How does Genesys Cloud handle automatic SAML metadata refresh when the IdP publishes a new signing certificate? We’re on Genesys Cloud, naturally. The documentation (https://help.genesys.com/cloud/platform/sso/sso-saml-metadata) details the expected behavior-periodic polling-but the audit trail shows no API calls to the metadata URL following our IdP’s certificate rotation.
The current metadata URL is functioning, so the initial connection isn’t the issue. We’re attempting to comply with NIST 800-53 rev. 5 (AC-3) and require certificate rotation every 90 days.
Here’s what I’ve observed:
Timestamp
API Endpoint
HTTP Method
Status Code
Response Body
2024-02-29 14:32 UTC
/api/v2/oauth/saml/metadata
GET
200
Metadata XML
2024-02-29 15:00 UTC
IdP certificate rotated
N/A
N/A
N/A
2024-02-29 16:00 UTC
/api/v2/oauth/saml/metadata
GET
200
Old Metadata XML
The platform continues to use the old certificate. The expected behavior, based on RFC 8414, is automatic detection and a smooth switch. There’s a gap in the audit trail-no further GET requests to the metadata URL. The lack of logging is… concerning.
tbh, the audit trail thing is a red herring - it only logs changes to the SAML config, not the periodic metadata checks. afaik, the polling happens server-side, so you won’t see API calls even if it’s working (which, clearly, it isn’t in your case).
you can force a metadata refresh via the API, though. it’s kinda dumb they don’t surface this in the UI, imo. hit /api/v2/saml/metadata/refresh with a POST. no body needed.
POST /api/v2/saml/metadata/refresh
iirc, it takes like 5-10 mins to propagate, so don’t spam it. also, double-check the metadata URL itself - it’s easy to mistype (we’ve been burned by that before). and make sure your IdP is actually publishing valid metadata - sometimes the issue isn’t Genesys Cloud, shockingly enough.
That fix worked-the API call triggered the refresh and a new certificate was successfully ingested. The documentation is misleading to imply audit trail visibility of the periodic checks; it only logs manual refreshes or configuration modifications. We’ll add a monitoring alert on certificate expiry dates to proactively manage this.
Are you using a custom metadata URL - or the default?
genesyscloud-python doesn’t directly impact SAML polling, but the API refresh endpoint is the fastest route. POST /api/v2/saml/metadata/refresh - no payload needed.
Consider scripting the API call to run on a certificate expiry schedule. The documentation’s lack of detail on polling frequency isn’t helpful.
The audit trail won’t reflect standard metadata checks.
glad to hear the API call got things moving again - that documentation is kinda wonky about the audit trail stuff, right? it’s always the little things.
just thinking out loud here - are you able to set up some kind of alert on the IdP side when the certs rotate? we’ve had luck with that before, it’s a bit more proactive than relying on the polling interval in Genesys Cloud.
also, kinda unrelated, but have you checked if the metadata URL itself is accessible from the Genesys Cloud environment? i ran into a similar issue a while back where the IdP was blocking our IPs and the refresh just…never happened. it’s a long shot, but worth a look.
and, just curious - how often is your IdP pushing out new certs? that might give you a better idea of how frequently you need to monitor things.