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How to Configure Palo Alto ZTNA with MFA

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This guide explains how to implement Palo Alto Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with Multi‑Factor Authentication (MFA) to provide secure, application‑level remote access for your users.

By the end of the guide, you will understand how to integrate Palo Alto’s ZTNA capabilities with your identity platform, enforce MFA, and minimize attack surface while maintaining a user‑friendly access experience.

Follow the step-by-step guide given below for Palo Alto ZTNA with MFA

1. Configure Palo Alto ZTNA in miniOrange

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



• In Choose Application Type, select SAML/WS-FED from the All Apps dropdown.



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



• Under the Basic tab, you can configure the following settings.

Display Name (required)	Enter the Display name for your app as per your preference.
SP Entity ID or Issuer (required)	Is used to identify your app against the SAML request received from SP. The SP Entity ID or Issuer can be in either URL or in String format form Step 2.
ACS URL or Assertion Consumer Service URL (required)	defines where the SAML Assertion should be sent after authentication. Make sure the ACS URL is in the format: https://www.domain-name.com/a/[domain_name]/acs form Step 2.
Audience URL	As the name suggests, specifies the valid audience for SAML Assertion. It is usually the same as SP Entity ID. If Audience URL is not specified separately by SP, leave it blank.
Single Logout URL	The URL where you want the logout request to be consumed and where your users should be redirected after single logout from the applications.
Upload App Logo	Upload a logo for your application.




• Click Next to go to the Advanced settings. Configure the following settings.

Signed Request	Enable this to sign the saml request sent by SP. Provide the X509 certificate or upload the certificate.
Sign Response	Enable this if you want the entire SAML response to be signed.
Sign Assertion	Enable this if you want only the assertion within the SAML response should be signed.
Signature Algorithm	Select the algorithm that will be used to sign the SAML request/response.
Encrypt Assertion	Select this if you want to encrypt the assertion in SAML response and provide the algorithm and certificate for encryption.
Relay State	Enter the URL where you want the user to redirect after sign in to the application.
Override Relay state	Enable this to override the default relay state of the SP.
Logout Response Binding	A Logout Response is sent in reply to a Logout Request from SP. It could be sent by an Identity Provider or Service Provider.
IdP initiated Logout Request Binding:	A Logout Response is sent in reply to a Logout Request from the IdP dashboard. It could be sent by an Identity Provider or Service Provider. HTTP Redirect - A Logout Response with its Signature HTTP POST - A Logout Response with the signature embedded
SAML Authentication Validity Period	The time for which the authentication should be considered valid and the user should be able to perform SSO. After that, the user will have to sign in again.
Enable Shared Identity	This feature lets you control whether a specific application can be accessed by shared user or not.




• Click Next to go to the Login options tab. Here, you can configure the following settings:

Primary Identity Provider	Select the identity source from where you want the authentication to happen. You will see the list of all configured sources.
Force Authentication	Enable this to enforce authentication on each request to access the application.
Show On End User Dashboard	Disable this if you do not want the app to be visible for all users on end user dashboard.




• Click Next to go to the Attribute Mapping page. Here you can add and configure the attributes to be sent to the app.

NameID	NameID is the unique identifier for the authenticated user included in the SAML assertion. It allows the Service Provider to recognize and map the user to an account. Generally, NameID is a username or Email Address.
NameID format	Defines what type of identifier is used in the NameID (e.g., email, persistent, transient) so the SP can correctly map the user. If the SP does not request a specific format, the IdP can leave it unspecified and use a default.
Add Name Format	Name Format defines how attribute names are represented in a SAML assertion (e.g., as simple strings or URIs). It helps the SP correctly interpret attribute naming and ensures consistency between IdP and SP.
Enable Multi-Valued Attributes	Enabled: Commas (,) and semicolons (;) are treated as separators, so the attribute is split into a clean list. Example: roles = ['admin', 'editor', 'viewer']. Disabled: Commas and semicolons are not treated as separators, so the attribute stays as one combined string. Example: roles = "admin;editor;viewer".
Attribute Mapping	You can Add Attributes to be sent in SAML Assertion to SP. The attributes include user’s profile attributes such as first name, last name, full name, username, email, custom profile attributes, and user groups, etc.




• Click Next to go to the Login policy. You need to Save the Application first to configure the policy for the application.



• After the application is saved you can configure the policy for that application.



• Click on the Assign group button. A new Configure Group Assignment Modal tab will open.
  • Assign Group: Select the groups you want to link with the application. You can select up to 20 groups at a time.
  
  
  
  • If you need to create new group. Click on Add New Group button.
  • Enter the Group name and click on Create Group.
  
  
  
  • Click on Next.
  • Assign Policies: Add the required policies to the selected groups. Enter the following details:
  • First Factor: Select the login method from the dropdown.
  • If you select Password as the login method, you can enable 2-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Adaptive Authentication, if needed.
  • If you select Password-less as login method, you can enable 2-Factor Authentication (MFA) if needed.



• Click on Save. Policies will be created for all the selected groups.
• You will see the policy listed once it’s successfully added.




To get miniOrange metadata details in order to configure Palo Alto ZTNA :

• Go to Apps >> Manage Apps.
• Search for your app and click on the select in action menu against your app.
• Click on the Metadata Option under the Select Dropdown to get the miniOrange Metadata details. You can also click on the Show SSO Link to see the IdP initiated SSO link for Palo Alto ZTNA.



• 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 Workspace) you can get metadata from the 2nd Section as shown below.



• Keep SAML Login URL and X.509 Certificate which you will require in Step 2.

2. Configure SSO in palo Alto/Prisma Cloud Console

• Log in to the Prisma Cloud Console as an administrator and navigate to Manage > Authentication > Identity Providers > SAML.
• Enable Integrate SAML users and groups with Prisma Cloud, and select miniOrange as the Identity Provider.
• Fill the single sign-on URL and Entity ID.
• Paste your miniOrange X.509 Signing Certificate.



• Click on Save.

3. Configure 2FA for Palo Alto ZTNA

3.1: Enable 2FA for Users of Palo Alto ZTNA app

• To enable 2FA for Users of Palo Alto ZTNA 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 Palo Alto ZTNA 2FA

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

• Go to your Palo Alto ZTNA 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 Palo Alto ZTNA it will prompt for OTP.



• Enter the OTP received in your phone, after successful 2fa verification, you will be redirected to the Palo Alto ZTNA 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 Palo Alto ZTNA 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 Palo Alto ZTNA

A. Restricting access to Palo Alto ZTNA with IP Configuration

You can use adaptive authentication with Palo Alto ZTNA 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.
Deny	Deny user authentications and access to services if Adaptive authentication condition is true.
Challenge	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 Palo Alto ZTNA

• 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.

6. Conclusion

By implementing Palo Alto ZTNA with MFA, you improve security, reduce lateral movement risks, and always verify users before granting them access to systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

External References

• miniOrange Single Sign-On SSO
• Netskope ZTNA with MFA