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Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for Citrix Netscaler

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Citrix Netscaler 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an additional layer of security in which a user or an organizational employee have to provide two factors to gain access to the Citrix Netscaler account. With Citrix Netscaler Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) being enabled, anyone trying to login to your Citrix Netscaler account from an unrecognized computer/device must provide additional authorization. Authentication starts with a user submitting his traditional username and password. Once the user successfully gets authenticated with the 1st step verification, configured 2FA (OTP over SMS, Push Notifications, YubiKey, TOTP, Google Authenticator etc) method prompts for 2nd-step verification. After successfully authenticating with both of the steps a user is granted with the access to the Citrix Netscaler account. This extra layer prevents the unauthorized person from accessing the resources even if cyber attackers get to know your credentials.

miniorange provides 15+ authentication methods and solutions for various use cases. It allows users and organizations to set up certain authentication and settings which includes password restrictions, restricting sign-in methods, as well as other security settings. miniorange also makes way for authentication apps that support Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy 2-Factor authentication app and our own miniorange Authenticator app.

Follow the Step-by-Step Guide given below for Citrix Netscaler Single Sign-On (SSO)

1. Configure Citrix Netscaler in miniOrange

• Login into miniOrange Admin Console.
• Go to Apps and click on Add Application button.



• In Choose Application, select SAML/WS-FED from the application type dropdown.



• Search for Citrix Netscaler in the list, if you don't find Citrix Netscaler in the list then, search for custom and you can set up your application in Custom SAML App.

• In Basic Settings tab fill the following details:

Custom Application Name	Citrix Netscaler Gateway
SP Entity ID or Issuer	This you will get from Citrix Netscaler Gateway, under Configure SAML tab
ACS URL	This you will get from Citrix Netscaler Gateway, under Configure SAML tab





• Click Next, now in the Attribute Mapping configure the following attributes as shown in the image below.




• Click on Save.

Get IdP Metadata Details to upload to Citrix Netscaler Gateway:

• Go to Apps >> Manage Apps.
• Search for your app and click on the select in action menu against your app.
• Click on Metadata to get metadata details, which will be required later. Click on Link to see the IDP initiated SSO link for Citrix Netscaler Gateway.



• Here you will see 2 options, if you are setting up miniOrange as IDP copy the metadetails related to miniOrange, if you required to be authenticated via external IDP's (OKTA, AZURE AD, ADFS, ONELOGIN, GOOGLE APPS) you can get metadata from the 2nd Section as shown below.



• Keep SAML Login URL , SAML Logout URL and click on the Download Certificate button to download certificate which you will require in Step 2.




2. Configure SSO in Citrix Netscaler

• Login the Citrix NetScaler admin interface with admin rights
• Click on Configuration tab, select Traffic Management >> SSL >> Certificates.
• Note: If case if you are using Netscaler 11.1 then select Traffic Management >> SSL >> CACertificates >>Install.
• Enter identify name as Certificate-Key Pair Name.
• Click on the down arrow which is next to the Browse button to select local.
• Select the x.509 certificate which is downloaded in step 1.
• Click on Install.
• On Configuration page, select NetScaler Gateway >> Policies >> Authentication >> SAML >> Servers tab, then click on Add.
• In the Create Authentication SAML Server form, Enter Name IDP as certificate Name.
• Enter the value from Redirect URL as https://nssp2.example.com/cgi/samlauth
• Enter the value from Single Logout URL as https://nssp2.example.com/cgi/tmlogout
• Enter User Field ( Note: It should be Name ID untill another identifier is being used)
• Enter the certificate for your Gateway VIP as Signing Certificate Name.
• Enter your Gateway VIP URL as Issuer Name.
• In the Signature Algorithm section, select RSA-SHA256 as Signature Algorithm, SHA256 as Digest Method and POST as SAML Binding.
• Click on OK .
• Go back in the SAML section, select the Policies then click on Add.
• Now, add details, Enter Name as per your requirement.
• Click down menu and select your created Server Entry.
• Enter ns_true as the value of Expression.
• Click on OK.
• On the left side, select Virtual Servers below NetScaler Gateway section.
• Locate the virtual server to bind miniOrange SAML, Click on Edit.
• Under Authentication section and unlash any existing policies, after that close the Authentication sub-window.
• Go back in Virtual Server configuration screen, under the Authentication section, select plus (+) icon.
• Select SAML as Choose Policy and Primary as Choose Type then Click on Continue.
• Under the Policy Binding section, click on SAML policy which you created earlier.
• Click on the radial button which is in left and click on OK.
• Set the Priority as 100 and click on Bind.
• Go back to Virtual Server configuration screen and click on Done.





3. Configure 2FA for Citrix Netscaler

3.1: Enable 2FA for Users of Citrix Netscaler app

• To enable 2FA for Users of Citrix Netscaler application. Go to Policies >> App Login Policy
• Click on Edit icon against the application you have configured.



• Check the Enable 2-Factor Authentication (MFA) option.



• Click on Submit.

3.2: Configure 2FA for your Endusers

• To enable 2FA/MFA for endusers, go to 2-Factor Authentication >> 2FA Options For EndUsers.
• Select default Two-Factor authentication method for end users. Also, you can select particular 2FA methods, which you want to show on the end users dashboard.
• Once Done with the settings, click on Save to configure your 2FA settings.




3.3: Enduser 2FA Setup

• Login to End-User Dashboard using end user login URL.
• For Cloud Version: The login URL (branding url) which you have set.
• For On-Premise version: The login URL will be the same as of Admin Login URL.
• Select Setup 2FA from left panel. Then select any of the 2FA method available.
• For now, we have selected the SMS >> OTP OVER SMS as our 2FA method. You can explore the guide to setup other 2FA methods here.
• Enable the OTP over SMS if you have your phone number added under your account information else click on Edit >> Click here to update your phone number link.



• In Account Information, click on edit icon.



• Select your country code, enter your mobile number, and click Send OTP.



• Enter the OTP sent to your phone and click Validate.



• After adding your phone number, turn on the toggle to activate OTP over SMS.



• Now Enable 2 Factor Authentication toggle if not done before as shown below.




4. Test Citrix Netscaler 2FA

a. If 2FA for for End-user is configured

• Go to your Citrix Netscaler Domain. It will redirect you to miniOrange Single Sign-On Service console.



• Enter your login credentials, and click on login. It will prompt to verify yourself against the configured 2fa method.
  e.g. If you have configured OTP over SMS, after login into Citrix Netscaler it will prompt for OTP.



• Enter the OTP received in your phone, after successful 2fa verification, you will be redirected to the Citrix Netscaler dashboard.

b. If 2FA for end-user is not enabled

• You will be prompted to register for 2Fa for end-user. It's a one time process.
• Configure your basic details.



• Configure any authentication method of your choice.



• After successful registration, you will be logged in to your Citrix Netscaler account.


Not able to configure or test MFA?


Contact us or email us at idpsupport@xecurify.com and we'll help you setting it up in no time.





5. Adaptive Authentication with Citrix Netscaler

A. Restricting access to Citrix Netscaler with IP Configuration

You can use adaptive authentication with Citrix Netscaler Single Sign-On (SSO) to improve the security and functionality of Single Sign-On. You can allow a IP Address in certain range for SSO or you can deny it based your requirements and you can also challenge the user to verify his authenticity. Adaptive authentication manages the user authentication bases on different factors such as Device ID, Location, Time of Access, IP Address and many more.

You can configure Adaptive Authentication with IP Blocking in following way :

• Login to Self Service Console >> Adaptive Authentication >> Add Policy.



• Add a Policy Name for your Adative Authentication Policy.
• Select Action for Behavior Change, click the Edit link, and then choose the appropriate Action and Challenge Type for the user from that section.





Action for behavior Change Options :




Attribute	Description
Allow	Allow users to authenticate and use services if Adaptive authentication condition is true.
Challenge	Deny user authentications and access to services if Adaptive authentication condition is true.
Deny	Challenge users with one of the three methods mentioned below for verifying user authenticity.




Challenge Type Options :




Attribute	Description
User second Factor	The User needs to authenticate using the second factor he has opted or assigned for such as OTP over SMS PUSH Notification OTP over Email and, many more.
KBA (Knowledge-based authentication)	The System will ask the user for 2 of 3 questions he has configured in his Self-Service Console. Only after the right answer to both questions is the user allowed to proceed further.
OTP over Alternate Email	User will receive an OTP on the alternate email they have configured through the Self Service Console. Once the user provides the correct OTP, they are allowed to proceed further.



• Now click Edit option from the IP Configuration section to configure custom IP range.
• Select Add IP if the User's IP Address is not in the configured list.
• Specify the IP Address that you want to whitelist. For the IP Range other than the whitelisted one, you can select the above setting to reflect.
• Choose either allow or deny by selecting the corresponding option from the dropdown.
• If a user tries to login with the whitelisted IP address, they will always be allowed access.
• We support IP address range in three formats i.e., IPv4, IPv4 CIDR, and IPv6 CIDR. You can choose whichever is suitable for you from the dropdown menu.
• You can add multiple IPs or IP ranges by clicking the + Add IP button.



• Once the changes are made, scroll down to the end and click on Save.

B. Adaptive Authentication with Limiting number of devices

Using Adaptive Authentication you can also restrict the number of devices the end user can access the Services on. You can allow end users to access services on a fixed no. of devices. The end users will be able to access services provided by us on this fixed no. of devices.

You can configure Adaptive Authentication with Device Restriction in following way


• Login to Self Service Console >> Adaptive Authentication >> Add Policy.
• Add a Policy Name for your Adaptive Authentication Policy.
• Select your Action for behavior Change and Challenge Type for user from the Action for behavior Change Section.



• On the Add Policy tab, go to the Device Configuration section and click the Edit button.
• Enter the Number of Device Registrations Allowed as per your requirement. (2-3 devices are recommended.)
• Choose Action if number of devices exceeded (This will override your setting for Action for behavior Change.)
• Challenge: The user needs to verify himself using any of the three methods mentioned in table in step 5.1
• Deny : Deny users access to the system
• Enable Mobile Device Restriction to block logins from mobile devices. This ensures all login attempts from mobile devices will be declined.
• Enable MAC Address Based Restriction if you want to restrict access based on device MAC address.



• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Save.

C. Add Adaptive Authentication policy to Citrix Netscaler

• Login to Self Service Console >> Policies >> Add Login Policy.
• Click on Edit icon option for predefined app policy.



• Set your policy in the Policy Name and select Password as First Factor.
• Enable Adaptive Authentication on Edit Login Policy page and select the required restriction method as an option.
• From Select Login Policy dropdown select the policy we created in last step and click on Submit.

D. Notification and Alert Message.

This section handles the notifications and alerts related to Adaptive Authentication. It provides the following options :

• Get email alerts if users login from unknown devices or locations: Admins need to enable this option to enable receiving alerts for different alert options.
  
  
  

Option	Description
Users login from unknown IP addresses, devices or locations	Enabling this option allows you to login from unknown IP addresses or devices and even locations.
Number of Device registrations exceeded allowed count	This option will allow you to register more devices than the devices you have numbered.
Challenge Completed and Device Registered	Enabling this option allows you to send an email alert when an end-user completes a challenge and registers a device.
Challenge Completed but Device Not Registered	Enabling this option allows you to send an email alert when an end-user completes a challenge but do not registers the device.
Challenge Failed	Enabling this option allows you to send an email alert when an end-user fails to complete the challenge.




• Next subsection is Send email alerts which allows us to enable or disable alerts for admin and end-users. To enable alerts for admins, you can enable the Administrators checkbox.



• In case you want multiple admin accounts to receive alerts, then you can enable the option for admin and then enter the admin emails separated by a ‘,’ in the input field next to Administrator’s email to receive alerts label. To enable alerts for the end users, you can enable the End User checkbox.
• In case you want to customize the deny message that the end user receives in case his authentication is denied due to adaptive policy, you can do this by entering the message inside Deny Message text box.

How to add a trusted Device

• When End-user log in to the self service console after the policy for device restriction is on, he is provided the option to add the current device as a trusted device.

External References

• Looking for Citrix Netscaler Gateway SSO solution
• What is MFA?
• Two-Factor Authentication methods
• Passwordless Authentication