OpenID

Backend class

For Django, add this class path to AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS. For other integrations, use the same class path in the framework-specific backend setting.

Backend name	Class path
openid	social_core.backends.open_id.OpenIdAuth

OpenID support is simpler to implement than OAuth. Google and Yahoo providers are supported by default, others are supported by POST method providing endpoint URL.

The generic OpenID backend stores the identity URL asserted by the provider as the user’s unique identifier. Because this identifier is protocol-derived rather than selected from a response mapping, the generic ID_KEY setting does not apply.

Session and provider binding

All OpenID backends require a positive assertion whose provider-signed return URL carries a session-held, one-use transaction value. The verified response must also match backend-scoped discovery state from the browser session that initiated authentication. A second OpenID start in the same session replaces the first transaction; the earlier callback is rejected. Unsolicited assertions are rejected, including for anonymous users. Always use the normal backend initiation path.

When the framework supports restoring sessions, only a session identifier carried by the provider-signed openid.return_to can select that session. Missing or mismatched state requires the user to restart authentication.

The generic openid backend remains provider-selectable because the application user supplies its provider URL. Backends configured for one provider additionally require the callback and verified provider endpoints to match the exact HTTPS endpoint discovered at initiation. This applies to the bundled Ubuntu, openSUSE, Yandex, Launchpad, Fedora, Belgium eID, OpenStack, OpenInfra, LiveJournal, and Steam backends.

Custom backends with a fixed URL receive provider binding automatically. A custom backend that computes a fixed-provider URL in openid_url() must override requires_openid_provider_binding() to return True. Provider discovery URLs and discovered provider endpoints must use HTTPS; there is no setting to disable this validation. Custom strategies that implement session restoration must restore the complete OpenID session state and update session-derived pipeline arguments, including the authenticated user.

Custom backends overriding authorization URL or HTML generation must include the transaction value in the provider-signed return URL, for example by calling _return_to_for_login().

Upgrading binding requirements

Authentication attempts initiated before upgrading to session, transaction, or fixed-provider binding must restart. Deployments upgrading from a release without fixed-provider binding should review associations created or migrated from unexpected identity URLs, especially Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Yandex rows migrated from nickname or email identifiers. Confirm ownership through recovery or authenticated relinking; those records cannot be repaired automatically.

Setting SOCIAL_AUTH_ALLOW_UNVERIFIED_LEGACY_UID_MIGRATION = False limits migration risk but does not replace provider binding. Disable affected backends until the fixed release is installed. See Identifier migration for evidence and recovery policy.

Extra data

OpenID backends can store extra data in UserSocialAuth.extra_data field by defining a set of values names to retrieve from any of the used schemas, AttributeExchange and SimpleRegistration. As their keywords differ we need two settings.

Settings is per backend, so we have two possible values for each one. Name is dynamically checked using uppercase backend name as prefix:

SOCIAL_AUTH_<uppercase backend name>_SREG_EXTRA_DATA
SOCIAL_AUTH_<uppercase backend name>_AX_EXTRA_DATA

Example:

SOCIAL_AUTH_GOOGLE_SREG_EXTRA_DATA = [(..., ...)]
SOCIAL_AUTH_GOOGLE_AX_EXTRA_DATA = [(..., ...)]

Settings must be a list of tuples mapping value name in response and value alias used to store. A third value (boolean) is supported to, it’s purpose is to signal if the value should be discarded if it evaluates to False, this is to avoid replacing old (needed) values when they don’t form part of current response. If not present, then this check is avoided and the value will replace any data.

Username

The OpenID backend will check for a username key in the values returned by the server, but default to first-name + last-name if that key is missing. It’s possible to indicate the username key in the values If the username is under a different key with a setting, but backends should have defined a default value. For example:

SOCIAL_AUTH_FEDORA_USERNAME_KEY = 'nickname'

This setting indicates that the username should be populated by the nickname value in the Fedora OpenID provider.