Manual Chapter : How step-up authentication works

Applies To:

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BIG-IP APM

  • 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0
Manual Chapter

How step-up authentication works

1
User logs in and authenticates through a per-session policy; Access Policy Manager (APM) creates a session. User starts to use an application that's available in the enterprise. User can access all but two parts of the application that APM protects with step-up authentication, which requires:
  • Password-based authentication () for access to one part of the application.
  • Certificate-based authentication () for access to one part of the application.
2
User requests access to part of the application protected with step-up authentication (username and password). APM challenges the user and then starts a subsession; for simplicity, we call it Subsession 1. For the duration of Subsession 1: If the user passed step-up authentication, the user does not need to authenticate again to access that part of the application; If the user failed step-up authentication, the user does not have access and step-up authentication does not run again.
3
User requests access to part of the application protected with step-up authentication certificate authentication. APM challenges the user and then starts another subsession, Subsession 2. If the user passes certificate authentication, for the duration of Subsession 2: If the user passed step-up authentication, the user does not need to authenticate again to access that part of the application; If the user failed step-up authentication, the user does not have access and step-up authentication does not run again.
A subsession ends when its lifetime expires or when the session ends, whichever is sooner.