site.

After you have successfully configured and tested AD FS SSO login to Webex using your AD domain credentials, you can then install the Duo AD FS integration. AD FS protection is included with Duo's paid plans.

With the Duo integration for AD FS installed, users pass primary authentication to the AD FS service as usual. Once primary authentication succeeds, users are forwarded to the Duo service for secondary authentication. After approving logon using one of Duo's authentication methods, the user is fully logged in to Webex.

Other Identity Partners

Using a third-party SSO provider for cloud application access? Duo partners with leading cloud SSO providers like Okta and OneLogin to secure access with our strong and flexible authentication platform.

You can also use Duo two-factor authentication with CAS and Shibboleth on-premises IdPs.

Troubleshooting

Need some help? Try searching our Knowledge Base articles or Community discussions. For further assistance, contact Support.