Tutorial: Microsoft Entra SSO integration with GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account

Article
10/23/2023

In this tutorial, you learn how to setup a Microsoft Entra SAML integration with a GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account. When you integrate GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account with Microsoft Entra ID, you can:

Control in Microsoft Entra ID who has access to a GitHub Enterprise Account and any organizations within the Enterprise Account.

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

A Microsoft Entra subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
A GitHub Enterprise Account.
A GitHub user account that is an Enterprise Account owner.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you will configure a SAML integration for a GitHub Enterprise Account, and test enterprise account owner and enterprise/organization member authentication and access.

Note

The GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account application does not support enabling automatic SCIM provisioning. If you need to setup provisioning for your GitHub Enterprise Cloud environment, SAML must be configured at the organization level and the GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Organization Microsoft Entra application must be used instead. If you are setting up a SAML and SCIM provisioning integration for an enterprise that is enabled for Enterprise Managed Users (EMUs), then you must use the GitHub Enterprise Managed User Microsoft Entra application for SAML/Provisioning integrations or the GitHub Enterprise Managed User (OIDC) Microsoft Entra application for OIDC/Provisioning integrations.

GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account supports SP and IDP initiated SSO.

Adding GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account from the gallery

To configure the integration of GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account into Microsoft Entra ID, you need to add GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > New application.
In the Add from the gallery section, type GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account in the search box.
Select GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.

Alternatively, you can also use the Enterprise App Configuration Wizard. In this wizard, you can add an application to your tenant, add users/groups to the app, assign roles, and walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO for GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account

Configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between a Microsoft Entra user and the related user in GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account.

To configure and test Microsoft Entra SSO with GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account, perform the following steps:

Configure Microsoft Entra SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
1. Create a Microsoft Entra test user - to test Microsoft Entra single sign-on with B.Simon.
2. Assign your Microsoft Entra user and the test user account to the GitHub app - to enable your user account and test user B.Simon to use Microsoft Entra single sign-on.
Enable and Test SAML for the Enterprise Account and its organizations - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
1. Test SSO with another enterprise account owner or organization member account - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Microsoft Entra SSO

Follow these steps to enable Microsoft Entra SSO.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account > Single sign-on.
On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.
On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, click the pencil icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.
On the Basic SAML Configuration section, perform the following steps:

a. In the Identifier (Entity ID) text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://github.com/enterprises/<ENTERPRISE-SLUG>

b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://github.com/enterprises/<ENTERPRISE-SLUG>/saml/consume
Perform the following step if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

In the Sign on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://github.com/enterprises/<ENTERPRISE-SLUG>/sso

Note

Replace <ENTERPRISE-SLUG> with the actual name of your GitHub Enterprise Account.
On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Certificate (Base64) and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.
On the Set up GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

Create a Microsoft Entra test user

In this section, you'll create a test user in the Azure portal called B.Simon.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a User Administrator.
Browse to Identity > Users > All users.
Select New user > Create new user, at the top of the screen.
In the User properties, follow these steps:
1. In the Display name field, enter B.Simon.
2. In the User principal name field, enter the username@companydomain.extension. For example, B.Simon@contoso.com.
3. Select the Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.
4. Select Review + create.
Select Create.

Assign your Microsoft Entra user and the test user account to the GitHub app

In this section, you'll enable B.Simon and your user account to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account.

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center as at least a Cloud Application Administrator.
Browse to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account.
In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.
Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.
In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon and your user account from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.
If you are expecting a role to be assigned to the users, you can select it from the Select a role dropdown. If no role has been set up for this app, you see "Default Access" role selected.
In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Enable and Test SAML for the Enterprise Account and its organizations

To configure single sign-on on the GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account side, follow the steps listed in this GitHub documentation.

Sign in to GitHub.com with a user account that is an enterprise account owner.
Copy the value from the Login URL field in the app and paste it in the Sign on URL field in the GitHub Enterprise Account SAML settings.
Copy the value from the Azure AD Identifier field in the app and paste it in the Issuer field in the GitHub Enterprise Account SAML settings.
Copy the contents of the Certificate (Base64) file you downloaded in the steps above from Azure portal and paste them in the appropriate field in the GitHub Enterprise Account SAML settings.
Click the Test SAML configuration and confirm that you are able to authenticate from the GitHub Enterprise Account to Microsoft Entra ID successfully.
Once the test is successful, save the settings.
After authenticating via SAML for the first time from the GitHub enterprise account, a linked external identity will be created in the GitHub enterprise account that associates the signed in GitHub user account with the Microsoft Entra user account.

After you enable SAML SSO for your GitHub Enterprise Account, SAML SSO is enabled by default for all organizations owned by your Enterprise Account. All members will be required to authenticate using SAML SSO to gain access to the organizations where they are a member, and enterprise owners will be required to authenticate using SAML SSO when accessing an Enterprise Account.

Test SSO with another enterprise account owner or organization member account

After the SAML integration is set up for the GitHub enterprise account (which also applies to the GitHub organizations in the enterprise account), other enterprise account owners who are assigned to the app in Microsoft Entra ID should be able to navigate to the GitHub enterprise account URL (https://github.com/enterprises/<enterprise account>), authenticate via SAML, and access the policies and settings under the GitHub enterprise account.

An organization owner for an organization in an enterprise account should be able to invite a user to join their GitHub organization. Sign in to GitHub.com with an organization owner account and follow the steps in the article to invite B.Simon to the organization. A GitHub user account will need to be created for B.Simon if one does not already exist.

To test GitHub organization access under the Enterprise Account with the B.Simon test user account:

Invite B.Simon to an organization under the Enterprise Account as an organization owner.
Sign in to GitHub.com using the user account you would like to link to the B.Simon Microsoft Entra user account.
Sign in to Microsoft Entra ID using the B.Simon user account.
Go to the GitHub organization. The user should be prompted to authenticate via SAML. After successful SAML authentication, B.Simon should be able to access organization resources.

Next steps

Once you configure GitHub Enterprise Cloud - Enterprise Account you can enforce session control, which protects exfiltration and infiltration of your organization’s sensitive data in real time. Session control extends from Conditional Access. Learn how to enforce session control with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.