Duo Single Sign-On for Salesforce

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.

About Duo Single Sign-On

Duo Single Sign-On is our cloud-hosted SSO product which layers Duo's strong authentication and flexible policy engine on top of Salesforce logins. Duo Single Sign-On acts as an identity provider (IdP), authenticating your users using existing on-premises Active Directory (AD) or another SSO IdP. Duo SSO prompts users for two-factor authentication and performs endpoint assessment and verification before permitting access to Salesforce.

Duo Single Sign-On is available in 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 Salesforce. Duo checks the user, device, and network against an application's policy before allowing access to the application.

Configure Single Sign-On

Before configuring Salesforce with Duo SSO using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 authentication you'll first need to enable Duo Single Sign-On for your Duo account and configure a working authentication source.

Once you have your SSO authentication source working, continue to the next step of creating the Salesforce application in Duo.

Create the Salesforce Application in Duo

1. Log on to the Duo Admin Panel and navigate to Applications → Protect an Application.

2. Locate the entry for Salesforce with a protection type of "2FA with SSO hosted by Duo (Single Sign-On)" in the applications list. Click Protect to the far-right to start configuring Salesforce. See Protecting Applications for more information about protecting applications in Duo and additional application options. You'll need the information on the Salesforce page under Metadata later.

Duo Universal Prompt

The Duo Universal Prompt provides a simplified and accessible Duo login experience for web-based applications, offering a redesigned visual interface with security and usability enhancements.

Universal Prompt	Traditional Prompt

We've already updated the Duo Salesforce application hosted in Duo's service to support the Universal Prompt, so there's no action required on your part to update the application itself. If you created your Salesforce application before March 2024, you can activate the Universal Prompt experience for users from the Duo Admin Panel. Salesforce applications created after March 2024 have the Universal Prompt activated by default.

If you created your Salesforce application before March 2024, it's a good idea to read the Universal Prompt Update Guide for more information, about the update process and the new login experience for users, before you activate the Universal Prompt for your application.

Activate Universal Prompt

Activation of the Universal Prompt is a per-application change. Activating it for one application does not change the login experience for your other Duo applications.

The "Universal Prompt" area of the application details page shows that this application is "Ready to activate", with these activation control options:

• Show traditional prompt: Your users experience Duo's traditional prompt via redirect when logging in to this application.
• Show new Universal Prompt: (Default) Your users experience the Universal Prompt via redirect when logging in to this application.

The application's Universal Prompt status shows "Activation complete" here and on the Universal Prompt Update Progress report.

Should you ever want to roll back to the traditional prompt, you can return to this setting and change it back to Show traditional prompt. However, this will still deliver the Duo prompt via redirect, not in an iframe. Keep in mind that support for the traditional Duo prompt ended for the majority of applications in March 2024.

Universal Update Progress

Click the See Update Progress link to view the Universal Prompt Update Progress report. This report shows the update availability and migration progress for all your Duo applications. You can also activate the new prompt experience for multiple supported applications from the report page instead of visiting the individual details pages for each application.

Salesforce Custom Domain Requirement

Salesforce SSO requires a custom domain. If you don't already have a domain for your organization, create one.

1. Log on to your Salesforce site as an administrator.

2. If you're using the Salesforce Classic UI, navigate to Domain Management → My Domain. If you're using the Salesforce Lightning Experience UI, navigate to Setup → Settings → Company Settings → My Domain.

3. Enter a subdomain name, check for availability, and click Register Domain.

4. When your domain name becomes available, log out and back in as an administrator using your new domain. Navigate back to the "My Domain" page and click the Deploy to Users button.

For more information about creating a custom domain see Salesforce's My Domain help articles.

Enable SSO in Salesforce

Add Duo Single Sign-On as a new single sign-on provider in Salesforce.

1. Log on to your Salesforce site as an administrator.

2. In the Salesforce Classic UI, navigate to Security Controls → Single Sign-On Settings. In the Salesforce Lightning Experience UI, navigate to Setup → Settings → Identity → Single Sign-On Settings.

3. Click the Edit button. Select the SAML Enabled option and the Make Federation ID case-insensitive option. Click Save.

4. Click the New SAML Single Sign-on Settings button.

5. Enter a descriptive Name for the SSO configuration. Salesforce uses the name you enter here to populate the API Name.

6. Copy the Issuer from the Duo Admin Panel Metadata section and paste it into the Salesforce SSO Issuer field.

   Example: https://sso-abc1def2.sso.duosecurity.com/saml2/sp/DIABC123678901234567/metadata

7. Enter your Salesforce organization's custom domain (e.g. https://yourorg.my.salesforce.com) into the Entity ID field. Duo also needs the Salesforce domain URL to configure your Salesforce application later.

8. Click Download certificate next to "Identity Provider Certificate" on the Salesforce application's page in the Duo Admin Panel under Downloads to download the Duo Single Sign-On signing certificate. Upload the certificate to the Identity Provider Certificate section in Salesforce.

9. Leave the "Request Signing Certificate", "Request Signature Method", "Assertion Decryption Certificate", "SAML Identity Type", and "SAML Identity Location" settings at their default values for now.

10. Copy the Identity Provider Login URL from the Duo Admin Panel Metadata section and paste it into the Salesforce SSO Identity Provider Login URL field.

    Example: https://sso-abc1def2.sso.duosecurity.com/saml2/sp/DIABC123678901234567/sso

11. Copy the Identity Provider Logout URL from the Duo Admin Panel Metadata section and paste it into the Salesforce SSO Identity Provider Logout URL field.

    Example: https://sso-abc1def2.sso.duosecurity.com/saml2/sp/DIABC123678901234567/slo

12. After you've entered all the required information click the Save button.

    

Review the SSO details for correctness. Make note of the Entity ID and Login URL as you'll need to provide that information to Duo.

Update Salesforce Domain for SSO

Add your new Duo Single Sign-On provider to your Saleforce login page.

1. While logged in to the Salesforce admin site as an administrator navigate to Domain Management → My Domain (Salesforce Classic UI) or Setup → Settings → Company Settings → My Domain (Salesforce Lightning Experience UI).

2. Scroll down to the "Authentication Configuration" section of the "My Domain" page and click Edit.

3. Check the box for your Duo Single Sign-On SSO configuration in the Authentication Service setting. Click Save.

   

Update the Salesforce Application in Duo

1. Return to the Duo Admin Panel with the Salesforce application open. Find the Service Provider section.

2. Copy the Entity ID from the Salesforce SAML Single Sign-On Setting Detail page and enter it into the Entity ID field in the Duo Admin Panel.

3. Copy the Login URL from the Salesforce SAML Single Sign-On Setting Detail page and enter it into the Login URL field in the Duo Admin Panel.

4. Salesforce uses the Mail attribute when authenticating. We've mapped the <Email Address> bridge attribute to Duo Single Sign-On supported authentication source attributes as follows:

   Bridge Attribute	Active Directory	SAML IdP
   <Email Address>	mail	Email

   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. 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.

6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button.

Verify SSO

Navigate to your Salesforce custom domain. The login page for your domain now shows a button for Duo Single Sign-On authentication underneath the traditional username and password entry fields.

Clicking the SSO button redirects you to Duo Single Sign-On to begin authentication.

Active Directory Login

With Active Directory as the Duo SSO authentication source, enter the primary username (email address) on the Duo SSO login page and click or tap Next.

Enter the AD primary password and click or tap Log in to continue.

Enable Duo Passwordless to log in to Duo SSO backed by Active Directory authentication without entering a password in the future.

SAML Login

With another SAML identity provider as the Duo SSO authentication source, Duo SSO immediately redirects the login attempt to that SAML IdP for primary authentication. Users do not see the Duo SSO primary login screen.

Duo Authentication

Successful verification of your primary credentials by Active Directory or a SAML IdP redirects back to Duo. Complete Duo two-factor authentication when prompted and then you'll return to Salesforce to complete the login process.

* Universal Prompt experience shown.

To log in using the Salesforce mobile app, tap Use Custom Domain. Type your Salesforce custom domain URL https://yourorg.my.salesforce.com), and tap Continue. The app shows the Salesforce login page for your domain, including the button for Duo Single Sign-On authentication underneath the traditional username and password entry fields. Tap the SSO button redirects you to the Duo Single Sign-On login page. Complete primary and Duo authentication as you would in the browser to complete login on the Salesforce app.

You can also log into Salesforce using Duo Central, our cloud-hosted portal which allows users to access all of their applications in one spot. Link to Salesforce in Duo Central by adding it as an application tile. Once the tile has been added, log into Duo Central and click the tile for IdP-initiated authentication to Salesforce.

Congratulations! Your Salesforce users now authenticate using Duo Single Sign-On.

See the full user login experience, including expired password reset (available for Active Directory authentication sources) in the Duo End User Guide for SSO.

Next Steps

If you want all users logging in to Salesforce only via Duo Single Sign-On, edit the "Authentication Configuration" for your Salesforce domain and uncheck the Login Page authentication service option. You should also edit "My Domain Settings" and enable the "Prevent login from https://login.salesforce.com" option.

You can also log into Salesforce using Duo Central, our cloud-hosted portal which allows users to access all of their applications in one spot. Link to Salesforce in Duo Central by adding it as an application tile. Once the tile has been added, log into Duo Central and click the tile for IdP-initiated authentication to Salesforce.

Enable Remembered Devices

To minimize additional Duo two-factor prompts when switching between Salesforce and your other Duo Single Sign-On SAML applications, be sure to apply a shared "Remembered Devices" policy to your SAML applications.

Troubleshooting

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