SAML: Why is the certificate within the Signature???

Question

Hi,

I have to implement SSO with SAML for my company's website (as the relying party). An essential part off course is the verification of the signature. Here is the signature part of a sample SAML from our partner company (asserting party):

<ds:Signature xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
 <ds:SignedInfo xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
  <ds:CanonicalizationMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/10/xml-exc-c14n#" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"/&gt;
  <ds:SignatureMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#rsa-sha1" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"/&gt;
  <ds:Reference URI="#_2152811999472b94a0e9644dbc932cc3" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
   <ds:Transforms xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
    <ds:Transform Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#enveloped-signature" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"/&gt;
    <ds:Transform Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/10/xml-exc-c14n#" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
     <ec:InclusiveNamespaces PrefixList="ds saml samlp xs" xmlns:ec="http://www.w3.org/2001/10/xml-exc-c14n#"/&gt;
    </ds:Transform>
   </ds:Transforms>
   <ds:DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"/&gt;
   <ds:DigestValue xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;bW1Os7+WykqRt5h0mdv9o3ZF0JI=&lt;/ds:DigestValue&gt;
  </ds:Reference>
 </ds:SignedInfo>
 <ds:SignatureValue xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"&gt;
cgrAN4T/UmobhrkkTi3miiRfbo0Z7aakSZjXuTWlZlu9jDptxPNbOFw8ZbYKZYyuW544wQqgqpnG
gr5GBWILSngURjf2N45/GDv7HMrv/NRMsRMrgVfFsKbcAovQdLAs24O0Q9CH5UdADai1QtDro3jx
nl4x7HaWIo9F8Gp/H1c=
 </ds:SignatureValue>
 <ds:KeyInfo>
  <ds:X509Data>

MIIElzCCA3+gAwIBAgIQNT2i6HKJtCXFUFRB8qYsZjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADB3MQswCQYDVQQG EwJGUjEOMAwGA1UEBxMFUGFyaXMxDDAKBgNVBAoTA3BzYTEgMB4GA1UECxMXY2VydGlmaWNhdGUg YXV0aG9yaXRpZXMxKDAmBgNVBAMTH0FDIFBTQSBQZXVnZW90IENpdHJvZW4gUHJvZ3JhbXMwHhcN MDkwODE5MDcxNTE4WhcNMTEwODE5MDcxNTE5WjCBhjELMAkGA1UEBhMCZnIxHzAdBgkqhkiG9w0B CQEWEHBhc3NleHRAbXBzYS5jb20xGDAWBgoJkiaJk/IsZAEBEwhtZGVtb2IwMDEMMAoGA1UEChMD cHNhMREwDwYDVQQLEwhwcm9ncmFtczEbMBkGA1UEAxMSVGVzdCAtIFBBU1NFWFQgREVWMIGfMA0G CSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCuY1nrepgACvDSTLWk5A1cFOJSwDbl6CWfYp3cNYR0K3YV e07MDZn+Rv4jo3SusHVFds+mzKX2f8AeZjkA3Me/0yiS9UpS9LQZu9mnhFlZRhmUlDDoIZxovLXN aOv/YHmPeTQMQmJZu5TjqraUq7La1c187AoJuNfpxt227N1vOQIDAQABo4IBkTCCAY0wDgYDVR0P AQH/BAQDAgWgMB8GA1UdIwQYMBaAFLceWtTfVeRuVCTDQWkmwO4U01X/MAwGA1UdEwEB/wQCMAAw gbYGA1UdIASBrjCBqzCBqAYKKoF6ARfOEAEBBDCBmTBBBggrBgEFBQcCARY1aHR0cDovL3JldW5p cy5pbmV0cHNhLmNvbS9hdXRvcml0ZS9QQy1BQy1Qcm9ncmFtcy5wZGYwVAYIKwYBBQUHAgIwSDAK FgNwc2EwAwIBARo6UG9saXRpcXVlIGRlIENlcnRpZmljYXRpb24gQUMgUFNBIFBldWdlb3QgQ2l0 cm9lbiBQcm9ncmFtczBcBgNVHR8EVTBTMFGgT6BNhktodHRwOi8vaW5mb2NlcnQucHNhLXBldWdl b3QtY2l0cm9lbi5jb20vQUMtUFNBLVBldWdlb3QtQ2l0cm9lbi1Qcm9ncmFtcy5jcmwwHQYDVR0l BBYwFAYIKwYBBQUHAwEGCCsGAQUFBwMCMBYGA1UdDgQPBA1BVVRPX0dFTkVSQVRFMA0GCSqGSIb3 DQEBBQUAA4IBAQCvRtP6bFkOUEHcqc6yUX0Q1Gk2WaAcx4ziUB0tw2GR9I0276JRJR0EGuJ/N6Fn 3FhLQrSPmS97Xvc9XmiI66fQUdg64g9YqBecdiQlUkR20VLgI6Nq8pldQlWjU2iYlkP15U7VF4Qr 0Pb2QiIljZUCKdv3qdED2Ri33za46LfykrlwZB0uhTVUxI/AEtjkKVFaZaqanJg+vJyZI5b30z7g Ff8L3ht4Z7SFKdmY3IQSGzElIAAUfduzTJX0cwnGSU9D4BJu1BS8hWnYPwhk+nBJ7OFhXdwYQFWq fhpBLq+ciJti9OMhcdCSIi0PbrOqzqtX7hZUQOvfShhCTJnl5TJJ

What I just don't understand is, why is the certificate within the signature???

I mean usually I get a certificate from the company in a secure kind of way, so I know the certificate is from them. And when the verification of the signature succeeds, I know our partner company has signed it.

But when the certificate is within the signature of the SAML-Response, anyone could have sent it! The only thing I know is that the response hasn't been falsified. But the point is, I have no idea who sent the SAML.

Can anyone explain to me, how that works?

Thanks a lot,

Dante

Answer 1

The public part of the signing certificate is in the SAML message. This is used to check the signature for the token itself, and of course to allow receivers to tell who issued the token and treat it accordingly.

The fact that it's in there is part of the XML digital signature specs, it's not really anything SAML specific. Without the certificate how could you tell where the token came from, and how could you validate it?

XmlDSig does specify other methods, you can identify the signing key by a subject, serial number, hash etc., but this assumes that the receiving party has the public certificate. For SAML this may not be the case, hence the embedding of the public part of the X509 cert.