Does anyone understand why the Genesys Cloud SAML SSO integration is rejecting valid assertions from our IdP with a 400 Bad Request error? We are currently migrating our authentication layer from Zendesk, where SSO setup was remarkably straightforward and forgiving, to Genesys Cloud. In Zendesk, we simply mapped the email attribute to the user identifier, and it worked seamlessly. However, Genesys Cloud seems to have a much stricter interpretation of the SAML specification, particularly regarding the NameID format and the audience restriction.
The error appears immediately upon redirect back from our IdP (Okta). The Genesys Cloud ACS endpoint returns a 400 status with the message: ‘SAML assertion is invalid or expired.’ I have verified that the clock skew is within the allowed tolerance, and the certificate fingerprints match perfectly in the Admin UI under Security > SSO. The assertion contains the correct emailAddress NameID format, yet GC seems to expect something else or is failing to parse the XML payload correctly. This is frustrating because the same SAML response works flawlessly for our Zendesk instance.
Our environment details are as follows: Genesys Cloud region is eu-west-1, IdP is Okta, and we are using the standard SAML 2.0 integration. The migration team is blocked on user onboarding because we cannot automate the SSO login flow. In Zendesk, we didn’t have to worry about such granular XML validation, making this transition feel like a step backward in terms of developer experience. We need to understand exactly which part of the SAML assertion is failing validation.
I have checked the Genesys Cloud documentation on SAML configuration, but it lacks specific examples of common assertion structures that pass validation. Is there a known issue with certain NameID formats or is there a hidden requirement in the <Conditions> element that Zendesk does not enforce? Any insights on debugging the specific SAML parsing logic in GC would be greatly appreciated, as we are trying to align our security compliance with our new CX platform.