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Integrate with FortiGate Admin Login

Support level: Community

What is FortiGate?​

FortiGate is Fortinet's next-generation firewall. FortiGate firewalls provide security services such as application control, intrusion prevention, web filtering, and VPN access.

-- https://www.fortinet.com/products/next-generation-firewall

Preparation​

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

  • fortigate.company is the FQDN of the FortiGate installation.
  • authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.
info

This documentation lists only the settings that you need to change from their default values. Be aware that any changes other than those explicitly mentioned in this guide could cause issues accessing your application.

authentik configuration​

To support the integration of FortiGate Admin Login with authentik, you need to create a SAML property mapping and an application/provider pair in authentik.

Create a property mapping​

FortiGate expects a SAML attribute named username that contains the FortiGate administrator username. This example uses the authentik username, but you can return any user attribute that matches the FortiGate administrator account name.

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.

  2. Navigate to Customization > Property Mappings and click Create.

  3. Select SAML Provider Property Mapping as the type and click Next.

  4. Create a property mapping with the following values:

    • Name: FortiGate username

    • SAML Attribute Name: username

    • Expression:

      return request.user.username

  5. Click Finish to save the property mapping.

Create an application and provider​

SAML provider changes in authentik 2026.5

authentik 2026.5 introduces changes to how the SAML provider behaves. Specifically, the provider now automatically sets the Issuer value to: https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/

Older versions of authentik set this value to authentik by default. If you're running an older version, please set Issuer to https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/, where <application_slug> is the slug that you selected for the application.

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.

  2. Navigate to Applications > Applications and click New Application to open the application wizard.

    • Application: provide a descriptive name, an optional group for the type of application, the policy engine mode, and optional UI settings. Note the Slug value because you will use it when configuring FortiGate.
    • Choose a Provider type: select SAML Provider as the provider type.
    • Configure the Provider: provide a name (or accept the auto-provided name), the authorization flow to use for this provider, and the following required configurations.
      • Set the ACS URL to https://fortigate.company/saml/?acs.
      • Set the Audience to https://fortigate.company/metadata/.
      • Set the SLS URL to https://fortigate.company/saml/?sls.
      • Under Advanced protocol settings:
        • Set the Signing Certificate to the certificate authentik should use to sign SAML responses.
        • Enable Sign responses.
        • Add FortiGate username to Selected User Property Mappings.
    • Configure Bindings (optional): you can create a binding (policy, group, or user) to manage the listing and access to applications on a user's Application Dashboard page.

  3. Click Submit to save the new application and provider.

Download the signing certificate​

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
  2. Navigate to Applications > Providers and click the FortiGate Admin Login provider.
  3. Click Download under Download signing certificate. You will import this certificate into FortiGate.

FortiGate configuration​

Import the authentik signing certificate​

  1. Log in to the FortiGate administrative interface.
  2. Navigate to System > Certificates.
  3. Select Create/Import > Remote Certificate.
  4. Upload the authentik signing certificate you downloaded earlier.
  5. Note the certificate name that FortiGate assigns to the imported certificate.

Configure SAML single sign-on​

  1. Navigate to Security Fabric > Fabric Connectors.
  2. Open Security Fabric Setup and then open Single Sign-On Settings.
  3. Enable Service Provider (SP) mode.
  4. Configure the SP settings:
    • SP Address: fortigate.company
    • Default login page: select Normal while testing the integration. After SAML authentication is working, you can select Single Sign-On if FortiGate should redirect directly to authentik.
    • Default admin profile: select the administrator profile FortiGate should assign to SAML administrators created on first login. To require manual profile assignment before a new SAML administrator can access FortiGate, select admin_no_access.
  5. Configure the IdP Details:
    • IdP Type: Custom
    • IdP entity ID: https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/metadata/
    • IdP single sign-on URL: https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/
    • IdP single logout URL: https://authentik.company/application/saml/<application_slug>/
    • IdP Certificate: select the authentik signing certificate that you imported earlier.
  6. Click Apply to save the configuration.

If your FortiGate web administration interface uses a non-standard HTTPS port, include the port in SP Address and in the authentik ACS URL and SLS URL.

Confirm the SP details​

FortiGate shows its SP entity ID, SP ACS URL, and SP SLS URL after you configure the SP Address. Confirm that these values match the Audience, ACS URL, and SLS URL values in the authentik provider. If FortiGate shows a different SP entity ID, update the authentik provider Audience value to match FortiGate exactly.

Recovery and debugging​

If SAML is set as the default login method and SAML authentication is not working, open https://fortigate.company/saml/?acs and select Login Locally, or use the FortiGate CLI to restore the normal login page:

config system saml
    set default-login-page normal
end

To enable SAML debug logging, run the following commands and then repeat the login attempt:

diagnose debug console timestamp enable
diagnose debug application httpsd -1
diagnose debug application samld -1
diagnose debug enable

When you are finished debugging, disable debug logging:

diagnose debug disable
diagnose debug reset

Configuration verification​

To confirm that authentik is properly configured with FortiGate Admin Login, open FortiGate and sign in via authentik.

Resources​