Why does this setting cause 401s during Zendesk-to-GC SSO migration?

Why does this setting trigger a 401 Unauthorized error when attempting to validate SAML assertions from our legacy Zendesk SSO provider in Genesys Cloud?

We are currently executing a migration from Zendesk Support to Genesys Cloud CX. The goal is to maintain a seamless login experience for our agents who are accustomed to the single sign-on flow in Zendesk. In Zendesk, we handled authentication via a standard SAML 2.0 integration with our IdP (Okta), and the attribute mapping was straightforward.

In Genesys Cloud, I have configured the SSO settings under Organization > Authentication > Single Sign-On. I have uploaded the IdP metadata and mapped the email and name attributes correctly. However, when an agent tries to log in using the new Genesys Cloud SSO URL, the flow fails at the assertion validation step.

The error log in the Genesys Cloud admin console shows a 401 Unauthorized response. The specific error message is: “SAML Assertion Validation Failed: Invalid Audience Restriction.”

I have double-checked the Audience URI. In Zendesk, we simply pointed to the Zendesk subdomain URL. For Genesys Cloud, I have tried using both the https://app.genesyscloud.com and the specific tenant URL https://tenant-name.my.genesyscloud.com. Neither seems to work.

I am aware that Genesys Cloud handles security and compliance differently than Zendesk, but this step is blocking our entire user acceptance testing phase. We are on the Standard edition of Genesys Cloud. The IdP is sending the assertion to the correct ACS endpoint, but Genesys rejects it.

Is there a specific configuration in the Genesys Cloud SSO settings that differs from the standard SAML implementation used in Zendesk? I need to understand if the audience restriction logic is stricter or if there is a missing claim in the assertion that Genesys requires but Zendesk ignored. Any guidance on aligning the SAML settings for a smooth migration would be appreciated.

Why does this setting trigger a 401 Unauthorized error when attempting to validate SAML assertions from our legacy Zendesk SSO provider in Genesys Cloud?

You need to verify that your AppFoundry OAuth scopes explicitly include organization:sso:write and that the JWT signature matches the public key exposed by your IdP, as Genesys Cloud rejects assertions with mismatched keys during migration handshakes.

Check your SAML attribute mappings against the Genesys Cloud user schema. The suggestion above regarding OAuth scopes is spot on, but often the 401 stems from a mismatch in the NameID format or missing required attributes like email and displayName. Genesys Cloud is strict about these fields during initial SSO assertions. If your Zendesk IdP sends urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress but Genesys expects persistent, the assertion fails validation before even hitting the scope check.

Verify the NameIDFormat in your IdP configuration matches exactly what Genesys Cloud expects. Also, ensure the aud (Audience Restriction) in the SAML response includes the specific Genesys Cloud organization URI. A common oversight is leaving the audience as the old Zendesk URL.

Note: Always test with a fresh browser session to clear any lingering Zendesk cookies that might confuse the SSO handshake.