Daniel Westermann-Clark

The HTTP Authentication plugin allows you to use existing means of authenticating people to WordPress. This includes Apache’s basic HTTP authentication module, <a href="http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/" rel="nofollow ugc">Shibboleth</a>, and many others.
To follow updates to this plugin, visit:
https://danieltwc.com/
For help with this version, visit:
https://danieltwc.com/2011/http-authentication-4-0/

HTTP Authentication

Use an external authentication source in WordPress.

Daniel Bachhuber

Chris Reynolds

Pantheon Systems

John Spellman

Josh Koenig

Anais Pantheor

SAML authentication for WordPress, using the bundled OneLogin SAML library or optionally installed <a href="https://simplesamlphp.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">SimpleSAMLphp</a>. OneLogin provides a SAML authentication bridge; SimpleSAMLphp provides SAML plus a variety of other authentication mechanisms. This plugin acts as a bridge between WordPress and the authentication library.
If your organization uses Google Apps, <a href="https://pantheon.io/docs/wordpress-google-sso/" rel="nofollow ugc">integrating Google Apps with WP SAML Auth</a> takes just a few steps.
The standard user flow looks like this:
<ul>
<li>User can log in via SAML using a button added to the standard WordPress login view.</li>
<li>When the button is clicked, the user is handed off to the authentication library. With OneLogin, the user is redirected to the SAML identity provider. With SimpleSAMLphp, the user is redirected to the SimpleSAMLphp install.</li>
<li>Once the user is authenticated with the identity provider, they’re redirected back to WordPress and signed in to their account. A new WordPress user will be created if none exists (although this behavior can be disabled).</li>
<li>When the user logs out of WordPress, they are also logged out of the identity provider.</li>
</ul>
A set of configuration options allow you to change the plugin’s default behavior. For instance, <code>permit_wp_login=>false</code> will force all authentication to go through the SAML identity provider, bypassing <code>wp-login.php</code>. Similiarly, <code>auto_provision=>false</code> will disable automatic creation of new WordPress users.
See installation instructions for full configuration details.
<h3>Installing SimpleSAMLphp</h3>
The plugin supports both SimpleSAMLphp v1.x and v2.x. The autoloader is automatically detected:
SimpleSAMLphp v2.x uses <code>vendor/autoload.php</code> 
SimpleSAMLphp v1.x uses <code>lib/_autoload.php</code>
<h4>Default Search Paths</h4>
The plugin automatically searches for SimpleSAMLphp in these locations: 
* <code>ABSPATH . 'simplesaml'</code> 
* <code>ABSPATH . 'private/simplesamlphp'</code> 
* <code>ABSPATH . 'simplesamlphp'</code> 
* <code>ABSPATH . 'vendor/simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp'</code> (Composer installation) 
* <code>plugin_dir_path . 'simplesamlphp'</code>
For each path, the plugin checks for both <code>vendor/autoload.php</code> (v2.x) and <code>lib/_autoload.php</code> (v1.x).
This means Composer installations work automatically! If you run <code>composer require simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp</code> in your site root, the plugin will find it without any additional configuration.
<h4>Composer Installation (Advanced)</h4>
If you install SimpleSAMLphp via Composer to a custom location (not the standard <code>vendor/simplesamlphp/simplesamlphp</code>), you can specify the autoloader path:
<pre><code>add_filter( 'wp_saml_auth_option', function( $value, $option_name ) {
 if ( 'simplesamlphp_autoload' === $option_name ) {
 // Point to your custom Composer vendor autoloader
 return '/custom/path/vendor/autoload.php';
 }
 return $value;
}, 10, 2 );
</code></pre>
<h4>Custom Installation Paths</h4>
If SimpleSAMLphp is installed in a non-default location, you can set custom search paths with the <code>wp_saml_auth_simplesamlphp_path_array</code> filter:
<pre><code>add_filter( 'wp_saml_auth_simplesamlphp_path_array', function( $simplesamlphp_path_array ) {
 // Override default paths with custom paths
 return [ '/custom/path/to/simplesamlphp' ];
} );
</code></pre>
Or define an explicit autoloader path with the <code>wp_saml_auth_ssp_autoloader</code> filter:
<pre><code>add_filter( 'wp_saml_auth_ssp_autoloader', function( $ssp_autoloader ) {
 return ABSPATH . 'path/to/simplesamlphp/vendor/autoload.php';
} );<h3>WP-CLI Commands</h3>
</code></pre>
This plugin implements a variety of <a href="https://wp-cli.org" rel="nofollow ugc">WP-CLI</a> commands. All commands are grouped into the <code>wp saml-auth</code> namespace.
<pre><code>$ wp help saml-auth

NAME

 wp saml-auth

DESCRIPTION

 Configure and manage the WP SAML Auth plugin.

SYNOPSIS

 wp saml-auth <command>

SUBCOMMANDS

 scaffold-config Scaffold a configuration filter to customize WP SAML Auth usage.
</code></pre>
Use <code>wp help saml-auth <command></code> to learn more about each command.
Note: The <code>scaffold-config</code> command generates a configuration function with default values. The <code>simplesamlphp_autoload</code> option is not included in the scaffolded output because the plugin auto-detects SimpleSAMLphp installations. Only add this option manually if SimpleSAMLphp is in a non-standard location.
<h3>Contributing</h3>
See <a href="https://github.com/pantheon-systems/wp-saml-auth/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md" rel="nofollow ugc">CONTRIBUTING.md</a> for information on contributing.

HTTP Authentication vs WP SAML Auth