Advice required for temp / agency staff
Hi All I hope you are well. Anyway, I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. We have Android devices in Entra Shared Device Mode (Multi App) which any of our employees with a valid UPN can logon to. All good there. What we need is a solution for temporary or agency staff. This would be staff that could be called on at very short notice and may not stay around for long. For security and audit reasons, we'd rather not create "userless" accounts. Is there anything in Entra / Entra Shared Device Mode that can achieve this? Info greatly appreciated. SK
ID token issued by AAD doesn't match public signing key
Hi, I've encountered an issue that ID tokens (JWT) issued by AAD do not match a public signing key. This is my JWKS url: https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flogin.microsoftonline.com%2F1d063515-6cad-4195-9486-ea65df456faa%2Fdiscovery%2Fv2.0%2Fkeys&data=02%7C01%7Cyu.kuang.lu%40LEGO.com%7C83d34dcb3e744cd9498508d8294edcdf%7C1d0635156cad41959486ea65df456faa%7C1%7C0%7C637304765982427993&sdata=9WgGhPx7T%2B9ngD3RSu6zT3ePFwIfr3IwKk2m9JiNAxE%3D&reserved=0 However the ID token I receive has a unmatched kid like below { "typ": "JWT", "alg": "RS256", "kid": "ylQQc6jLgNEIt8AMAPm8jR27QCE" } It's been working fine until a couple of days ago. It is mentioned somewhere that AAD rotates public keys but it seems tokens might be persisted without knowledge that the signing key has changed. However access token match one of the keys like { "typ": "JWT", "nonce": "ExKWqBKO2TvzbusXVkALk0RQhka3YiNxEKQg69gs27Q", "alg": "RS256", "x5t": "huN95IvPfehq34GzBDZ1GXGirnM", "kid": "huN95IvPfehq34GzBDZ1GXGirnM" } Is this the expected behaviour? AAD is my IDP and AWS Cognito is the auth server in my set up. Because of this issue, Cognito is unable to verify signature of ID tokens therefore users can sign in but cannot proceed further because of this. Has anyone come across a similar issue before?
Entra CBA Preview Bug: Issuer Scoping Policy fails group claim (AADSTS500191)
I am deploying a zero-trust, cloud-native Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA) architecture for a break-glass emergency access account in Microsoft Entra ID. I am intentionally bypassing Intune/MDM to prevent circular dependencies during an outage. The PKI is generated via OpenSSL (Offline Root CA -> Client Cert). The cryptography is flawless: - The OpenSSL chain verifies perfectly (openssl verify -CAfile...). - The Root SKI and Client AKI are a perfect 1:1 hex match. - The client cert EKU includes TLS Web Client Authentication. - The client cert SAN includes othername: UPN::[break-glass-UPN]. - The Root CA and CRL are uploaded to Entra and publicly accessible via Azure Blob Storage. The Issue: When I attempt to restrict the Root CA using the "Certificate issuer scoping policy (Preview)" targeted to a specific Security Group (e.g., sg_cba), the TLS handshake drops and Entra throws: Error: AADSTS500191: The certificate authority that issued your certificate has not been set up in the tenant. Troubleshooting Performed: 1. Group Architecture: Verified via Microsoft Graph that the user is a direct, static member of sg_cba (Security Enabled, non-dynamic, not nested). 2. Micro-Group Bypass: Created a brand-new cloud-only micro-group with only the break-glass user. Waited for replication. Same 500191 error. 3. The Control Test (Success): If I completely remove the Preview scoping policy and move the targeting to the Generally Available (GA) tenant-wide trust ("All Users"), the login succeeds immediately. (I am securing this via High-Affinity binding matching the SKI to CertificateUserIDs). The Ask: Because the tenant-wide GA policy works perfectly, it mathematically proves the certificates, CRL, and bindings are correct. The failure is entirely isolated to the Preview scoping engine failing to correlate the incoming certificate to the Security Group claim fast enough. - Has anyone successfully deployed the "Certificate issuer scoping policy (Preview)" using a targeted security group without it dropping the trust? - Are there undocumented constraints on group evaluation during the CBA TLS handshake that cause this Preview feature to fail closed?
Introducing the Entra Helpdesk Portal: A Zero-Trust, Dockerized ITSM Interface for Tier 1 Support
Hello everyone, If you manage identity in Microsoft Entra ID at an enterprise scale, you know the struggle: delegating day-to-day operational tasks (like password resets, session revocations, and MFA management) to Tier 1 and Tier 2 support staff is inherently risky. The native Azure/Entra portal is incredibly powerful, but it’s complex and lacks mandatory ITSM enforcement. Giving a helpdesk technician the "Helpdesk Administrator" role grants them access to a portal where a single misclick can cause a major headache. To solve this, I’ve developed the Entra Helpdesk Portal (Community Edition)—an open-source, containerized application designed to act as an isolated "airlock" between your support team and your Entra ID tenant. Why This Adds Value to Your Tenant Instead of having technicians log into the Azure portal, they log into this clean, Material Design web interface. It leverages a backend Service Principal (using MSAL and the Graph API) to execute commands on their behalf. Strict Zero Trust: Logging in via Microsoft SSO isn’t enough. The app intercepts the token and checks the user’s UPN against a hardcoded ALLOWED_ADMINS whitelist in your Docker environment file. Mandatory ITSM Ticketing: You cannot enforce ticketing in the native Azure Portal. In this app, every write action prompts a modal requiring a valid ticket number (e.g., INC-123456). Local Audit Logging: All actions, along with the actor, timestamp, and ticket number, are written to an immutable local SQLite database (audit.db) inside the container volume. Performance: Heavy Graph API reads are cached in-memory with a Time-To-Live (TTL) and smart invalidation. Searching for users or loading Enterprise Apps takes milliseconds. What Can It Do? Identity Lifecycle: Create users, auto-generate secure 16-character passwords, revoke sign-in sessions, reset passwords, and delete specific MFA methods to force re-registration. Diagnostics: View a user's last 5 sign-in logs, translating Microsoft error codes into plain English. Group Management: Add/remove members to Security and M365 groups. App/SPN Management: Lazy-load raw requiredResourceAccess Graph API payloads to audit app permissions, and instantly rotate client secrets. Universal Restore: Paste the Object ID of any soft-deleted item into the Recycle Bin tab to instantly resurrect it. How Easy Is It to Setup? I wanted this to be universally deployable, so I compiled it as a multi-architecture Docker image (linux/amd64 and linux/arm64). It will run on a massive Windows Server or a simple Raspberry Pi. Setup takes less than 5 minutes: Create an App Registration in Entra ID and grant it the necessary Graph API Application Permissions (e.g., User.ReadWrite.All, AuditLog.Read.All). Create a docker-compose.yml file. Define your feature toggles. You can literally turn off features (like User Deletion) by setting an environment variable to false. version: '3.8' services: helpdesk-portal: image: jahmed22/entra-helpdesk:latest container_name: entra_helpdesk restart: unless-stopped ports: - "8000:8000" environment: # CORE IDENTITY - TENANT_ID=your_tenant_id_here - CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_here - CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_here - BASE_URL=https://entradesk.jahmed.cloud - ALLOWED_ADMINS=email address removed for privacy reasons # CUSTOMIZATION & FEATURE FLAGS - APP_NAME=Entra Help Desk - ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET=true - ENABLE_MFA_MANAGEMENT=true - ENABLE_USER_DELETION=false - ENABLE_GROUP_MANAGEMENT=true - ENABLE_APP_MANAGEMENT=true volumes: - entra_helpdesk_data:/app/static/uploads - entra_helpdesk_db:/app volumes: entra_helpdesk_data: entra_helpdesk_db: 4.Run docker compose up -d and you are done! I built this to give back to the community and help secure our Tier 1 operations. If you are interested in testing it out in your dev tenants or want to see the full architecture breakdown, you can read the complete documentation on my website here I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any feature requests you might have!
Can External ID (CIAM) federate to an Azure AD/Entra ID tenant using SAML?
What I'm trying to achieve I'm setting up SAML federation FROM my External ID tenant (CIAM) TO a partner's Entra ID tenant (regular organizational tenant) for a hybrid CIAM/B2B setup where: Business users authenticate via their corporate accounts (OIDC or SAML) Individual customers use username/password or social providers (OIDC) Tenant details / Terminology: CIAM tenant: External ID tenant for customer-facing applications IdP tenant: Example Partner's organizational Entra ID tenant with business accounts Custom domain: mycustomdomain.com (example domain for the IdP tenant) Configuration steps taken Step 1: IdP Tenant (Entra ID) - Created SAML App Set up Enterprise App with SAML SSO Entity ID: https://login.microsoftonline.com/<CIAM_TENANT_ID>/ Reply URL: https://<CIAM_TENANT_ID>.ciamlogin.com/login.srf NameID: Persistent format Claim mapping: emailaddress → user.mail Step 2: CIAM Tenant (External ID) - Added SAML IdP (Initially imported from the SAML metadata URL from the above setup) Federating domain: mycustomdomain.com Issuer URI: https://sts.windows.net/<IDP_TENANT_ID>/ Passive endpoint: https://login.microsoftonline.com/mycustomdomain.com/saml2 DNS TXT record added: DirectFedAuthUrl=https://login.microsoftonline.com/mycustomdomain.com/saml2 Step 3: Attached to User Flow Added SAML IdP to user flow under "Other identity providers" Saved configuration and waited for propagation The problem It doesn't work. When testing via "Run user flow": No SAML button appears (should display "Sign in with mycustomdomain") Entering email address removed for privacy reasons doesn't trigger federation The SAML provider appears configured but never shows up in the actual flow Also tried using the tenant GUID in the passive endpoint instead of the domain - same result My question Is SAML federation from External ID to regular Entra ID tenants actually possible? I know OIDC federation to Microsoft tenants is (currently, august 2025) explicitly blocked (microsoftonline.com domains are rejected). Is SAML similarly restricted? The portal lets me configure everything without throwing any errors, but it never actually works. Am I missing something in my configuration? The documentation for this use case is limited and I've had to piece together the setup from various sources. Or is this a fundamental limitation where External ID simply can't federate to ANY Microsoft tenant regardless of the protocol used?Display On-prem Password Policy on SSPR Page
Hi All We are beginning to rollout SSPR with on-prem writeback. So far so good. Is there a way we can display our on-prem password policy requirements on the SSPR screen? I have seen the MS docs, but can't really make any sense of them so any help would be greatly appreciated. SK
Orphaned TPM-bound Entra Workplace Join device — no tenant access, backend deletion required
I have a personal Windows device that remains stuck in a TPM-protected Workplace Join to a former Microsoft Entra ID tenant. I no longer have tenant access and am not an admin. Local remediation completed: - dsregcmd /leave executed as SYSTEM - All MS-Organization / AAD certificates removed - Device still reports WorkplaceJoined : YES Azure Support ticket creation fails with: AADSTS160021 – interaction_required Application requested a user session which does not exist. Tenant inaccessible / user not present in tenant. This is an orphaned Entra ID device object. Requesting guidance or escalation for backend deletion. Tenant ID: 99f9b903-8447-4711-a2df-c5bd1ad1adf7 Device ID: f47987f4-a20b-4c34-a5f7-40ab0f593c6cEntra Enterprise apps and App registrations - Global Secure Access - Conditional Access Block
I am working on a rollout for Global Secure Access and ran into an issue with Entra Enterprise apps setup in the tenant. With Global Secure Access I have a Conditional Access Policy set to Block access to All Resources excluding some resources like Intune and Defender tap required for mobile setup. When I added an administrator account which had done some Enterprise application setup and authorization for various third-party applications, those third-party applications stopped working with failed logins indicating token access issues. Upon review I found the majority of applications to be using client secret authentication with this administrator account as the authorizer. My limited knowledge of Enterprise apps leads me to believe this client secret is an application password that the third-party uses to keep generating tokens based on the authorizing account. My questions surrounding this setup and further understanding are mainly in relation to how Enterprise apps and app registrations authenticate, as well as user authentication directly. 1. How does the token authorization work? Does the application just use the client secret to authenticate as the user who authorized it to generate an access token? Why does MFA requirements and changing passwords not affect this but specific Block policy does? 2. What are best practices in relation to authorizing third-party applications? My thoughts are a dedicated account to authorize applications when needed. 3. How will this work with applications regular users use? Say a user has a digital notebook that syncs with their OneNote or a calendar app that syncs calendars between Outlook and their website. Do these applications also use client secrets with the user's token and will break when added to the GSA setup I have? Is the only way around this to authorize with an admin account for token issuance? Thank you for your time reading this and any insight you may have for any of the questions or ideas mentioned.
External (guest) users can't access my registered application
We have a FileMaker application registered with Entra ID, using OAuth, for internal and external (guests) users in my organization. Since January 19th, external users have been encountering a different authentication process, which results in a 404 error (see images below). No changes were made to the Entra ID or the application configurations before this change in behaviour. It seems that logging in to a personal account results in an incorrect token for the redirect URL, which does not happen when logging in with organizational accounts.
