Skip to content

Microsoft EntraID Role and Group Claim Mapping

Overview

This feature enables automatic role assignment for Microsoft EntraID (formerly Azure AD) SSO users based on their group memberships or app role assignments. Users are automatically assigned Context Forge RBAC roles based on their EntraID groups, providing granular access control without manual intervention.

Features

  • ✅ Extract groups and roles from EntraID tokens
  • ✅ Map EntraID groups to Context Forge RBAC roles
  • ✅ Support for both Security Groups (Object IDs) and App Roles
  • ✅ Automatic role synchronization on login
  • ✅ Platform admin assignment via admin groups
  • ✅ Default role assignment for users without group mappings
  • ✅ Consistent with Keycloak implementation pattern

Architecture

Role System

Context Forge includes a comprehensive RBAC system with the following default roles:

  1. platform_admin (global scope)
  2. Permissions: ["*"] (all permissions)

  3. Full platform access

  4. team_admin (team scope)

  5. Permissions: Team management, tools, resources, prompts

  6. Can manage team members and settings

  7. developer (team scope)

  8. Permissions: Tool execution, resource access, prompts

  9. Can execute tools and access resources

  10. viewer (team scope)

  11. Permissions: Read-only access to tools, resources, prompts
  12. Cannot execute tools or modify resources

Implementation Components

  1. Configuration (mcpgateway/config.py)
  2. sso_entra_groups_claim: JWT claim for groups (default: "groups")
  3. sso_entra_admin_groups: Groups granting platform_admin role
  4. sso_entra_role_mappings: Map groups to roles
  5. sso_entra_default_role: Default role for unmapped users

  6. sso_entra_sync_roles_on_login: Sync roles on each login

  7. Token Parsing (_get_user_info() and _decode_jwt_claims())

  8. Parses the id_token JWT to extract claims (Microsoft's userinfo endpoint doesn't return groups)
  9. Extracts groups claim (Security Groups as Object IDs)
  10. Extracts roles claim (App Roles)

  11. Falls back to userinfo for basic profile claims (email, name, etc.)

  12. Group Normalization (_normalize_user_info())

  13. Combines groups and roles from id_token
  14. Deduplicates and returns normalized user info

  15. Supports custom groups claim via provider metadata

  16. Role Mapping (_map_groups_to_roles())

  17. Maps EntraID groups to Context Forge roles
  18. Checks admin groups first (case-insensitive)
  19. Applies role mappings from configuration

  20. Assigns default role if no mappings found

  21. Role Synchronization (_sync_user_roles())

  22. Synchronizes roles on user creation and login
  23. Revokes SSO-granted roles no longer in groups
  24. Assigns new roles based on current groups
  25. Preserves manually assigned roles

  26. Maintains audit trail with granted_by='sso_system'

  27. Admin Status Synchronization (authenticate_or_create_user())

  28. Upgrades is_admin flag when user gains admin group membership
  29. Never downgrades is_admin - manual admin grants via Admin UI/API are preserved
  30. To revoke admin access, use the Admin UI/API directly

Configuration

1. EntraID App Registration Setup

Token Configuration (Azure Portal)

Important: Groups and roles must be configured in the ID token, not just the access token. Microsoft's OIDC userinfo endpoint does not return group claims - Context Forge extracts them from the ID token.

  1. Navigate to Azure Portal → App Registrations → Your App
  2. Go to Token Configuration
  3. Click + Add groups claim
  4. Select token types: ID (required), Access (optional)
  5. Select group types:
  6. Security groups (recommended for most use cases)
  7. Or All groups if you need Microsoft 365 groups
  8. Choose Group ID format for stability (Object IDs won't change)
  9. For App Roles: Go to App Roles and create roles (they are automatically included in tokens)
  1. Navigate to App Roles in your App Registration
  2. Create roles with semantic names: 
    {
  "displayName": "Admin",
  "value": "Admin",
  "description": "Platform administrators"
}
{
  "displayName": "Developer",
  "value": "Developer",
  "description": "Developers with tool access"
}
{
  "displayName": "Viewer",
  "value": "Viewer",
  "description": "Read-only users"
}

2. Environment Variables

# Basic EntraID SSO
SSO_ENTRA_ENABLED=true
SSO_ENTRA_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
SSO_ENTRA_CLIENT_SECRET=your-secret
SSO_ENTRA_TENANT_ID=your-tenant-id

# Role Mapping Configuration
SSO_ENTRA_GROUPS_CLAIM=groups  # or "roles" for app roles
SSO_ENTRA_DEFAULT_ROLE=viewer
SSO_ENTRA_SYNC_ROLES_ON_LOGIN=true

# Admin Groups (Object IDs or App Role names)
SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS=["a1b2c3d4-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678","Admin"]

# Group to Role Mapping (JSON format)
SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS={"e5f6g7h8-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678":"developer","i9j0k1l2-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678":"team_admin","Developer":"developer","TeamAdmin":"team_admin","Viewer":"viewer"}

3. Provider Metadata (Database Configuration)

You can also configure role mappings in the SSO provider metadata:

{
  "groups_claim": "roles",
  "role_mappings": {
    "Admin": "platform_admin",
    "Developer": "developer",
    "TeamAdmin": "team_admin",
    "Viewer": "viewer"
  }
}

Usage Examples

EntraID Configuration: - App Roles: Admin, Developer, Viewer - Token includes roles claim

Environment Variables: 

SSO_ENTRA_GROUPS_CLAIM=roles
SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS=["Admin"]
SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS={"Developer":"developer","Viewer":"viewer"}
SSO_ENTRA_DEFAULT_ROLE=viewer

Result: - User with Admin role → platform_admin (global scope) - User with Developer role → developer (team scope) - User with Viewer role → viewer (team scope) - User with no roles → viewer (default)

Example 2: Using Security Groups (Object IDs)

EntraID Configuration: - Security Groups with Object IDs - Token includes groups claim

Environment Variables: 

SSO_ENTRA_GROUPS_CLAIM=groups
SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS=["a1b2c3d4-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678"]
SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS={"e5f6g7h8-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678":"developer","i9j0k1l2-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678":"viewer"}

Result: - User in group a1b2c3d4-... → platform_admin - User in group e5f6g7h8-... → developer - User in group i9j0k1l2-... → viewer

Example 3: Mixed Approach

EntraID Configuration: - Both Security Groups and App Roles - Token includes both groups and roles claims

Environment Variables: 

SSO_ENTRA_GROUPS_CLAIM=groups
SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS=["Admin","a1b2c3d4-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678"]
SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS={"Developer":"developer","e5f6g7h8-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678":"team_admin"}

Role Synchronization

On User Creation

When a new user logs in via EntraID SSO:

  1. User info is extracted including groups
  2. Groups are mapped to roles via _map_groups_to_roles()
  3. Roles are assigned via _sync_user_roles()
  4. User is created with is_admin flag if in admin groups
  5. RBAC roles are assigned with granted_by='sso_system'

On User Login

When an existing user logs in:

  1. User info is updated (name, provider, etc.)
  2. If sso_entra_sync_roles_on_login=true:
  3. Current groups are extracted
  4. Groups are mapped to roles
  5. Old SSO-granted roles are revoked if no longer in groups
  6. New roles are assigned based on current groups

Manual Role Management

  • Admins can manually assign additional roles via the Admin UI
  • Manually assigned roles (not granted by sso_system) are preserved
  • Only SSO-granted roles are synchronized on login

Token Claims

Groups Claim Formats

EntraID can return groups in different formats:

  1. Object IDs (default): 

    {
  "groups": [
    "a1b2c3d4-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678",
    "e5f6g7h8-1234-5678-90ab-cdef12345678"
  ]
}

  2. Group Names (requires configuration): 

    {
  "groups": [
    "Developers",
    "Admins"
  ]
}

  3. App Roles: 

    {
  "roles": [
    "Admin",
    "Developer"
  ]
}

Token Size Considerations

EntraID has a token size limit (~200 groups). When a user belongs to more groups than can fit in the token, EntraID returns a "group overage" indicator (_claim_names/_claim_sources) instead of the actual groups array.

Context Forge detects this condition and logs a warning: 

Group overage detected for user user@example.com - token contains too many groups (>200).
Role mapping may be incomplete. Consider using App Roles or Azure group filtering.

Solutions for group overage:

  1. Use App Roles (Recommended) - App roles are always included in the token and not subject to overage limits
  2. Azure group filtering - In Azure Portal → App Registration → Token Configuration, filter groups to only include specific security groups
  3. Claims transformation - Use Azure claims mapping policies to reduce group claims
  4. Direct group assignment - Assign groups directly to the application instead of user-level membership

Reference: Microsoft Groups Overage Claim

Security Considerations

Group ID vs Name Mapping

  • Object IDs: Stable but not human-readable
  • Group Names: Readable but can change
  • App Roles: Stable, semantic, and recommended

Best Practices

  1. Use App Roles for stable, semantic mappings
  2. Limit admin groups to minimize security risk
  3. Enable role sync to keep permissions current
  4. Audit role assignments via permission audit logs
  5. Test mappings before production deployment

Troubleshooting

Issue: Users not getting roles

Check: 1. Token includes groups or roles claim 2. SSO_ENTRA_GROUPS_CLAIM matches claim name in token 3. Group IDs/names match SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS 4. Roles exist in Context Forge (check via Admin UI)

Debug: 

# Check user's SSO metadata
SELECT sso_metadata FROM pending_user_approval WHERE email='user@example.com';

# Check user's current roles
SELECT r.name, ur.scope, ur.granted_by
FROM user_roles ur
JOIN roles r ON ur.role_id = r.id
WHERE ur.user_email='user@example.com';

Issue: Admin users not getting admin access

Check: 1. User's group is in SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS 2. Group ID/name matches exactly (case-insensitive) 3. is_admin flag is set on user record

Debug: 

# Check user's admin status
SELECT email, is_admin, auth_provider FROM email_users WHERE email='user@example.com';

Issue: Roles not syncing on login

Check: 1. SSO_ENTRA_SYNC_ROLES_ON_LOGIN=true 2. User has groups in token 3. No errors in application logs

Debug: 

# Check application logs for role sync messages
grep "Assigned SSO role" /var/log/mcpgateway.log
grep "Revoked SSO role" /var/log/mcpgateway.log

Issue: Group overage - user has too many groups

Symptoms: - User doesn't receive expected roles - Application logs show: Group overage detected for user ... token contains too many groups (>200)

Cause: User belongs to more than ~200 security groups. EntraID cannot fit all groups in the token and instead includes a "groups overage" indicator.

Solutions: 1. Use App Roles (Recommended) - Not subject to token size limits 2. Configure group filtering - In Azure Portal, limit which groups are included in the token 3. Assign groups to the application - Use application-assigned groups instead of user memberships

Debug: 

# Check for overage warnings in logs
grep "Group overage detected" /var/log/mcpgateway.log

See Token Size Considerations for detailed solutions.

Migration Guide

Migrating from Admin-Only to RBAC

If you previously used only the is_admin flag:

  1. Identify current admin users: 

    SELECT email FROM email_users WHERE is_admin=true AND auth_provider='entra';

  2. Configure admin groups: 

    SSO_ENTRA_ADMIN_GROUPS=["your-admin-group-id"]

  3. Configure role mappings for non-admin users: 

    SSO_ENTRA_ROLE_MAPPINGS={"developer-group":"developer","viewer-group":"viewer"}

  4. Enable role sync: 

    SSO_ENTRA_SYNC_ROLES_ON_LOGIN=true

  5. Test with non-admin users first

  6. Roll out to all users

API Reference

Configuration Fields

Field Type Default Description
sso_entra_groups_claim str "groups" JWT claim for groups
sso_entra_admin_groups list[str] [] Groups granting platform_admin
sso_entra_role_mappings dict[str,str] {} Map groups to roles
sso_entra_default_role str None Default role for unmapped users (None = no automatic role)
sso_entra_sync_roles_on_login bool true Sync roles on each login

Methods

_normalize_user_info(provider, user_data)

Extracts user info and groups from EntraID token.

Returns: 

{
  "email": str,
  "full_name": str,
  "provider": "entra",
  "groups": list[str]  # Group IDs or role names
}

_map_groups_to_roles(user_email, user_groups, provider)

Maps EntraID groups to Context Forge roles.

Returns: 

[
  {
    "role_name": str,
    "scope": str,  # "global" or "team"
    "scope_id": Optional[str]
  }
]

_sync_user_roles(user_email, role_assignments, provider)

Synchronizes user's role assignments.

Side Effects: - Revokes old SSO-granted roles - Assigns new roles from current groups - Commits changes to database

Comparison with Other Providers

Feature Keycloak EntraID GitHub Google
Group extraction ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Role mapping ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Admin groups ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Role sync on login ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Custom claim name ✅ ✅ N/A N/A

Future Enhancements

  • Team-scoped role assignments based on groups
  • Role mapping UI in Admin panel
  • Group-to-team mapping
  • Conditional role assignment based on additional claims
  • Role assignment expiration based on group membership duration

Design Decisions

This section documents key architectural decisions. See ADR-034 for full details.

Admin Status Synchronization

Behavior: SSO can only upgrade is_admin to True, never downgrade.

Scenario Behavior
User gains admin group is_admin upgraded to True
User loses admin group is_admin preserved (not revoked)
Manual admin grant Preserved across all SSO logins

Rationale: - Manual admin grants via Admin UI/API are intentional decisions - RBAC roles (platform_admin) already handle group-based role sync with revocation - To revoke admin access, use the Admin UI/API explicitly

Note: The is_admin flag provides a platform-level bypass. RBAC roles provide granular, auditable access control with proper granted_by tracking.

Configuration Precedence (Bootstrap)

Behavior: Smart merge - environment provides defaults, database values preserved.

Key Source Behavior
Only in env config Applied (new features)
Only in database Preserved (Admin API changes)
In both Database wins

Example: 

Env:    {"groups_claim": "groups", "new_feature": true}
DB:     {"groups_claim": "custom", "sync_roles": false}
Result: {"groups_claim": "custom", "new_feature": true, "sync_roles": false}

To change a key that exists in database: 1. Use Admin API to update the provider 2. Or delete the provider and restart (bootstrap recreates from env)

ID Token Trust Model

Groups and roles are extracted from the id_token JWT received from the token endpoint. The token is trusted without signature validation because:

  • Received directly from IdP over HTTPS after valid code exchange
  • OAuth flow (state, PKCE) already validated
  • Consistent with standard OAuth client library behavior

Important: Configure group claims in the ID token in Azure Portal. The OIDC userinfo endpoint does not return groups.

References

Support

For issues or questions: 1. Check application logs for error messages 2. Verify EntraID token configuration in Azure Portal 3. Test with a single user before rolling out 4. Consult the troubleshooting section above 5. Open an issue on GitHub with logs and configuration (redact secrets)