Skip to content
Kong Logo | Kong Docs Logo
  • Docs
    • Explore the API Specs
      View all API Specs View all API Specs View all API Specs arrow image
    • Documentation
      API Specs
      Kong Gateway
      Lightweight, fast, and flexible cloud-native API gateway
      Kong Konnect
      Single platform for SaaS end-to-end connectivity
      Kong AI Gateway
      Multi-LLM AI Gateway for GenAI infrastructure
      Kong Mesh
      Enterprise service mesh based on Kuma and Envoy
      decK
      Helps manage Kong’s configuration in a declarative fashion
      Kong Ingress Controller
      Works inside a Kubernetes cluster and configures Kong to proxy traffic
      Kong Gateway Operator
      Manage your Kong deployments on Kubernetes using YAML Manifests
      Insomnia
      Collaborative API development platform
  • Plugin Hub
    • Explore the Plugin Hub
      View all plugins View all plugins View all plugins arrow image
    • Functionality View all View all arrow image
      View all plugins
      AI's icon
      AI
      Govern, secure, and control AI traffic with multi-LLM AI Gateway plugins
      Authentication's icon
      Authentication
      Protect your services with an authentication layer
      Security's icon
      Security
      Protect your services with additional security layer
      Traffic Control's icon
      Traffic Control
      Manage, throttle and restrict inbound and outbound API traffic
      Serverless's icon
      Serverless
      Invoke serverless functions in combination with other plugins
      Analytics & Monitoring's icon
      Analytics & Monitoring
      Visualize, inspect and monitor APIs and microservices traffic
      Transformations's icon
      Transformations
      Transform request and responses on the fly on Kong
      Logging's icon
      Logging
      Log request and response data using the best transport for your infrastructure
  • Support
  • Community
  • Kong Academy
Get a Demo Start Free Trial
Kong Gateway
3.10.x (latest)
  • Home icon
  • Kong Gateway
  • Kong Manager
  • Authentication and Authorization
  • OpenID Connect
  • OIDC Authenticated Group Mapping
github-edit-pageEdit this page
report-issueReport an issue
  • Kong Gateway
  • Kong Konnect
  • Kong Mesh
  • Kong AI Gateway
  • Plugin Hub
  • decK
  • Kong Ingress Controller
  • Kong Gateway Operator
  • Insomnia
  • Kuma

  • Docs contribution guidelines
  • 3.10.x (latest)
  • 3.9.x
  • 3.8.x
  • 3.7.x
  • 3.6.x
  • 3.5.x
  • 3.4.x (LTS)
  • 3.3.x
  • 2.8.x (LTS)
  • Archive (3.0.x and pre-2.8.x)
  • Introduction
    • Overview of Kong Gateway
    • Support
      • Version Support Policy
      • Third Party Dependencies
      • Browser Support
      • Vulnerability Patching Process
      • Software Bill of Materials
    • Stability
    • Release Notes
    • Breaking Changes
      • Kong Gateway 3.10.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.9.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.8.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.7.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.6.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.5.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.4.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.3.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.2.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.1.x
      • Kong Gateway 3.0.x
      • Kong Gateway 2.8.x or earlier
    • Key Concepts
      • Services
      • Routes
      • Consumers
      • Upstreams
      • Plugins
      • Consumer Groups
    • How Kong Works
      • Routing Traffic
      • Load Balancing
      • Health Checks and Circuit Breakers
    • Glossary
  • Get Started with Kong
    • Get Kong
    • Services and Routes
    • Rate Limiting
    • Proxy Caching
    • Key Authentication
    • Load-Balancing
  • Install Kong
    • Overview
    • Kubernetes
      • Overview
      • Install Kong Gateway
      • Configure the Admin API
      • Install Kong Manager
    • Docker
      • Using docker run
      • Build your own Docker images
    • Linux
      • Amazon Linux
      • Debian
      • Red Hat
      • Ubuntu
    • Post-installation
      • Set up a data store
      • Apply Enterprise license
      • Enable Kong Manager
  • Kong in Production
    • Deployment Topologies
      • Overview
      • Kubernetes Topologies
      • Hybrid Mode
        • Overview
        • Deploy Kong Gateway in Hybrid mode
        • Incremental Configuration Sync
      • DB-less Deployment
      • Traditional
    • Running Kong
      • Running Kong as a non-root user
      • Securing the Admin API
      • Using systemd
    • Access Control
      • Start Kong Gateway Securely
      • Programatically Creating Admins
      • Enabling RBAC
      • Workspaces
    • Licenses
      • Overview
      • Download your License
      • Deploy Enterprise License
      • Using the License API
      • Monitor Licenses Usage
    • Networking
      • Default Ports
      • DNS Considerations
      • Network and Firewall
      • CP/DP Communication through a Forward Proxy
      • PostgreSQL TLS
        • Configure PostgreSQL TLS
        • Troubleshooting PostgreSQL TLS
    • Kong Configuration File
    • Environment Variables
    • Serving a Website and APIs from Kong
    • Secrets Management
      • Overview
      • Getting Started
      • Secrets Rotation
      • Advanced Usage
      • Backends
        • Overview
        • Environment Variables
        • AWS Secrets Manager
        • Azure Key Vaults
        • Google Cloud Secret Manager
        • HashiCorp Vault
      • How-To
        • Securing the Database with AWS Secrets Manager
      • Reference Format
    • Keyring and Data Encryption
    • Monitoring
      • Overview
      • Prometheus
      • StatsD
      • Datadog
      • Health Check Probes
      • Expose and graph AI Metrics
    • Tracing
      • Overview
      • Writing a Custom Trace Exporter
      • Tracing API Reference
    • Resource Sizing Guidelines
    • Blue-Green Deployments
    • Canary Deployments
    • Clustering Reference
    • Performance
      • Performance Testing Benchmarks
      • Establish a Performance Benchmark
      • Improve performance with Brotli compression
    • Logging and Debugging
      • Log Reference
      • Dynamic log level updates
      • Customize Gateway Logs
      • Debug Requests
      • AI Gateway Analytics
      • Audit Logging
    • Configure a gRPC service
    • Use the Expressions Router
    • Outage Handling
      • Configure Data Plane Resilience
      • About Control Plane Outage Management
    • Upgrade and Migration
      • Upgrading Kong Gateway 3.x.x
      • Backup and Restore
      • Upgrade Strategies
        • Dual-Cluster Upgrade
        • In-Place Upgrade
        • Blue-Green Upgrade
        • Rolling Upgrade
      • Upgrade from 2.8 LTS to 3.4 LTS
      • Migrate from OSS to Enterprise
      • Migration Guidelines Cassandra to PostgreSQL
      • Migrate to the new DNS client
      • Breaking Changes
    • FIPS 140-2
      • Overview
      • Install the FIPS Compliant Package
    • Authenticate your Kong Gateway Amazon RDS database with AWS IAM
    • Verify Signatures for Signed Kong Images
    • Verify Build Provenance for Signed Kong Images
  • Kong AI Gateway
    • Overview
    • Get started with AI Gateway
    • LLM Provider Integration Guides
      • OpenAI
      • Cohere
      • Azure
      • Anthropic
      • Mistral
      • Llama2
      • Vertex/Gemini
      • Amazon Bedrock
    • LLM Library Integration Guides
      • LangChain
    • AI Gateway Analytics
    • Expose and graph AI Metrics
    • AI Gateway Load Balancing
    • AI Gateway plugins
  • Kong Manager
    • Overview
    • Enable Kong Manager
    • Get Started with Kong Manager
      • Services and Routes
      • Rate Limiting
      • Proxy Caching
      • Authentication with Consumers
      • Load Balancing
    • Authentication and Authorization
      • Overview
      • Create a Super Admin
      • Workspaces and Teams
      • Reset Passwords and RBAC Tokens
      • Basic Auth
      • LDAP
        • Configure LDAP
        • LDAP Service Directory Mapping
      • OIDC
        • Configure OIDC
        • OIDC Authenticated Group Mapping
        • Migrate from previous configurations
      • Sessions
      • RBAC
        • Overview
        • Enable RBAC
        • Add a Role and Permissions
        • Create a User
        • Create an Admin
    • Networking Configuration
    • Workspaces
    • Create Consumer Groups
    • Sending Email
    • Troubleshoot
    • Strengthen Security
  • Develop Custom Plugins
    • Overview
    • Getting Started
      • Introduction
      • Set up the Plugin Project
      • Add Plugin Testing
      • Add Plugin Configuration
      • Consume External Services
      • Deploy Plugins
    • File Structure
    • Implementing Custom Logic
    • Plugin Configuration
    • Accessing the Data Store
    • Storing Custom Entities
    • Caching Custom Entities
    • Extending the Admin API
    • Writing Tests
    • Installation and Distribution
    • Proxy-Wasm Filters
      • Create a Proxy-Wasm Filter
      • Proxy-Wasm Filter Configuration
    • Plugin Development Kit
      • Overview
      • kong.client
      • kong.client.tls
      • kong.cluster
      • kong.ctx
      • kong.ip
      • kong.jwe
      • kong.log
      • kong.nginx
      • kong.node
      • kong.plugin
      • kong.request
      • kong.response
      • kong.router
      • kong.service
      • kong.service.request
      • kong.service.response
      • kong.table
      • kong.telemetry.log
      • kong.tracing
      • kong.vault
      • kong.websocket.client
      • kong.websocket.upstream
    • Plugins in Other Languages
      • Go
      • Javascript
      • Python
      • Running Plugins in Containers
      • External Plugin Performance
  • Kong Plugins
    • Overview
    • Authentication Reference
    • Allow Multiple Authentication Plugins
    • Plugin Queuing
      • Overview
      • Plugin Queuing Reference
    • Dynamic Plugin Ordering
      • Overview
      • Get Started with Dynamic Plugin Ordering
    • Redis Partials
    • Datakit
      • Overview
      • Get Started with Datakit
      • Datakit Configuration Reference
      • Datakit Examples Reference
  • Admin API
    • Overview
    • Declarative Configuration
    • Enterprise API
      • Information Routes
      • Health Routes
      • Tags
      • Debug Routes
      • Services
      • Routes
      • Consumers
      • Plugins
      • Certificates
      • CA Certificates
      • SNIs
      • Upstreams
      • Targets
      • Vaults
      • Keys
      • Filter Chains
      • Licenses
      • Workspaces
      • RBAC
      • Admins
      • Consumer Groups
      • Event Hooks
      • Keyring and Data Encryption
      • Audit Logs
      • Status API
  • Reference
    • kong.conf
    • Injecting Nginx Directives
    • CLI
    • Key Management
    • The Expressions Language
      • Overview
      • Language References
      • Performance Optimizations
    • Rate Limiting Library
    • WebAssembly
    • Event Hooks
    • FAQ
On this pageOn this page
  • Prerequisites
  • Apply OIDC auth mapping to Kong Gateway
    • Review important values
    • Set up mapping

OIDC Authenticated Group Mapping

Using Kong’s OpenID Connect plugin (OIDC), you can map identity provider (IdP) groups to Kong roles. Adding a user to Kong in this way gives them access to Kong based on their group in the IdP.

Admin accounts are now created automatically when you map your identity provider (IdP) groups to Kong roles. You do not need to create the users, groups, and roles separately. These users then accept invitations to join Kong Manager and log in with their IdP credentials.

Important: In v3.6.x, many of the parameters under admin_gui_auth_conf have changed their behavior. Review the changes and adjust your configuration accordingly.

If an admin’s group changes in the IdP, their Kong admin account’s associated role also changes in Kong Gateway the next time they log in to Kong Manager. The mapping removes the task of manually managing access in Kong Gateway, because it makes the IdP the system of record.

When using OIDC group mapping, roles assigned to admins are managed by the IdP. If you manually assign or unassign admin roles, changes will be overwritten during the next login.

Prerequisites

  • An IdP with an authorization server and users with groups assigned
  • Kong Gateway installed and configured
  • Kong Manager enabled
  • RBAC enabled
  • (Kubernetes) Helm installed

Apply OIDC auth mapping to Kong Gateway

Review important values

In the following examples, you specify the admin_claim and authenticated_groups_claim parameters to identify which admin value and role name to map from the IdP to Kong Gateway, as well as the admin_auto_create_rbac_token_disabled to specify whether an RBAC token is created for admins in Kong.

  • The admin_claim value specifies which IdP username value should map to Kong Manager. The username and password are required for the user to log into the IdP.

  • The authenticated_groups_claim value specifies which IdP claim should be used to assign Kong Gateway roles to the specified Kong Gateway admin.

    This value depends on your IdP – for example, Okta configures claims for groups, and another IdP might configure them as roles.

    In the IdP, the group claim value must follow the format <workspace_name>:<role_name>.

    For example, if "authenticated_groups_claim": ["groups"] is specified, and in the IdP groups:["default:super-admin"] is specified, the administrators specified in admin_claim are assigned to the super-admin role in the default Kong Gateway workspace.

    If the mapping does not work as expected, decode the JWT that’s created by your IdP, and make sure that the admin ID token includes the key:value pair groups:["default:super-admin"] for the case of this example, or the appropriate claim name and claim value as set in your IdP.

  • The admin_auto_create_rbac_token_disabled boolean enables or disables RBAC token creation when automatically creating admins with OpenID Connect. The default is false.
    • Set to true to disable automatic token creation for admins
    • Set to false to enable automatic token creation for admins
  • The admin_auto_create boolean enables or disables admin auto-creation with OpenID Connect. The default is true.
    • Set to true to enable automatic admin creation
    • Set to false to disable automatic admin creation

Set up mapping

Kubernetes with Helm
Docker
kong.conf
  1. Create a configuration file for the OIDC plugin and save it as admin_gui_auth_conf.

    Provide your own values for all fields indicated by curly braces ({}):

     {                                      
         "issuer": "{YOUR_IDP_URL}",        
         "admin_claim": "email",
         "client_id": ["{CLIENT_ID}"],                 
         "client_secret": ["{CLIENT_SECRET}"],
         "authenticated_groups_claim": ["{CLAIM_NAME}"],
         "ssl_verify": false,
         "leeway": 60,
         "redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "login_redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_LOGIN_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "logout_methods": ["GET", "DELETE"],
         "logout_query_arg": "logout",
         "logout_redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "scopes": ["openid","profile","email","offline_access"],
         "auth_methods": ["authorization_code"],
         "admin_auto_create_rbac_token_disabled": false,
         "admin_auto_create": true
     }
    

    For detailed descriptions of all OIDC parameters, see the OpenID Connect parameter reference.

  2. Create a secret from the file you just created:

     kubectl create secret generic kong-idp-conf --from-file=admin_gui_auth_conf -n kong
    
  3. Update the RBAC section of the deployment values.yml file with the following parameters:

     rbac:
       enabled: true
       admin_gui_auth: openid-connect
       session_conf_secret: kong-session-conf   
       admin_gui_auth_conf_secret: kong-idp-conf
    
  4. Using Helm, upgrade the deployment with your YAML filename:

     helm upgrade --install kong-ee kong/kong -f ./myvalues.yaml -n kong
    

If you have a Docker installation, run the following command to set the needed environment variables and reload the Kong Gateway configuration.

Provide your own values for all fields indicated by curly braces ({}):

echo "
  KONG_ENFORCE_RBAC=on \
  KONG_ADMIN_GUI_AUTH=openid-connect \
  KONG_ADMIN_GUI_AUTH_CONF='{
      \"issuer\": \"{YOUR_IDP_URL}\",
      \"admin_claim\": \"email\",
      \"client_id\": [\"<someid>\"],
      \"client_secret\": [\"<somesecret>\"],
      \"authenticated_groups_claim\": [\"{CLAIM_NAME}\"],,
      \"ssl_verify\": false,
      \"leeway\": 60,
      \"redirect_uri\": [\"{YOUR_REDIRECT_URI}\"],
      \"login_redirect_uri\": [\"{YOUR_LOGIN_REDIRECT_URI}\"],
      \"logout_methods\": [\"GET\", \"DELETE\"],
      \"logout_query_arg\": \"logout\",
      \"logout_redirect_uri\": [\"{YOUR_LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URI}\"],
      \"scopes\": [\"openid\",\"profile\",\"email\",\"offline_access\"],
      \"auth_methods\": [\"authorization_code\"],
      \"admin_auto_create_rbac_token_disabled\": false,
      \"admin_auto_create\": true
    }' kong reload exit" | docker exec -i {KONG_CONTAINER_ID} /bin/sh

Replace {KONG_CONTAINER_ID} with the ID of your container.

For detailed descriptions of all the parameters used here, and many other customization options, see the OpenID Connect parameter reference.

  1. Navigate to your kong.conf file.

  2. With RBAC enabled, add the admin_gui_auth and admin_gui_auth_conf properties to the file.

    Provide your own values for all fields indicated by curly braces ({}):

     enforce_rbac = on
     admin_gui_auth = openid-connect
     admin_gui_auth_conf = {                                      
         "issuer": "{YOUR_IDP_URL}",        
         "admin_claim": "email",
         "client_id": ["{CLIENT_ID}"],                 
         "client_secret": ["{CLIENT_SECRET}"],
         "authenticated_groups_claim": ["{CLAIM_NAME}"],
         "ssl_verify": false,
         "leeway": 60,
         "redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "login_redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_LOGIN_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "logout_methods": ["GET", "DELETE"],
         "logout_query_arg": "logout",
         "logout_redirect_uri": ["{YOUR_LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URI}"],
         "scopes": ["openid","profile","email","offline_access"],
         "auth_methods": ["authorization_code"],
         "admin_auto_create_rbac_token_disabled": false,
         "admin_auto_create": true
     }
    

    For detailed descriptions of all the parameters used here, and many other customization options, see the OpenID Connect parameter reference.

  3. Restart Kong Gateway to apply the file.

     kong restart -c /path/to/kong.conf
    
Thank you for your feedback.
Was this page useful?
Too much on your plate? close cta icon
More features, less infrastructure with Kong Konnect. 1M requests per month for free.
Try it for Free
  • Kong
    Powering the API world

    Increase developer productivity, security, and performance at scale with the unified platform for API management, service mesh, and ingress controller.

    • Products
      • Kong Konnect
      • Kong Gateway Enterprise
      • Kong Gateway
      • Kong Mesh
      • Kong Ingress Controller
      • Kong Insomnia
      • Product Updates
      • Get Started
    • Documentation
      • Kong Konnect Docs
      • Kong Gateway Docs
      • Kong Mesh Docs
      • Kong Insomnia Docs
      • Kong Konnect Plugin Hub
    • Open Source
      • Kong Gateway
      • Kuma
      • Insomnia
      • Kong Community
    • Company
      • About Kong
      • Customers
      • Careers
      • Press
      • Events
      • Contact
  • Terms• Privacy• Trust and Compliance
© Kong Inc. 2025