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- User accesses SP with his/her web browser and clicks on login
- User's web browser is sent to discovery service where users chooses his/her IdP
- User's web browser is sent to login page of his IdP where (s)he authenticates
- After successful authentication, the user's web browser is redirected with a SAML assertion back to the SP
- The SP validates the assertion and extracts the user's attributes (at least a unique identifier that is needed for the Attribute Query).
- If all requested attributes have been released and the AuthnContextClassRef (or the eduPersonAssurance attribute) contains the value 'https://refeds.org/profile/mfa' we're done and the following steps are skipped. (NB: This is only an example. Which access rules are implemented is up to the community or project making use of this approach!)
Otherwise: - Using the identifier attribute, the SP then performs a SAML attribute query to the Attribute Authority (AA) of the Step-up Authentication Service (SAS)
- If available, the AA returns the LoA attribute (login at SAS IdP) for this user to the SP
- Using the Shibboleth Attribute Checker, the SP checks the LoA-related attribute (that was queried from the AA). If that LoA attribute is not present or if it does not have the required value, the user is sent to a web page X of the SAS.
- Web page X is protected by an SP (SAS SP) itself, therefore the user has to authenticate again, this time using the SAS IdP - as a substitute for a second factor of the Home IdP.
- If authentication at SAS IdP succeeded, a temporary LoA entry is created in database of AA and the user is sent back to SP
- SP initiates login of user again, so (s)he is sent back to his/her IdP (where SSO session is still active) and from there back to the SP, which again initiates a SAML attribute query.
- If the attribute query happened in a reasonably short time interval since the user authenticated at SAS IdP, the AA has released a LoA attribute for the user. Therefore, the AttributeChecker's requirements are met and the user is granted access.
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