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SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Architecture

SSO Fundamentals

Single Sign-On (SSO) allows users to authenticate once and access multiple applications without re-entering credentials. It improves security by centralizing authentication and reducing password fatigue.

SAML 2.0

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is the mature standard for enterprise SSO:

AssertionConsumerServiceURL="https://app.example.com/saml/acs"

Destination="https://idp.example.com/saml/sso"

IssueInstant="2026-05-12T10:00:00Z">

https://app.example.com

Format="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress"/>

SAML response parsing

from signxml import XMLVerifier

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

def parse_saml_response(response_xml):

Verify the signature

verified_data = XMLVerifier().verify(response_xml).signed_xml

Extract attributes

ns = {"saml2": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"}

root = ET.fromstring(verified_data)

attributes = {}

for attr in root.findall(".//saml2:Attribute", ns):

name = attr.get("Name")

values = [v.text for v in attr.findall("saml2:AttributeValue", ns)]

attributes[name] = values

return attributes

OpenID Connect (OIDC)

OIDC is the modern SSO protocol built on OAuth2:

// OIDC client configuration

const { Issuer } = require("openid-client");

async function configureOIDC() {

const issuer = await Issuer.discover("https://accounts.example.com");

const client = new issuer.Client({

client_id: process.env.CLIENT_ID,

client_secret: process.env.CLIENT_SECRET,

redirect_uris: ["https://app.example.com/callback"],

response_types: ["code"],

token_endpoint_auth_method: "client_secret_basic"

});

return client;

}

// Generate authentication URL

async function login(req, res) {

const client = await configureOIDC()

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