How to enable auth_fallback functionality when using SSO in Bitbucket Data Center

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Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the server and data center platforms.

Summary

When making SSO configuration changes or when setting up SSO for the first time, it's possible that a faulty or bad configuration could effectively lock out all users from the application if the SSO provider is set as the primary authentication method. This is because the users will be automatically sent to the non-functioning SSO provider login page, with no ability to access the local Bitbucket Server/Data Center login form.

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to enable and use Authentication Fall Back for SSO in Bitbucket Server, which will allow you to access a special fallback URL in order to log in locally and access the application and repair/disable the SSO configuration currently setup for the environment.

Environment

Solution (SSO for Atlassian Server and Data Center 7.12 onwards)


Click here to expand...

In order to make use of the auth_fallback functionality, the allow-redirect-override flag needs to be enabled via REST API. This can be done with other REST clients or via cURL, but the following is a user-friendly approach:

(warning) Add the contextPath only if you have a context path like /bitbucket in your Bitbucket Base URL. For example https://mycompany.com:443/bitbucketYou can set the context path for Bitbucket Server if you are running another Atlassian application, or Java web application, at the same hostname and context path as Bitbucket Server.

This should return something like the following after clicking SEND:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "SAML_Okta",
      "enabled": true,
      "certificate": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX\XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX==\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----",
      "sso-type": "SAML",
      "include-customer-logins": false,
      "enable-remember-me": true,
      "jit-configuration": {
        "user-provisioning-enabled": false,
        "mapping-display-name": "",
        "mapping-email": "",
        "mapping-groups": "",
        "additional-openid-scopes": []
      },
      "button-text": "IdP login",
      "idp-type": "GENERIC",
      "sso-url": "https://dev-xxxxxokta.com/app/dev-xxxxxx_bitbucket712_2/xxxxxxx/sso/saml",
      "sso-issuer": "http://www.okta.com/xxxxxxx",
      "username-attribute": "<username> "
    }

We will need to update the enable-authentication-fallback field to true

    To do this, open a new tab in Postman or other REST client


Use the results from the command as reference to set enable-authentication-fallback set to true:

{
	"enable-authentication-fallback": true
}


You should get a 200 or 304 status when pressing the Send button and you will now be able to access http://localhost:PORT/contextPath/login?auth_fallback to bypass SAML. It's important to remember to set the flag back to false once the maintenance has been completed in order to restore the intended behavior.


Solution (SSO for Atlassian Server and Data Center 4.x or newer version until 7.11)


Click here to expand...

In order to make use of the auth_fallback functionality, the allow-redirect-override flag needs to be enabled via REST API. This can be done with other REST clients or via cURL, but the following is a user-friendly approach:

(warning) Add the contextPath only if you have a context path like /bitbucket in your Bitbucket Base URL. For example https://mycompany.com:443/bitbucketYou can set the context path for Bitbucket Server if you are running another Atlassian application, or Java web application, at the same hostname and context path as Bitbucket Server.


This should return something like the following after clicking SEND:

{
  "sso-type": "SAML",
  "sso-url": "https://dev-486166.oktapreview.com/app/jeancodev486166_bitbucketdc_1/exk9awjfupbFE8VQp0h7/sso/saml",
  "sso-issuer": "http://www.okta.com/exk9awjfupbFE8VQp0h7",
  "certificate": "MIIDpDCCAoygAwIBAgIGAVl1oNWbMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMIGSMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzETMBEG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\nHfcvAs4OyFQgeaBA5//UjZVa/MfAFmqP",
  "user-attribute": null,
  "allow-redirect-override": false,
  "include-customer-logins": false,
  "redirect-on-login": false,
  "enable-remember-me": false
}


We will need to update the allow-redirect-override field to true

    To do this, open a new tab in Postman or other REST client


Use the results from the command as reference to set allow-redirect-override set to true:

{
  "allow-redirect-override": true
}


You should get a 200 or 304 status when pressing the Send button and you will now be able to access http://localhost:PORT/contextPath/login?auth_fallback to bypass SAML. It's important to remember to set the flag back to false once the maintenance has been completed in order to restore the intended behavior.


Solution (SSO for Atlassian Server and Data Center 3.x)


Click here to expand...

In order to make use of the auth_fallback functionality, the allow-saml-redirect-override flag needs to be enabled via REST API. This can be done with other REST clients or via cURL, but the following is a user-friendly approach:

(warning) Add the contextPath only if you have a context path like /bitbucket in your Bitbucket Base URL. For example https://mycompany.com:443/bitbucketYou can set the context path for Bitbucket Server if you are running another Atlassian application, or Java web application, at the same hostname and context path as Bitbucket Server.


This should return something like the following after clicking SEND:

{
  "sso-url": "https://dev-486166.oktapreview.com/app/jeancodev486166_bitbucketdc_1/exk9awjfupbFE8VQp0h7/sso/saml",
  "sso-issuer": "http://www.okta.com/exk9awjfupbFE8VQp0h7",
  "certificate": "MIIDpDCCAoygAwIBAgIGAVl1oNWbMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBQUAMIGSMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzETMBEG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\nHfcvAs4OyFQgeaBA5//UjZVa/MfAFmqP",
  "user-attribute": null,
  "allow-saml-redirect-override": false,
  "include-customer-logins": false,
  "redirect-on-login": false,
  "enable-remember-me": false
}


We will need to update the allow-saml-redirect-override field to true

    To do this, open a new tab in Postman or other REST client


Use the results from the command as reference to set allow-saml-redirect-override set to true:

{
  "allow-saml-redirect-override": true
}

You should get a 200 or 304 status when pressing the Send button and you will now be able to access http://localhost:PORT/contextPath/login?auth_fallback to bypass SAML. It's important to remember to set the flag back to false once the maintenance has been completed in order to restore the intended behavior.

Last modified on May 12, 2023

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