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How to use number matching in multifactor authentication (MFA) notifications - Authentication methods policy

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This topic covers how to enable number matching in Microsoft Authenticator push notifications to improve user sign-in security.

Note

Number matching is a key security upgrade to traditional second factor notifications in Microsoft Authenticator. We will remove the admin controls and enforce the number match experience tenant-wide for all users of Microsoft Authenticator push notifications starting May 8, 2023.
We highly recommend enabling number matching in the near term for improved sign-in security. Relevant services will begin deploying these changes after May 8, 2023 and users will start to see number match in approval requests. As services deploy, some may see number match while others don't. To ensure consistent behavior for all users, we highly recommend you enable number match for Microsoft Authenticator push notifications in advance.

Prerequisites

  • Your organization needs to enable Microsoft Authenticator (traditional second factor) push notifications for some users or groups by using the new Authentication methods policy. You can edit the Authentication methods policy by using the Azure portal or Microsoft Graph API.

  • If your organization is using AD FS adapter or NPS extensions, upgrade to the latest versions for a consistent experience.

Number matching

Number matching can be targeted to only a single group, which can be dynamic or nested. On-premises synchronized security groups and cloud-only security groups are supported for the Authentication methods policy.

Number matching is available for the following scenarios. When enabled, all scenarios support number matching.

Number matching isn't supported for push notifications for Apple Watch or Android wearable devices. Wearable device users need to use their phone to approve notifications when number matching is enabled.

Multifactor authentication

When a user responds to an MFA push notification using the Authenticator app, they'll be presented with a number. They need to type that number into the app to complete the approval. For more information about how to set up MFA, see Tutorial: Secure user sign-in events with Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication.

Screenshot of user entering a number match.

SSPR

Self-service password reset (SSPR) with Microsoft Authenticator will require number matching when using Microsoft Authenticator. During self-service password reset, the sign-in page will show a number that the user will need to type into the Microsoft Authenticator notification. This number will only be seen by users who are enabled for number matching. For more information about how to set up SSPR, see Tutorial: Enable users to unlock their account or reset passwords.

Combined registration

Combined registration with Microsoft Authenticator will require number matching. When a user goes through combined registration to set up the Authenticator app, the user is asked to approve a notification as part of adding the account. For users who are enabled for number matching, this notification will show a number that they need to type in their Authenticator app notification. For more information about how to set up combined registration, see Enable combined security information registration.

AD FS adapter

AD FS adapter will require number matching on supported versions of Windows Server. On earlier versions, users will continue to see the Approve/Deny experience and won’t see number matching until you upgrade. The AD FS adapter supports number matching only after installing one of the updates in the following table. For more information about how to set up AD FS adapter, see Configure Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Multi-Factor Authentication Server to work with AD FS in Windows Server.

Note

Unpatched versions of Windows Server don't support number matching. Users will continue to see the Approve/Deny experience and won't see number matching unless these updates are applied.

Version Update
Windows Server 2022 November 9, 2021—KB5007205 (OS Build 20348.350)
Windows Server 2019 November 9, 2021—KB5007206 (OS Build 17763.2300)
Windows Server 2016 October 12, 2021—KB5006669 (OS Build 14393.4704)

NPS extension

Although NPS doesn't support number matching, the latest NPS extension does support One-Time Password (OTP) methods such as the OTP available in Microsoft Authenticator, other software tokens, and hardware FOBs. OTP sign-in provides better security than the alternative Approve/Deny experience. Make sure you run the latest version of the NPS extension.

After May 8, 2023, when number matching is enabled for all users, anyone who performs a RADIUS connection with NPS extension version 1.2.2216.1 or later will be prompted to sign in with an OTP method instead.

Users must have an OTP authentication method registered to see this behavior. Without an OTP method registered, users continue to see Approve/Deny.

Prior to the release of NPS extension version 1.2.2216.1 after May 8, 2023, organizations that run any of these earlier versions of NPS extension can modify the registry to require users to enter an OTP:

  • 1.2.2131.2
  • 1.2.1959.1
  • 1.2.1916.2
  • 1.1.1892.2
  • 1.0.1850.1
  • 1.0.1.41
  • 1.0.1.40

Note

NPS extensions versions earlier than 1.0.1.40 don't support OTP enforced by number matching. These versions will continue to present users with Approve/Deny.

To create the registry entry to override the Approve/Deny options in push notifications and require an OTP instead:

  1. On the NPS Server, open the Registry Editor.
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AzureMfa.
  3. Create the following String/Value pair: Name: OVERRIDE_NUMBER_MATCHING_WITH_OTP Value = TRUE
  4. Restart the NPS Service.

In addition:

  • Users who perform OTP must have either Microsoft Authenticator registered as an authentication method, or some other hardware or software OATH token. A user who can't use an OTP method will always see Approve/Deny options with push notifications if they use a version of NPS extension earlier than 1.2.2216.1.

  • Users must be enabled for number matching.

  • The NPS Server where the NPS extension is installed must be configured to use PAP protocol. For more information, see Determine which authentication methods your users can use.

    Important

    MSCHAPv2 doesn't support OTP. If the NPS Server isn't configured to use PAP, user authorization will fail with events in the AuthZOptCh log of the NPS Extension server in Event Viewer:
    NPS Extension for Azure MFA: Challenge requested in Authentication Ext for User npstesting_ap. You can configure the NPS Server to support PAP. If PAP is not an option, you can set OVERRIDE_NUMBER_MATCHING_WITH_OTP = FALSE to fall back to Approve/Deny push notifications.

If your organization uses Remote Desktop Gateway and the user is registered for OTP code along with Microsoft Authenticator push notifications, the user won't be able to meet the Azure AD MFA challenge and Remote Desktop Gateway sign-in will fail. In this case, you can set OVERRIDE_NUMBER_MATCHING_WITH_OTP = FALSE to fall back to Approve/Deny push notifications with Microsoft Authenticator.

Apple Watch supported for Microsoft Authenticator

In the upcoming Microsoft Authenticator release in January 2023 for iOS, there will be no companion app for watchOS due to it being incompatible with Authenticator security features. You won't be able to install or use Microsoft Authenticator on Apple Watch. We therefore recommend that you delete Microsoft Authenticator from your Apple Watch, and sign in with Microsoft Authenticator on another device.

Enable number matching in the portal

To enable number matching in the Azure portal, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Azure portal, click Security > Authentication methods > Microsoft Authenticator.

  2. On the Enable and Target tab, click Yes and All users to enable the policy for everyone or add selected users and groups. Set the Authentication mode for these users/groups to Any or Push.

    Only users who are enabled for Microsoft Authenticator here can be included in the policy to require number matching for sign-in, or excluded from it. Users who aren't enabled for Microsoft Authenticator can't see the feature.

    Screenshot of how to enable Microsoft Authenticator settings for Push authentication mode.

  3. On the Configure tab, for Require number matching for push notifications, change Status to Enabled, choose who to include or exclude from number matching, and click Save.

    Screenshot of how to enable number matching.

Enable number matching using Graph APIs

Identify your single target group for the schema configuration. Then use the following API endpoint to change the numberMatchingRequiredState property under featureSettings to enabled, and include or exclude groups:

https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/authenticationMethodsPolicy/authenticationMethodConfigurations/MicrosoftAuthenticator

Note

In Graph Explorer, you'll need to consent to the Policy.Read.All and Policy.ReadWrite.AuthenticationMethod permissions.

MicrosoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodConfiguration properties

PROPERTIES

Property Type Description
id String The authentication method policy identifier.
state authenticationMethodState Possible values are: enabled
disabled

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationship Type Description
includeTargets microsoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodTarget collection A collection of users or groups who are enabled to use the authentication method
featureSettings microsoftAuthenticatorFeatureSettings collection A collection of Microsoft Authenticator features.

MicrosoftAuthenticator includeTarget properties

PROPERTIES

Property Type Description
authenticationMode String Possible values are:
any: Both passwordless phone sign-in and traditional second factor notifications are allowed.
deviceBasedPush: Only passwordless phone sign-in notifications are allowed.
push: Only traditional second factor push notifications are allowed.
id String Object ID of an Azure AD user or group.
targetType authenticationMethodTargetType Possible values are: user, group.

MicrosoftAuthenticator featureSettings properties

PROPERTIES

Property Type Description
numberMatchingRequiredState authenticationMethodFeatureConfiguration Require number matching for MFA notifications. Value is ignored for phone sign-in notifications.
displayAppInformationRequiredState authenticationMethodFeatureConfiguration Determines whether the user is shown application name in Microsoft Authenticator notification.
displayLocationInformationRequiredState authenticationMethodFeatureConfiguration Determines whether the user is shown geographic location context in Microsoft Authenticator notification.

Authentication method feature configuration properties

PROPERTIES

Property Type Description
excludeTarget featureTarget A single entity that is excluded from this feature.
You can only exclude one group for number matching.
includeTarget featureTarget A single entity that is included in this feature.
You can only include one group for number matching.
State advancedConfigState Possible values are:
enabled explicitly enables the feature for the selected group.
disabled explicitly disables the feature for the selected group.
default allows Azure AD to manage whether the feature is enabled or not for the selected group.

Feature target properties

PROPERTIES

Property Type Description
id String ID of the entity targeted.
targetType featureTargetType The kind of entity targeted, such as group, role, or administrative unit. The possible values are: ‘group’, 'administrativeUnit’, ‘role’, unknownFutureValue’.

Note

Number matching can be enabled only for a single group.

Example of how to enable number matching for all users

In featureSettings, you'll need to change the numberMatchingRequiredState from default to enabled.

The value of Authentication Mode can be either any or push, depending on whether or not you also want to enable passwordless phone sign-in. In these examples, we'll use any, but if you don't want to allow passwordless, use push.

Note

For passwordless users, enabling or disabling number matching has no impact because it's already part of the passwordless experience.

You might need to patch the entire schema to prevent overwriting any previous configuration. In that case, do a GET first, update only the relevant fields, and then PATCH. The following example only shows the update to the numberMatchingRequiredState under featureSettings.

Only users who are enabled for Microsoft Authenticator under Microsoft Authenticator’s includeTargets will see the number match requirement. Users who aren't enabled for Microsoft Authenticator won't see the feature.

//Retrieve your existing policy via a GET. 
//Leverage the Response body to create the Request body section. Then update the Request body similar to the Request body as shown below.
//Change the Query to PATCH and Run query
 
{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/$metadata#authenticationMethodConfigurations/$entity",
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.microsoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodConfiguration",
    "id": "MicrosoftAuthenticator",
    "state": "enabled",
    "featureSettings": {
        "numberMatchingRequiredState": {
            "state": "enabled",
            "includeTarget": {
                "targetType": "group",
                "id": "all_users"
            },
            "excludeTarget": {
                "targetType": "group",
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
            }
      }
    },
    "includeTargets@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/$metadata#authenticationMethodsPolicy/authenticationMethodConfigurations('MicrosoftAuthenticator')/microsoft.graph.microsoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodConfiguration/includeTargets",
    "includeTargets": [
        {
            "targetType": "group",
            "id": "all_users",
            "isRegistrationRequired": false,
            "authenticationMode": "any",        
        }
    ]
}

To confirm the change is applied, run the GET request by using the following endpoint:

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/authenticationMethodsPolicy/authenticationMethodConfigurations/MicrosoftAuthenticator

Example of how to enable number matching for a single group

In featureSettings, you'll need to change the numberMatchingRequiredState value from default to enabled. Inside the includeTarget, you'll need to change the id from all_users to the ObjectID of the group from the Azure portal. To remove an excluded group from number matching, change the id of the excludeTarget to 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.

You need to PATCH the entire configuration to prevent overwriting any previous configuration. We recommend that you do a GET first, and then update only the relevant fields and then PATCH. The example below only shows the update to the numberMatchingRequiredState.

Only users who are enabled for Microsoft Authenticator under Microsoft Authenticator’s includeTargets will see the number match requirement. Users who aren't enabled for Microsoft Authenticator won't see the feature.

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/$metadata#authenticationMethodConfigurations/$entity",
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.microsoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodConfiguration",
    "id": "MicrosoftAuthenticator",
    "state": "enabled",
    "featureSettings": {
        "numberMatchingRequiredState": {
            "state": "enabled",
            "includeTarget": {
                "targetType": "group",
                "id": "1ca44590-e896-4dbe-98ed-b140b1e7a53a"
            },
            "excludeTarget": {
                "targetType": "group",
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
            }
        }
    },
    "includeTargets@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/$metadata#authenticationMethodsPolicy/authenticationMethodConfigurations('MicrosoftAuthenticator')/microsoft.graph.microsoftAuthenticatorAuthenticationMethodConfiguration/includeTargets",
    "includeTargets": [
        {
            "targetType": "group",
            "id": "all_users",
            "isRegistrationRequired": false,
            "authenticationMode": "any"
        }
    ]
}

To verify, run GET again and verify the ObjectID:

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/authenticationMethodsPolicy/authenticationMethodConfigurations/MicrosoftAuthenticator

FAQs

When will my tenant see number matching if I don't use the Azure portal or Graph API to roll out the change?

Number match will be enabled for all users of Microsoft Authenticator push notifications after May 8, 2023. We had previously announced that we will remove the admin controls and enforce the number match experience tenant-wide for all users of Microsoft Authenticator push notifications starting February 27, 2023. After listening to customers, we will extend the availability of the rollout controls for a few more weeks.

Relevant services will begin deploying these changes after May 8, 2023 and users will start to see number match in approval requests. As services deploy, some may see number match while others don't. To ensure consistent behavior for all your users, we highly recommend you use the Azure portal or Graph API to roll out number match for all Microsoft Authenticator users.

Will the changes after May 8th, 2023, override number matching settings that are configured for a group in the Authentication methods policy?

No, the changes after May 8th won't affect the Enable and Target tab for Microsoft Authenticator in the Authentication methods policy. Administrators can continue to target specific users and groups or All Users for Microsoft Authenticator Push or Any authentication mode.

When Microsoft begins protecting all organizations by enabling number matching after May 8th, 2023, administrators will see the Require number matching for push notifications setting on the Configure tab of the Microsoft Authenticator policy is set to Enabled for All users and can't be disabled. In addition, the Exclude option for this setting will be removed.

What happens for users who aren't specified in the Authentication methods policy but they are enabled for Notifications through mobile app in the legacy MFA tenant-wide policy?

Users who are enabled for MFA push notifications in the legacy MFA policy will also see number match after May 8th, 2023. If the legacy MFA policy has enabled Notifications through mobile app, users will see number matching regardless of whether or not it's enabled on the Enable and Target tab for Microsoft Authenticator in the Authentication methods policy.

Screenshot of Notifications through mobile app setting.

How should users be prepared for default number matching?

Here are differences in sign-in scenarios that Microsoft Authenticator users will see after number matching is enabled by default:

  • Authentication flows will require users to do number match when using Microsoft Authenticator. If their version of Microsoft Authenticator doesn’t support number match, their authentication will fail.

  • Self-service password reset (SSPR) and combined registration will also require number match when using Microsoft Authenticator.

  • AD FS adapter will require number matching on supported versions of Windows Server. On earlier versions, users will continue to see the Approve/Deny experience and won’t see number matching until you upgrade.

  • NPS extension versions beginning 1.2.2131.2 will require users to do number matching. Because the NPS extension can’t show a number, the user will be asked to enter a One-Time Passcode (OTP). The user must have an OTP authentication method such as Microsoft Authenticator or software OATH tokens registered to see this behavior. If the user doesn’t have an OTP method registered, they’ll continue to get the Approve/Deny experience.

    To create a registry entry that overrides this behavior and prompts users with Approve/Deny:

    1. On the NPS Server, open the Registry Editor.
    2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AzureMfa.
    3. Create the following String/Value: Name: OVERRIDE_NUMBER_MATCHING_WITH_OTP Value = FALSE
    4. Restart the NPS Service.

  • Apple Watch will remain unsupported for number matching. We recommend you uninstall the Microsoft Authenticator Apple Watch app because you have to approve notifications on your phone.

How can users enter an OTP with the NPS extension?

The VPN and NPS server must be using PAP protocol for OTP prompts to appear. If they're using a protocol that doesn't support OTP, such as MSCHAPv2, they'll continue to see the Approve/Deny notifications.

Will users get a prompt similar to a number matching prompt, but will need to enter an OTP?

They'll see a prompt to supply a verification code. They must select their account in Microsoft Authenticator and enter the random generated code that appears there.

Can I opt out of number matching?

Yes, currently you can disable number matching. We highly recommend that you enable number matching for all users in your tenant to protect yourself from MFA fatigue attacks. To protect the ecosystem and mitigate these threats, Microsoft will enable number matching for all tenants starting May 8, 2023. After protection is enabled by default, users can't opt out of number matching in Microsoft Authenticator push notifications.

Relevant services will begin deploying these changes after May 8, 2023 and users will start to see number match in approval requests. As services deploy, some may see number match while others don't. To ensure consistent behavior for all users, we highly recommend you enable number match for Microsoft Authenticator push notifications in advance.

Does number matching only apply if Microsoft Authenticator is set as the default authentication method?

If the user has a different default authentication method, there won't be any change to their default sign-in. If the default method is Microsoft Authenticator and the user is specified in either of the following policies, they'll start to receive number matching approval after May 8th, 2023:

  • Authentication methods policy (in the portal, click Security > Authentication methods > Policies)
  • Legacy MFA tenant-wide policy (in the portal, click Security > Multifactor Authentication > Additional cloud-based multifactor authentication settings)

Regardless of their default method, any user who is prompted to sign-in with Authenticator push notifications will see number match after May 8th, 2023. If the user is prompted for another method, they won't see any change.

Is number matching supported with MFA Server?

No, number matching isn't enforced because it's not a supported feature for MFA Server, which is deprecated.

What happens if a user runs an older version of Microsoft Authenticator?

If a user is running an older version of Microsoft Authenticator that doesn't support number matching, authentication won't work if number matching is enabled. Users need to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Authenticator to use it for sign-in if they use Android versions prior to 6.2006.4198, or iOS versions prior to 6.4.12.

Why is my user prompted to tap on one of three numbers rather than enter the number in their Microsoft Authenticator app?

Older versions of Microsoft Authenticator prompt users to tap and select a number rather than enter the number in Microsoft Authenticator. These authentications won't fail, but Microsoft highly recommends that users upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Authenticator if they use Android versions prior to 6.2108.5654, or iOS versions prior to 6.5.82, so they can use number match.

Minimum Microsoft Authenticator version supporting number matching:

  • Android: 6.2006.4198
  • iOS: 6.4.12

Minimum Microsoft Authenticator version for number matching which prompts to enter a number:

  • Android 6.2111.7701
  • iOS 6.5.85

Next steps

Authentication methods in Azure Active Directory