Shibboleth Debug Logging - Revision history

Drn@ecs.soton.ac.uk: /* Decoding a CipherValue */

2025-11-17T13:27:02Z

‎Decoding a CipherValue

Drn@ecs.soton.ac.uk: Added instructions for how to decode SAML message

2025-11-17T13:26:05Z

Added instructions for how to decode SAML message

LukeWallin at 11:28, 17 November 2025

2025-11-17T11:28:06Z

Drn@ecs.soton.ac.uk: /* Debugging User Attributes Mapping Issues */

2025-11-17T11:10:24Z

‎Debugging User Attributes Mapping Issues

Drn@ecs.soton.ac.uk: Added some basic debug instructions, mainly for user attribute mapping

2025-11-17T11:09:11Z

Added some basic debug instructions, mainly for user attribute mapping

New page

As described on the main [[Shibboleth] page. EPrints uses the Shibboleth Service Provider (SP) provided by shibboleth.net. This includes a logger that can be configured at '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and which logs to '''/var/log/shibboleth/shibd.log'''. This typically only logs errors and warnings and the occasionally informationl log message, typically when starting or stopping. However, if you are having problems with the Shibboleth SP, particularly when setting up, it may be useful to enable debug. To do this

1. Edit the '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and uncomment the following lines:
# tracing of SAML messages and security policies
#log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageDecoder=DEBUG
#log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageEncoder=DEBUG
#log4j.category.OpenSAML.SecurityPolicyRule=DEBUG
#log4j.category.XMLTooling.SOAPClient=DEBUG
# interprocess message remoting
#log4j.category.Shibboleth.Listener=DEBUG
# mapping of requests to applicationId
#log4j.category.Shibboleth.RequestMapper=DEBUG
# high level session cache operations
#log4j.category.Shibboleth.SessionCache=DEBUG
# persistent storage and caching
#log4j.category.XMLTooling.StorageService=DEBUG
So they look like
# tracing of SAML messages and security policies
log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageDecoder=DEBUG
log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageEncoder=DEBUG
log4j.category.OpenSAML.SecurityPolicyRule=DEBUG
log4j.category.XMLTooling.SOAPClient=DEBUG
# interprocess message remoting
log4j.category.Shibboleth.Listener=DEBUG
# mapping of requests to applicationId
log4j.category.Shibboleth.RequestMapper=DEBUG
# high level session cache operations
log4j.category.Shibboleth.SessionCache=DEBUG
# persistent storage and caching
log4j.category.XMLTooling.StorageService=DEBUG

2. Test the Shibboleth SP is correctly configured
shibd -t

3. Restart the Shibboleth SP
systemctl restart shibd

There is various debugging that has been enabled by these changes. Particularly useful are the first two line:
log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageDecoder=DEBUG
log4j.category.OpenSAML.MessageEncoder=DEBUG
This will allow you to see the XML messages sent to and from the Shibboleth Identity Provider (IdP), such as MicroSoft Entra or OpenAthens.

== Debugging User Attributes Mapping Issues ==
This debugging can be particularly useful if you are trying to work attributes in your attribute-map.xml are not being mapped as expected. If you tail the log file '''/var/log/shibboleth/shibd.log''' and then try to login using the Shibboleth, you should see a line in the logs that starts:
<samlp:Response ...
If you copy the whole of that line into a text file in /tmp/ and save it. Then you can run xmllint on it to format the output. E.g.
xmllint --format /tmp/saml-response.xml
If attributes are being mapped, in the formatted output you should be able to see section that starts with an '''AttributeStatment''' XML tag. E.g.
<AttributeStatement>
<Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/tenantid">
<AttributeValue>01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/objectidentifier">
<AttributeValue>fedcba98-7654-3210-fedc-ba9876543210</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/identityprovider">
<AttributeValue>https://sts.windows.net/89abcdef-0123-4567-89ab-cdef01234567/</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/authnmethodsreferences">
<AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/authenticationmethod/password</AttributeValue>
<AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/multipleauthn</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3">
<AttributeValue>j.bloggs@example.org</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.4">
<AttributeValue>Bloggs</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
<Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.42">
<AttributeValue>Joe</AttributeValue>
</Attribute>
</AttributeStatement>
If you cannot find users attributes you are expecting to see based on what you have configurured in your Shibboleth SP's attribute-map.xml, then you will need to get the maintainer of Shibboleth IdP to make sure these attributes are released or otherwise release attributes that store the sane user metadata. At this point you can re-run this debugging to see what user attributes you are now getting and update your Shibboleth SP's attribute-map.xml as appropriate.

'''When you have finished debugging. It is sensible to comment out the debug lines in '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' again and restart the Shibboleth SP.'''

@@ Line 89: / Line 89: @@
   pip install PyCryptodome
-. Now you can run the script.  (It is assumed that your key is in the default location for the Shibboleth SP.  Check this is correct according to the CredentialResolver tag in /etc/shibboleth/shibboleth2.xml).
+. Now you can run the script.  (It is assumed that your key is in the default location for the Shibboleth SP.  Check this is correct according to the CredentialResolver tag in /etc/shibboleth/shibboleth2.xml.  If you have a separate encryption and signing key, be sure to use the encryption one in the command below).
   cat /tmp/saml-response.xml | python decrypt_saml_response.py -k /etc/shibboleth/sp-key.pem -p

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:28, 17 November 2025
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	As described on the main [[Shibboleth] page. EPrints uses the Shibboleth Service Provider (SP) provided by shibboleth.net. This includes a logger that can be configured at '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and which logs to '''/var/log/shibboleth/shibd.log'''. This typically only logs errors and warnings and the occasionally informationl log message, typically when starting or stopping. However, if you are having problems with the Shibboleth SP, particularly when setting up, it may be useful to enable debug. To do this	+	As described on the main [[Shibboleth]] page. EPrints uses the Shibboleth Service Provider (SP) provided by shibboleth.net. This includes a logger that can be configured at '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and which logs to '''/var/log/shibboleth/shibd.log'''. This typically only logs errors and warnings and the occasionally informationl log message, typically when starting or stopping. However, if you are having problems with the Shibboleth SP, particularly when setting up, it may be useful to enable debug. To do this

	1. Edit the '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and uncomment the following lines:		1. Edit the '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' and uncomment the following lines:

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 If you copy the whole of that line into a text file in /tmp/ and save it.  Then you can run xmllint on it to format the output.  E.g.
   xmllint --format /tmp/saml-response.xml
-If attributes are being mapped, in the formatted output you should be able to see section that starts with an '''AttributeStatment''' XML tag.  E.g.
+If attributes are being mapped, in the formatted output you should be able to see section that starts with an '''AttributeStatment''' XML tag  (However, if you don't see this, then your data may be encrypted as a '''CipherValue''' under '''CipherData'''.  if so, follow the instructions under [[#Decoding a CipherValue|Decoding a CipherValue]] .  E.g.
   <AttributeStatement>
     <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/tenantid">
@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 '''When you have finished debugging.  It is sensible to comment out the debug lines in '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' again and restart the Shibboleth SP.'''

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
     <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/tenantid">
       <AttributeValue>01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/objectidentifier">
+   <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/objectidentifier">
-        <AttributeValue>fedcba98-7654-3210-fedc-ba9876543210</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>fedcba98-7654-3210-fedc-ba9876543210</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/identityprovider">
+   <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/identity/claims/identityprovider">
-        <AttributeValue>https://sts.windows.net/89abcdef-0123-4567-89ab-cdef01234567/</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>https://sts.windows.net/89abcdef-0123-4567-89ab-cdef01234567/</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/authnmethodsreferences">
+   <Attribute Name="http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/authnmethodsreferences">
-        <AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/authenticationmethod/password</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/authenticationmethod/password</AttributeValue>
-        <AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/multipleauthn</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>http://schemas.microsoft.com/claims/multipleauthn</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3">
+   <Attribute Name="urn:oid:0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3">
-        <AttributeValue>j.bloggs@example.org</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>j.bloggs@example.org</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.4">
+   <Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.4">
-        <AttributeValue>Bloggs</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>Bloggs</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-      <Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.42">
+   <Attribute Name="urn:oid:2.5.4.42">
-        <AttributeValue>Joe</AttributeValue>
+     <AttributeValue>Joe</AttributeValue>
-      </Attribute>
+   </Attribute>
-    </AttributeStatement>
+ </AttributeStatement>
 If you cannot find users attributes you are expecting to see based on what you have configurured in your Shibboleth SP's attribute-map.xml, then you will need to get the maintainer of Shibboleth IdP to make sure these attributes are released or otherwise release attributes that store the sane user metadata.  At this point you can re-run this debugging to see what user attributes you are now getting and update your Shibboleth SP's attribute-map.xml as appropriate.
 '''When you have finished debugging.  It is sensible to comment out the debug lines in '''/etc/shibboleth/shibd.logger''' again and restart the Shibboleth SP.'''