Entra ID SSO via Microsoft Identity Broker on Linux

This browser extension uses a locally running Microsoft Identity Broker to authenticate the current user on Microsoft Entra ID on Linux devices. By that, also sites behind conditional access policies can be accessed. The extension is written for Firefox but provides a limited support for Google Chrome (and Chromium).

Pre-conditions

This extension will only work on intune-enabled Linux devices. Please double check this by running the intune-portal application and check if your user is logged in (after clicking sign-in). Also make sure to install the host components (see Installation below).

Installation

The extension requires PyGObject and pydbus as runtime dependencies.

• On Debian: sudo apt-get install python3-gi python3-pydbus
• On Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S python-gobject python-pydbus
• If you are using a Python version manager such as asdf you must install the Python packages manually: pip install PyGObject pydbus

Firefox: Signed Version from Github Releases

You can get a signed version of the browser extension from our Github releases. As this only covers the browser part, the host tooling still needs to be installed manually:

1. clone this repository
2. run make local-install-firefox
3. Get the linux_entra_sso-<version>.xpi file from the project's releases page
4. Enable "Access your data for https://login.microsoftonline.com" under the extension's permissions

Chrome: Signed Version from Chrome Web Store

You can get a signed version of the browser extension from the Chrome Web Store. As this only covers the browser part, the host tooling still needs to be installed manually:

1. clone this repository
2. run make local-install-chrome
3. Install the linux-entra-sso Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store

Development Version and Other Browsers

If you want to execute unsigned versions of the extension (e.g. test builds) on Firefox, you have to use either Firefox ESR, nightly or developer, as standard Firefox does not allow installing unsigned extensions since version 48.

To build the extension and install the host parts, perform the following steps:

1. clone this repository
2. run make local-install-<firefox|chrome> to install the native messaging app in the user's .mozilla (or Chrome) folder
3. run make to build the extension (For Firefox, build/<platform>/linux-entra-sso-*.xpi is generated)
4. Firefox only: Permit unsigned extensions in Firefox by setting xpinstall.signatures.required to false
5. Chrome only: In extension menu, enable Developer mode.
6. Install the extension in the Browser from the local linux-entra-sso-*.xpi file (Firefox). On Chrome, use load unpacked and point to build/chrome
7. Enable "Access your data for https://login.microsoftonline.com" under the extension's permissions

Global Installation of Host Components

Linux distributions can ship the host components by packaging the output of make install (DESTDIR is supported). This makes the host parts available to all users, but will only work with the signed versions of the extension. On Chrome, the extension is registered to be auto-installed when starting the browser. On Firefox and Chromium, the users still need to manually install the browser extension from the respective stores.

Note: The native messaging dirs vary across Linux distributions. The variables (firefox|chrome|chromium)_nm_dir and chrome_ext_dir need to be set accordingly. The Python interpreter (shebang) is resolved at install time to avoid depending on venvs at runtime. This can be changed by setting python3_bin. The provided defaults work on a Debian system. For details, have a look at the Makefile.

Usage

No configuration is required. The SSO is automatically enabled. If you want to disable the SSO for this session, click on the tray icon and select the guest account. In case you are already logged in, you might need to clear all cookies on login.microsoftonline.com.

Technical Background

When enabled, the extension acquires a PRT SSO Cookie from the locally running microsoft-identity-broker service and inject that into the OAuth2 login flow on Microsoft Entra ID (login.microsoftonline.com).

Known Limitations

SNAP version not supported

This extension will not work on the snap version of Firefox. The extension executes a script linux-entra-sso.py on the host that communicates via D-Bus with the microsoft-identity-broker service. As the SNAP executes Firefox inside a container, the communication with D-Bus will not work. Please use the firefox-esr Debian package instead.

Expired Tokens on Chrome

Due to not having the WebRequestsBlocking API on Chrome, the extension needs to use a different mechanism to inject the token. While in Firefox the token is requested on-demand when hitting the SSO login URL, in Chrome the token is requested periodically. Then, a declarativeNetRequest API rule is setup to inject the token. As the lifetime of the tokens is limited and cannot be checked, outdated tokens might be injected. Further, a generic SSO URL must be used when requesting the token, instead of the actual one.

Troubleshooting

In case the extension is not working, check the following:

• run host component in interactive mode: python3 ./linux-entra-sso.py --interactive acquirePrtSsoCookie
• check if SSO is working in the Edge browser

License

This project is licensed according to the terms of the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0. A copy of the license is provided in LICENSES/MPL-2.0.txt.