This is a purely informative rendering of an RFC that includes verified errata. This rendering may not be used as a reference.
The following 'Verified' errata have been incorporated in this document:
EID 6893
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) P. Hunt, Ed.
Request for Comments: 7644 Oracle
Category: Standards Track K. Grizzle
ISSN: 2070-1721 SailPoint
M. Ansari
Cisco
E. Wahlstroem
Nexus Technology
C. Mortimore
Salesforce
September 2015
System for Cross-domain Identity Management: Protocol
Abstract
The System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) specification
is an HTTP-based protocol that makes managing identities in multi-
domain scenarios easier to support via a standardized service.
Examples include, but are not limited to, enterprise-to-cloud service
providers and inter-cloud scenarios. The specification suite seeks
to build upon experience with existing schemas and deployments,
placing specific emphasis on simplicity of development and
integration, while applying existing authentication, authorization,
and privacy models. SCIM's intent is to reduce the cost and
complexity of user management operations by providing a common user
schema, an extension model, and a service protocol defined by this
document.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7644.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Overview .......................................3
1.1. Intended Audience ..........................................3
1.2. Notational Conventions .....................................4
1.3. Definitions ................................................4
2. Authentication and Authorization ................................5
2.1. Use of Tokens as Authorizations ............................7
2.2. Anonymous Requests .........................................7
3. SCIM Protocol ...................................................8
3.1. Background .................................................8
3.2. SCIM Endpoints and HTTP Methods ............................9
3.3. Creating Resources ........................................11
3.3.1. Resource Types .....................................13
3.4. Retrieving Resources ......................................13
3.4.1. Retrieving a Known Resource ........................14
3.4.2. Query Resources ....................................15
3.4.3. Querying Resources Using HTTP POST .................27
3.5. Modifying Resources .......................................29
3.5.1. Replacing with PUT .................................30
3.5.2. Modifying with PATCH ...............................32
3.6. Deleting Resources ........................................48
3.7. Bulk Operations ...........................................49
3.7.1. Circular Reference Processing ......................51
3.7.2. "bulkId" Temporary Identifiers .....................53
3.7.3. Response and Error Handling ........................58
3.7.4. Maximum Operations .................................63
3.8. Data Input/Output Formats .................................64
3.9. Additional Operation Response Parameters ..................64
3.10. Attribute Notation .......................................66
3.11. "/Me" Authenticated Subject Alias ........................66
3.12. HTTP Status and Error Response Handling ..................67
3.13. SCIM Protocol Versioning .................................71
3.14. Versioning Resources .....................................71
4. Service Provider Configuration Endpoints .......................73
5. Preparation and Comparison of Internationalized Strings ........76
6. Multi-Tenancy ..................................................76
6.1. Associating Clients to Tenants ............................77
6.2. SCIM Identifiers with Multiple Tenants ....................78
7. Security Considerations ........................................78
7.1. HTTP Considerations .......................................78
7.2. TLS Support Considerations ................................78
7.3. Authorization Token Considerations ........................78
7.4. Bearer Token and Cookie Considerations ....................79
7.5. Privacy Considerations ....................................79
7.5.1. Personal Information ...............................79
7.5.2. Disclosure of Sensitive Information in URIs ........80
7.6. Anonymous Requests ........................................80
7.7. Secure Storage and Handling of Sensitive Data .............81
7.8. Case-Insensitive Comparison and International Languages ...82
8. IANA Considerations ............................................82
8.1. Media Type Registration ...................................82
8.2. Registering URIs for SCIM Messages ........................84
9. References .....................................................85
9.1. Normative References ......................................85
9.2. Informative References ....................................87
Acknowledgements ..................................................88
Contributors ......................................................88
Authors' Addresses ................................................89
1. Introduction and Overview
The SCIM protocol is an application-level HTTP-based protocol for
provisioning and managing identity data on the web and in
cross-domain environments such as enterprise-to-cloud service
providers or inter-cloud scenarios. The protocol supports creation,
modification, retrieval, and discovery of core identity resources
such as Users and Groups, as well as custom resources and resource
extensions.
The definition of resources, attributes, and overall schema are
defined in the SCIM Core Schema document [RFC7643].
1.1. Intended Audience
This document is intended to serve as a guide to SCIM protocol usage
for both SCIM HTTP service providers and HTTP clients who may
provision information to service providers or retrieve information
from them.
1.2. Notational Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. These key
words are capitalized when used to unambiguously specify requirements
of the protocol or application features and behavior that affect the
interoperability and security of implementations. When these words
are not capitalized, they are meant in their natural-language sense.
For purposes of readability, examples are not URL encoded.
Implementers MUST percent-encode URLs as described in Section 2.1 of
[RFC3986].
Throughout this document, figures may contain spaces and extra line
wrapping to improve readability and accommodate space limitations.
Similarly, some URIs contained within examples have been shortened
for space and readability reasons (as indicated by "...").
1.3. Definitions
This specification uses the definitions from [RFC7643] and defines
the following additional term:
Base URI
The SCIM HTTP protocol is described in terms of a path relative to
a Base URI. The Base URI MUST NOT contain a query string, as
clients MAY append additional path information and query
parameters as part of forming the request. The base URI is a URL
that most often consists of the "https" protocol scheme, a domain
name, and some initial path [RFC3986]. For example:
"https://example.com/scim/"
For readability, all examples in this document assume that the SCIM
service root and the server root are the same (no path prefix). It
is expected that SCIM servers may be deployed using any URI path
prefix. For example, a SCIM server might have a prefix of
"https://example.com/" or "https://example.com/scim/tenancypath/".
Additionally, a client MAY apply a version number to the server root
prefix (see Section 3.13).
2. Authentication and Authorization
The SCIM protocol is based upon HTTP and does not itself define a
SCIM-specific scheme for authentication and authorization. SCIM
depends on the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) and/or standard
HTTP authentication and authorization schemes as per [RFC7235]. For
example, the following methodologies could be used, among others:
TLS Client Authentication
The SCIM service provider MAY request TLS client authentication
(also known as mutual authentication). See Section 7.3 of
[RFC5246].
HOBA Authentication
HTTP Origin-Bound Authentication (HOBA) is a variation on TLS
client authentication and uses a digital-signature-based design
for an HTTP authentication method (see [RFC7486]). The design can
also be used in JavaScript-based authentication embedded in HTML.
HOBA is an alternative to HTTP authentication schemes that require
passwords and therefore avoids all problems related to passwords,
such as leakage of server-side password databases.
Bearer Tokens
Bearer tokens [RFC6750] MAY be used when combined with TLS and a
token framework such as OAuth 2.0 [RFC6749]. Tokens that are
issued based on weak or no authentication of authorizing users
and/or OAuth clients SHOULD NOT be used, unless, for example, they
are being used as single-use tokens to permit one-time requests
such as anonymous registration (see Section 3.3). For security
considerations regarding the use of bearer tokens in SCIM, see
Section 7.4. While bearer tokens most often represent an
authorization, it is assumed that the authorization was based upon
a successful authentication of the SCIM client. Accordingly, the
SCIM service provider must have a method for validating, parsing,
and/or "introspecting" the bearer token for the relevant
authentication and authorization information. The method for this
is assumed to be defined by the token-issuing system and is beyond
the scope of this specification.
PoP Tokens
A proof-of-possession (PoP) token demonstrates that the presenter
of the token possesses a particular key and that the recipient can
cryptographically confirm proof of possession of the key by the
presenter. This property is sometimes also described as the
presenter being a holder of the key. See [OAuth-PoP-Arch] for an
example of such a token and its use.
Cookies
JavaScript clients MAY assert HTTP cookies over TLS that contain
an authentication state that is understood by the SCIM service
provider (see [RFC6265]). An example of this is scenarios where
web-form authentication has taken place with the user and HTTP
cookies were set representing the authentication state. For the
purposes of SCIM, the security considerations in Section 7.4
apply.
Basic Authentication
Usage of basic authentication should be avoided, due to its use of
a single factor that is based upon a relatively static, symmetric
secret. Implementers SHOULD combine the use of basic
authentication with other factors. The security considerations of
HTTP Basic are well documented in [HTTP-BASIC-AUTH]; therefore,
implementers are encouraged to use stronger authentication
methods. Designating the specific methods of authentication and
authorization is out of scope for SCIM; however, this information
is provided as a resource to implementers.
As per Section 4.1 of [RFC7235], a SCIM service provider SHALL
indicate supported HTTP authentication schemes via the
"WWW-Authenticate" header.
Regardless of methodology, the SCIM service provider MUST be able to
map the authenticated client to an access control policy in order to
determine the client's authorization to retrieve and update SCIM
resources. For example, while a browser session may have been
established via HTTP cookie or TLS client authentication, the unique
client MUST be mapped to a security subject (e.g., User). The
authorization model and the process by which this is done are beyond
the scope of this specification.
When processing requests, the service provider SHOULD consider the
subject performing the request and whether or not the action is
appropriate given the subject and the resource affected by the
request. The subject performing the request is usually determined
directly or indirectly from the "Authorization" header present in the
request. For example, a subject MAY be permitted to retrieve and
update their own "User" resource but will normally have restricted
ability to access resources associated with other Users. In other
cases, the SCIM service provider might only grant access to a
subject's own associated "User" resource (e.g., for the purpose of
updating personal contact attributes).
For illustrative purposes only, SCIM protocol examples show an
OAuth 2.0 bearer token value [RFC6750] in the authorization
header, e.g.,
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
This is not intended to imply that bearer tokens are preferred.
However, the use of bearer tokens in the specification does reflect
common implementation practice.
2.1. Use of Tokens as Authorizations
When using bearer tokens or PoP tokens that represent an
authorization grant, such as a grant issued by OAuth (see [RFC6749]),
implementers SHOULD consider the type of authorization granted, any
authorized scopes (see Section 3.3 of [RFC6749]), and the security
subject(s) that SHOULD be mapped from the authorization when
considering local access control rules. Section 6 of [RFC7521]
documents common scenarios for authorization, including:
o A client using an assertion to authenticate and/or act on behalf
of itself,
o A client acting on behalf of a user, and
o A client acting on behalf of an anonymous user (for example, see
Section 2.2).
When using OAuth authorization tokens, implementers MUST take into
account the threats and countermeasures related to the use of client
authorizations, as documented in Section 8 of [RFC7521]. When using
other token formats or frameworks, implementers MUST take into
account similar threats and countermeasures, especially those
documented by the relevant specifications.
2.2. Anonymous Requests
In some SCIM deployments, it MAY be acceptable to permit
unauthenticated (anonymous) requests -- for example, a user
self-registration request where the service provider chooses to
accept a SCIM Create request (see Section 3.3) from an anonymous
client. See Section 7.6 for security considerations regarding
anonymous requests.
3. SCIM Protocol
3.1. Background
SCIM is a protocol that is based on HTTP [RFC7230]. Along with HTTP
headers and URIs, SCIM uses JSON [RFC7159] payloads to convey SCIM
resources, as well as protocol-specific payload messages that convey
request parameters and response information such as errors. Both
resources and messages are passed in the form of JSON-based
structures in the message body of an HTTP request or response. To
identify this content, SCIM uses a media type of
"application/scim+json" (see Section 8.1).
A SCIM "resource" is a JSON object [RFC7159] that may be created,
maintained, and retrieved via HTTP request methods as described in
this document. Each JSON resource representation contains a
"schemas" attribute that contains a list of one or more URIs that
indicate included SCIM schemas that are used to indicate the
attributes contained within a resource. Specific information about
what attributes are defined within a schema MAY be obtained by
querying a SCIM service provider's "/Schemas" endpoint for a schema
definition (see Section 8.7 of [RFC7643]). Responses from this
endpoint describe the schema supported by a service provider,
including attribute characteristics such as cardinality,
case-exactness, mutability, uniqueness, returnability, and whether or
not attributes are required. While SCIM schemas and an associated
extension model are defined in [RFC7643], SCIM clients should expect
that some attribute schema may change from service provider to
service provider, particularly across administrative domains. In
cases where SCIM may be used as an open protocol in front of an
application service, it is quite reasonable to expect that some
service providers may only support a subset of the schema defined in
[RFC7643].
A SCIM message conveys protocol parameters related to a SCIM request
or response; this specification defines these parameters. As with a
SCIM resource, a SCIM message is a JSON object [RFC7159] that
contains a "schemas" attribute with a URI whose namespace prefix MUST
begin with "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:". As SCIM protocol messages
are fixed and defined by SCIM specifications and registered
extensions, SCIM message schemas using the above prefix URN SHALL NOT
be discoverable using the "/Schemas" endpoint.
As SCIM is intended for use in cross-domain scenarios where schema
and implementations may vary, techniques such as document validation
(e.g., [XML-Schema]) are not recommended. A SCIM service provider
interprets a request in the context of its own schema (which may be
different from the client's schema) and following the defined
processing rules for each request. The sections that follow define
the processing rules for SCIM and provide allowances for schema
differences where appropriate. For example, in a SCIM PUT request,
"readOnly" attributes are ignored, while "readWrite" attributes are
updated. There is no need for a SCIM client to discover which
attributes are "readOnly", and the client does not need to remove
them from a PUT request in order to be accepted. Similarly, a SCIM
client SHOULD NOT expect a service provider to return SCIM resources
with exactly the same schema and values as submitted. SCIM responses
SHALL reflect resource state as interpreted by the SCIM service
provider.
3.2. SCIM Endpoints and HTTP Methods
The SCIM protocol specifies well-known endpoints and HTTP methods for
managing resources defined in the SCIM Core Schema document
([RFC7643]); i.e., "User" and "Group" resources correspond to
"/Users" and "/Groups", respectively. Service providers that support
extended resources SHOULD define resource endpoints using the
convention of pluralizing the resource name defined in the extended
schema, by appending an 's'. Given that there are cases where
resource pluralization is ambiguous, e.g., a resource named "Person"
is legitimately "Persons" and "People", clients SHOULD discover
resource endpoints via the "/ResourceTypes" endpoint.
HTTP SCIM Usage
Method
------ --------------------------------------------------------------
GET Retrieves one or more complete or partial resources.
POST Depending on the endpoint, creates new resources, creates a
search request, or MAY be used to bulk-modify resources.
PUT Modifies a resource by replacing existing attributes with a
specified set of replacement attributes (replace). PUT
MUST NOT be used to create new resources.
PATCH Modifies a resource with a set of client-specified changes
(partial update).
DELETE Deletes a resource.
Table 1: SCIM HTTP Methods
Resource Endpoint Operations Description
-------- ---------------- ---------------------- --------------------
User /Users GET (Section 3.4.1), Retrieve, add,
POST (Section 3.3), modify Users.
PUT (Section 3.5.1),
PATCH (Section 3.5.2),
DELETE (Section 3.6)
Group /Groups GET (Section 3.4.1), Retrieve, add,
POST (Section 3.3), modify Groups.
PUT (Section 3.5.1),
PATCH (Section 3.5.2),
DELETE (Section 3.6)
Self /Me GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, Alias for operations
DELETE (Section 3.11) against a resource
mapped to an
authenticated
subject (e.g.,
User).
Service /ServiceProvider GET (Section 4) Retrieve service
provider Config provider's
config. configuration.
Resource /ResourceTypes GET (Section 4) Retrieve supported
type resource types.
Schema /Schemas GET (Section 4) Retrieve one or more
supported schemas.
Bulk /Bulk POST (Section 3.7) Bulk updates to one
or more resources.
Search [prefix]/.search POST (Section 3.4.3) Search from system
root or within a
resource endpoint
for one or more
resource types using
POST.
Table 2: Defined Endpoints
All requests to the service provider are made via HTTP methods as per
Section 4.3 of [RFC7231] on a URL derived from the Base URL.
Responses are returned in the body of the HTTP response, formatted as
JSON. Error status codes SHOULD be transmitted via the HTTP status
code of the response (if possible) and SHOULD also be specified in
the body of the response (see Section 3.12).
3.3. Creating Resources
To create new resources, clients send HTTP POST requests to the
resource endpoint, such as "/Users" or "/Groups", as defined by the
associated resource type endpoint discovery (see Section 4).
The server SHALL process attributes according to the following
mutability rules:
o In the request body, attributes whose mutability is "readOnly"
(see Sections 2.2 and 7 of [RFC7643]) SHALL be ignored.
o Attributes whose mutability is "readWrite" (see Section 2.2 of
[RFC7643]) and that are omitted from the request body MAY be
assumed to be not asserted by the client. The service provider
MAY assign a default value to non-asserted attributes in the final
resource representation.
o Service providers MAY take into account whether or not a client
has access to all of the resource's attributes when deciding
whether or not non-asserted attributes should be defaulted.
o Clients that intend to override existing or server-defaulted
values for attributes MAY specify "null" for a single-valued
attribute or an empty array "[]" for a multi-valued attribute to
clear all values.
When the service provider successfully creates the new resource, an
HTTP response SHALL be returned with HTTP status code 201 (Created).
The response body SHOULD contain the service provider's
representation of the newly created resource. The URI of the created
resource SHALL include, in the HTTP "Location" header and the HTTP
body, a JSON representation [RFC7159] with the attribute
"meta.location". Since the server is free to alter and/or ignore
POSTed content, returning the full representation can be useful to
the client, enabling it to correlate the client's and server's views
of the new resource.
If the service provider determines that the creation of the requested
resource conflicts with existing resources (e.g., a "User" resource
with a duplicate "userName"), the service provider MUST return HTTP
status code 409 (Conflict) with a "scimType" error code of
"uniqueness", as per Section 3.12.
In the following example, a client sends a POST request containing a
"User" to the "/Users" endpoint.
POST /Users HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"userName":"bjensen",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara"
}
}
In response to the example request above, the server signals a
successful creation with an HTTP status code 201 (Created) and
returns a representation of the resource created:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location:
https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
ETag: W/"e180ee84f0671b1"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"meta":{
"resourceType":"User",
"created":"2011-08-01T21:32:44.882Z",
"lastModified":"2011-08-01T21:32:44.882Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"version":"W\/\"e180ee84f0671b1\""
},
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara"
},
"userName":"bjensen"
}
3.3.1. Resource Types
When adding a resource to a specific endpoint, the meta attribute
"resourceType" SHALL be set by the HTTP service provider to the
corresponding resource type for the endpoint. For example, a POST to
the endpoint "/Users" will set "resourceType" to "User", and
"/Groups" will set "resourceType" to "Group".
3.4. Retrieving Resources
Resources MAY be retrieved via opaque, unique URLs or via queries
(see Section 3.4.2). The attributes returned are defined in the
server's attribute schema (see Section 8.7 of [RFC7643]) and may be
modified by request parameters (see Section 3.9). By default,
resource attributes returned in a response are those attributes whose
characteristic "returned" setting is "always" or "default" (see
Section 2.2 of [RFC7643]).
3.4.1. Retrieving a Known Resource
To retrieve a known resource, clients send GET requests to the
resource endpoint, e.g., "/Users/{id}", "/Groups/{id}", or
"/Schemas/{id}", where "{id}" is a resource identifier (for example,
the value of the "id" attribute).
If the resource exists, the server responds with HTTP status code 200
(OK) and includes the result in the body of the response.
The example below retrieves a single User via the "/Users" endpoint.
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
The server responds with:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location:
https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
ETag: W/"f250dd84f0671c3"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"meta":{
"resourceType":"User",
"created":"2011-08-01T18:29:49.793Z",
"lastModified":"2011-08-01T18:29:49.793Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"version":"W\/\"f250dd84f0671c3\""
},
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara"
},
"userName":"bjensen",
"phoneNumbers":[
{
"value":"555-555-8377",
"type":"work"
}
],
"emails":[
{
"value":"bjensen@example.com",
"type":"work"
}
]
}
3.4.2. Query Resources
The SCIM protocol defines a standard set of query parameters that can
be used to filter, sort, and paginate to return zero or more
resources in a query response. Queries MAY be made against a single
resource or a resource type endpoint (e.g., "/Users"), or the service
provider Base URI. SCIM service providers MAY support additional
query parameters not specified here and SHOULD ignore any query
parameters they do not recognize instead of rejecting the query for
versioning compatibility reasons.
Responses MUST be identified using the following URI:
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse". The following
attributes are defined for responses:
totalResults The total number of results returned by the list or
query operation. The value may be larger than the number of
resources returned, such as when returning a single page (see
Section 3.4.2.4) of results where multiple pages are available.
REQUIRED.
Resources A multi-valued list of complex objects containing the
requested resources. This MAY be a subset of the full set of
resources if pagination (Section 3.4.2.4) is requested. REQUIRED
if "totalResults" is non-zero.
startIndex The 1-based index of the first result in the current set
of list results. REQUIRED when partial results are returned due
to pagination.
itemsPerPage The number of resources returned in a list response
page. REQUIRED when partial results are returned due to
pagination.
A query that does not return any matches SHALL return success (HTTP
status code 200) with "totalResults" set to a value of 0.
The example query below requests the userName for all Users:
GET /Users?attributes=userName
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
The following is an example response to the query above:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"],
"totalResults":2,
"Resources":[
{
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"userName":"bjensen"
},
{
"id":"c75ad752-64ae-4823-840d-ffa80929976c",
"userName":"jsmith"
}
]
}
Note that in the above example, "id" is returned because the "id"
attribute has the "returned" characteristic of "always".
3.4.2.1. Query Endpoints
Queries MAY be performed against a SCIM resource object, a resource
type endpoint, or a SCIM server root. For example:
"/Users/{id}"
"/Users"
"/Groups"
A query against a server root indicates that all resources within the
server SHALL be included, subject to filtering. A filter expression
using "meta.resourceType" MAY be used to restrict results to one or
more specific resource types (to exclude others). For example:
filter=(meta.resourceType eq User) or (meta.resourceType eq Group)
If a SCIM service provider determines that too many results would be
returned (e.g., because a client queried a resource type endpoint or
the server base URI), the server SHALL reject the request by
returning an HTTP response with HTTP status code 400 (Bad Request)
and JSON attribute "scimType" set to "tooMany" (see Table 9).
When processing query operations using endpoints that include more
than one SCIM resource type (e.g., a query from the server root
endpoint), filters MUST be processed as outlined in Section 3.4.2.2.
For filtered attributes that are not part of a particular resource
type, the service provider SHALL treat the attribute as if there is
no attribute value. For example, a presence or equality filter for
an undefined attribute evaluates to false.
3.4.2.2. Filtering
Filtering is an OPTIONAL parameter for SCIM service providers.
Clients MAY discover service provider filter capabilities by looking
at the "filter" attribute of the "ServiceProviderConfig" endpoint
(see Section 4). Clients MAY request a subset of resources by
specifying the "filter" query parameter containing a filter
expression. When specified, only those resources matching the filter
expression SHALL be returned. The expression language that is used
with the filter parameter supports references to attributes and
literals.
Attribute names and attribute operators used in filters are case
insensitive. For example, the following two expressions will
evaluate to the same logical value:
filter=userName Eq "john"
filter=Username eq "john"
The filter parameter MUST contain at least one valid expression (see
Table 3). Each expression MUST contain an attribute name followed by
an attribute operator and optional value. Multiple expressions MAY
be combined using logical operators (see Table 4). Expressions MAY
be grouped together using round brackets "(" and ")" (see Table 5).
The operators supported in the expression are listed in Table 3.
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| Operator | Description | Behavior |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| eq | equal | The attribute and operator values must |
| | | be identical for a match. |
| | | |
| ne | not equal | The attribute and operator values are |
| | | not identical. |
| | | |
| co | contains | The entire operator value must be a |
| | | substring of the attribute value for a |
| | | match. |
| | | |
| sw | starts with | The entire operator value must be a |
| | | substring of the attribute value, |
| | | starting at the beginning of the |
| | | attribute value. This criterion is |
| | | satisfied if the two strings are |
| | | identical. |
| | | |
| ew | ends with | The entire operator value must be a |
| | | substring of the attribute value, |
| | | matching at the end of the attribute |
| | | value. This criterion is satisfied if |
| | | the two strings are identical. |
| | | |
| pr | present | If the attribute has a non-empty or |
| | (has value) | non-null value, or if it contains a |
| | | non-empty node for complex attributes, |
| | | there is a match. |
| | | |
| gt | greater | If the attribute value is greater than |
| | than | the operator value, there is a match. |
| | | The actual comparison is dependent on |
| | | the attribute type. For string |
| | | attribute types, this is a |
| | | lexicographical comparison, and for |
| | | DateTime types, it is a chronological |
| | | comparison. For integer attributes, it |
| | | is a comparison by numeric value. |
| | | Boolean and Binary attributes SHALL |
| | | cause a failed response (HTTP status |
| | | code 400) with "scimType" of |
| | | "invalidFilter". |
| | | |
| ge | greater | If the attribute value is greater than |
| | than or | or equal to the operator value, there is |
| | equal to | a match. The actual comparison is |
| | | dependent on the attribute type. For |
| | | string attribute types, this is a |
| | | lexicographical comparison, and for |
| | | DateTime types, it is a chronological |
| | | comparison. For integer attributes, it |
| | | is a comparison by numeric value. |
| | | Boolean and Binary attributes SHALL |
| | | cause a failed response (HTTP status |
| | | code 400) with "scimType" of |
| | | "invalidFilter". |
| | | |
| lt | less than | If the attribute value is less than the |
| | | operator value, there is a match. The |
| | | actual comparison is dependent on the |
| | | attribute type. For string attribute |
| | | types, this is a lexicographical |
| | | comparison, and for DateTime types, it |
| | | is a chronological comparison. For |
| | | integer attributes, it is a comparison |
| | | by numeric value. Boolean and Binary |
| | | attributes SHALL cause a failed response |
| | | (HTTP status code 400) with "scimType" |
| | | of "invalidFilter". |
| | | |
| le | less than | If the attribute value is less than or |
| | or equal to | equal to the operator value, there is a |
| | | match. The actual comparison is |
| | | dependent on the attribute type. For |
| | | string attribute types, this is a |
| | | lexicographical comparison, and for |
| | | DateTime types, it is a chronological |
| | | comparison. For integer attributes, it |
| | | is a comparison by numeric value. |
| | | Boolean and Binary attributes SHALL |
| | | cause a failed response (HTTP status |
| | | code 400) with "scimType" of |
| | | "invalidFilter". |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
Table 3: Attribute Operators
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| Operator | Description | Behavior |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| and | Logical | The filter is only a match if both |
| | "and" | expressions evaluate to true. |
| | | |
| or | Logical | The filter is a match if either |
| | "or" | expression evaluates to true. |
| | | |
| not | "Not" | The filter is a match if the expression |
| | function | evaluates to false. |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
Table 4: Logical Operators
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| Operator | Description | Behavior |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
| ( ) | Precedence | Boolean expressions MAY be grouped using |
| | grouping | parentheses to change the standard order |
| | | of operations, i.e., to evaluate logical |
| | | "or" operators before logical "and" |
| | | operators. |
| | | |
| [ ] | Complex | Service providers MAY support complex |
| | attribute | filters where expressions MUST be |
| | filter | applied to the same value of a parent |
| | grouping | attribute specified immediately before |
| | | the left square bracket ("["). The |
| | | expression within square brackets ("[" |
| | | and "]") MUST be a valid filter |
| | | expression based upon sub-attributes of |
| | | the parent attribute. Nested |
| | | expressions MAY be used. See examples |
| | | below. |
+----------+-------------+------------------------------------------+
Table 5: Grouping Operators
SCIM filters MUST conform to the following ABNF [RFC5234] rules as
specified below:
FILTER = attrExp / logExp / valuePath / *1"not" "(" FILTER ")"
valuePath = attrPath "[" valFilter "]"
; FILTER uses sub-attributes of a parent attrPath
valFilter = attrExp / logExp / *1"not" "(" valFilter ")"
attrExp = (attrPath SP "pr") /
(attrPath SP compareOp SP compValue)
logExp = FILTER SP ("and" / "or") SP FILTER
compValue = false / null / true / number / string
; rules from JSON (RFC 7159)
compareOp = "eq" / "ne" / "co" /
"sw" / "ew" /
"gt" / "lt" /
"ge" / "le"
attrPath = [URI ":"] ATTRNAME *1subAttr
; SCIM attribute name
; URI is SCIM "schema" URI
ATTRNAME = ALPHA *(nameChar)
nameChar = "-" / "_" / DIGIT / ALPHA
subAttr = "." ATTRNAME
; a sub-attribute of a complex attribute
Figure 1: ABNF Specification of SCIM Filters
In the above ABNF rules, the "compValue" (comparison value) rule is
built on JSON Data Interchange format ABNF rules as specified in
[RFC7159], "DIGIT" and "ALPHA" are defined per Appendix B.1 of
[RFC5234], and "URI" is defined per Appendix A of [RFC3986].
Filters MUST be evaluated using the following order of operations, in
order of precedence:
1. Grouping operators
2. Logical operators - where "not" takes precedence over "and",
which takes precedence over "or"
3. Attribute operators
If the specified attribute in a filter expression is a multi-valued
attribute, the filter matches if any of the values of the specified
attribute match the specified criterion; e.g., if a User has multiple
"emails" values, only one has to match for the entire User to match.
For complex attributes, a fully qualified sub-attribute MUST be
specified using standard attribute notation (Section 3.10). For
example, to filter by userName, the parameter value is "userName".
To filter by first name, the parameter value is "name.givenName".
When applying a comparison (e.g., "eq") or presence filter (e.g.,
"pr") to a defaulted attribute, the service provider SHALL use the
value that was returned to the client that last created or modified
the attribute.
Providers MAY support additional filter operations if they choose.
Providers MUST decline to filter results if the specified filter
operation is not recognized and return an HTTP 400 error with a
"scimType" error of "invalidFilter" and an appropriate human-readable
response as per Section 3.12. For example, if a client specified an
unsupported operator named 'regex', the service provider should
specify an error response description identifying the client error,
e.g., 'The operator 'regex' is not supported.'
When comparing attributes of type String, the case sensitivity for
String type attributes SHALL be determined by the attribute's
"caseExact" characteristic (see Section 2.2 of [RFC7643]).
Clients MAY query by schema or schema extensions by using a filter
expression including the "schemas" attribute (as shown in Figure 2).
The following are examples of valid filters. Some attributes (e.g.,
rooms and rooms.number) are hypothetical extensions and are not part
of the SCIM core schema:
filter=userName eq "bjensen"
filter=name.familyName co "O'Malley"
filter=userName sw "J"
filter=urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User:userName sw "J"
filter=title pr
filter=meta.lastModified gt "2011-05-13T04:42:34Z"
filter=meta.lastModified ge "2011-05-13T04:42:34Z"
filter=meta.lastModified lt "2011-05-13T04:42:34Z"
filter=meta.lastModified le "2011-05-13T04:42:34Z"
filter=title pr and userType eq "Employee"
filter=title pr or userType eq "Intern"
filter=
schemas eq "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User"
filter=userType eq "Employee" and (emails co "example.com" or
emails.value co "example.org")
filter=userType ne "Employee" and not (emails co "example.com" or
emails.value co "example.org")
filter=userType eq "Employee" and (emails.type eq "work")
filter=userType eq "Employee" and emails[type eq "work" and
value co "@example.com"]
filter=emails[type eq "work" and value co "@example.com"] or
ims[type eq "xmpp" and value co "@foo.com"]
Figure 2: Example Filters
3.4.2.3. Sorting
Sort is OPTIONAL. Clients MAY discover sort capability by looking at
the "sort" attribute of the service provider configuration (see
Section 4). Sorting allows clients to specify the order in which
resources are returned by specifying a combination of "sortBy" and
"sortOrder" URL parameters.
sortBy The "sortBy" parameter specifies the attribute whose value
SHALL be used to order the returned responses. If the "sortBy"
attribute corresponds to a singular attribute, resources are
sorted according to that attribute's value; if it's a multi-valued
attribute, resources are sorted by the value of the primary
attribute (see Section 2.4 of [RFC7643]), if any, or else the
first value in the list, if any. If the attribute is complex, the
attribute name must be a path to a sub-attribute in standard
attribute notation (Section 3.10), e.g., "sortBy=name.givenName".
For all attribute types, if there is no data for the specified
"sortBy" value, they are sorted via the "sortOrder" parameter,
i.e., they are ordered last if ascending and first if descending.
sortOrder The order in which the "sortBy" parameter is applied.
Allowed values are "ascending" and "descending". If a value for
"sortBy" is provided and no "sortOrder" is specified, "sortOrder"
SHALL default to ascending. String type attributes are case
insensitive by default, unless the attribute type is defined as a
case-exact string. "sortOrder" MUST sort according to the
attribute type; i.e., for case-insensitive attributes, sort the
result using case-insensitive Unicode alphabetic sort order with
no specific locale implied, and for case-exact attribute types,
sort the result using case-sensitive Unicode alphabetic sort
order.
3.4.2.4. Pagination
Pagination parameters can be used together to "page through" large
numbers of resources so as not to overwhelm the client or service
provider. Because pagination is not stateful, clients MUST be
prepared to handle inconsistent results. For example, a request for
a list of 10 resources beginning with a startIndex of 1 MAY return
different results when repeated, since resources on the service
provider may have changed between requests. Pagination parameters
and general behavior are derived from the OpenSearch Protocol
[OpenSearch].
Table 6 describes the URL pagination parameters.
+------------+----------------------------+-------------------------+
| Parameter | Description | Default |
+------------+----------------------------+-------------------------+
| startIndex | The 1-based index of the | 1 |
| | first query result. A | |
| | value less than 1 SHALL be | |
| | interpreted as 1. | |
| | | |
| count | Non-negative integer. | None. When specified, |
| | Specifies the desired | the service provider |
| | maximum number of query | MUST NOT return more |
| | results per page, e.g., | results than specified, |
| | 10. A negative value | although it MAY return |
| | SHALL be interpreted as | fewer results. If |
| | "0". A value of "0" | unspecified, the |
| | indicates that no resource | maximum number of |
| | results are to be returned | results is set by the |
| | except for "totalResults". | service provider. |
+------------+----------------------------+-------------------------+
Table 6: Pagination Request Parameters
Table 7 describes the query response pagination attributes specified
by the service provider.
+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Element | Description |
+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| itemsPerPage | Non-negative integer. Specifies the number of |
| | query results returned in a query response page, |
| | e.g., 10. |
| | |
| totalResults | Non-negative integer. Specifies the total number |
| | of results matching the client query, e.g., 1000. |
| | |
| startIndex | The 1-based index of the first result in the |
| | current set of query results, e.g., 1. |
+--------------+----------------------------------------------------+
Table 7: Pagination Response Elements
For example, to retrieve the first 10 Users, set the startIndex to 1
and the count to 10:
GET /Users?startIndex=1&count=10
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
The response to the query above returns metadata regarding paging
similar to the following example (actual resources removed for
brevity):
{
"totalResults":100,
"itemsPerPage":10,
"startIndex":1,
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"],
"Resources":[{
...
}]
}
Figure 3: ListResponse Format for Returning Multiple Resources
Given the example above, to continue paging, set the startIndex to 11
and re-fetch, i.e., /Users?startIndex=11&count=10.
3.4.2.5. Attributes
The following attributes control which attributes SHALL be returned
with a returned resource. SCIM clients MAY use one of these two
OPTIONAL parameters, which MUST be supported by SCIM service
providers:
attributes A multi-valued list of strings indicating the names of
resource attributes to return in the response, overriding the set
of attributes that would be returned by default. Attribute names
MUST be in standard attribute notation (Section 3.10) form. See
Section 3.9 for additional retrieval query parameters.
excludedAttributes A multi-valued list of strings indicating the
names of resource attributes to be removed from the default set of
attributes to return. This parameter SHALL have no effect on
attributes whose schema "returned" setting is "always" (see
Sections 2.2 and 7 of [RFC7643]). Attribute names MUST be in
standard attribute notation (Section 3.10) form. See Section 3.9
for additional retrieval query parameters.
3.4.3. Querying Resources Using HTTP POST
Clients MAY execute queries without passing parameters on the URL by
using the HTTP POST verb combined with the "/.search" path extension.
The inclusion of "/.search" on the end of a valid SCIM endpoint SHALL
be used to indicate that the HTTP POST verb is intended to be a query
operation.
To create a new query result set, a SCIM client sends an HTTP POST
request to the desired SCIM resource endpoint (ending in "/.search").
The body of the POST request MAY include any of the parameters
defined in Section 3.4.2.
Query requests MUST be identified using the following URI:
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:SearchRequest". The following
attributes are defined for query requests:
attributes A multi-valued list of strings indicating the names of
resource attributes to return in the response, overriding the set
of attributes that would be returned by default. Attribute names
MUST be in standard attribute notation (Section 3.10) form. See
Section 3.9 for additional retrieval query parameters. OPTIONAL.
excludedAttributes A multi-valued list of strings indicating the
names of resource attributes to be removed from the default set of
attributes to return. This parameter SHALL have no effect on
attributes whose schema "returned" setting is "always" (see
Sections 2.2 and 7 of [RFC7643]). Attribute names MUST be in
standard attribute notation (Section 3.10) form. See Section 3.9
for additional retrieval query parameters. OPTIONAL.
filter The filter string used to request a subset of resources. The
filter string MUST be a valid filter (Section 3.4.2.2) expression.
OPTIONAL.
sortBy A string indicating the attribute whose value SHALL be used
to order the returned responses. The "sortBy" attribute MUST be
in standard attribute notation (Section 3.10) form. See
Section 3.4.2.3. OPTIONAL.
sortOrder A string indicating the order in which the "sortBy"
parameter is applied. Allowed values are "ascending" and
"descending". See Section 3.4.2.3. OPTIONAL.
startIndex An integer indicating the 1-based index of the first
query result. See Section 3.4.2.4. OPTIONAL.
count An integer indicating the desired maximum number of query
results per page. See Section 3.4.2.4. OPTIONAL.
After receiving an HTTP POST request, a response is returned as
specified in Section 3.4.2.
The following example shows an HTTP POST Query request with search
parameters "attributes", "filter", and "count" included:
POST /.search
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:SearchRequest"],
"attributes": ["displayName", "userName"],
"filter":
"displayName sw \"smith\"",
"startIndex": 1,
"count": 10
}
Figure 4: Example POST Query Request
The example below shows a query response with the first page of
results. For brevity, only two matches are shown: one User and
one Group.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location: https://example.com/.search
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"],
"totalResults":100,
"itemsPerPage":10,
"startIndex":1,
"Resources":[
{
"id":"2819c223-7f76-413861904646",
"userName":"jsmith",
"displayName":"Smith, James"
},
{
"id":"c8596b90-7539-4f20968d1908",
"displayName":"Smith Family"
},
...
]
}
Figure 5: Example POST Query Response
3.5. Modifying Resources
Resources can be modified in whole or in part using HTTP PUT or HTTP
PATCH, respectively. Implementers MUST support HTTP PUT as specified
in Section 4.3 of [RFC7231]. Resources such as Groups may be very
large; hence, implementers SHOULD support HTTP PATCH [RFC5789] to
enable partial resource modifications. Service provider support for
HTTP PATCH may be discovered by querying the service provider
configuration (see Section 4).
3.5.1. Replacing with PUT
HTTP PUT is used to replace a resource's attributes. For example,
clients that have previously retrieved the entire resource in advance
and revised it MAY replace the resource using an HTTP PUT. Because
SCIM resource identifiers are assigned by the service provider, HTTP
PUT MUST NOT be used to create new resources.
As the operation's intent is to replace all attributes, SCIM clients
MAY send all attributes, regardless of each attribute's mutability.
The server will apply attribute-by-attribute replacements according
to the following attribute mutability rules:
readWrite, writeOnly Any values provided SHALL replace the existing
attribute values.
Attributes whose mutability is "readWrite" that are omitted from
the request body MAY be assumed to be not asserted by the client.
The service provider MAY assume that any existing values are to be
cleared, or the service provider MAY assign a default value to the
final resource representation. Service providers MAY take into
account whether or not a client has access to, or understands, all
of the resource's attributes when deciding whether non-asserted
attributes SHALL be removed or defaulted. Clients that want to
override a server's defaults MAY specify "null" for a
single-valued attribute, or an empty array "[]" for a multi-valued
attribute, to clear all values.
immutable If one or more values are already set for the attribute,
the input value(s) MUST match, or HTTP status code 400 SHOULD be
returned with a "scimType" error code of "mutability". If the
service provider has no existing values, the new value(s) SHALL be
applied.
readOnly Any values provided SHALL be ignored.
If an attribute is "required", clients MUST specify the attribute in
the PUT request.
Unless otherwise specified, a successful PUT operation returns a 200
OK response code and the entire resource within the response body,
enabling the client to correlate the client's and the service
provider's views of the updated resource. For example:
PUT /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"userName":"bjensen",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara",
"middleName":"Jane"
},
"roles":[],
"emails":[
{
"value":"bjensen@example.com"
},
{
"value":"babs@jensen.org"
}
]
}
The service responds with the entire updated User:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
ETag: W/"b431af54f0671a2"
Location:
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"userName":"bjensen",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara",
"middleName":"Jane"
},
"emails":[
{
"value":"bjensen@example.com"
},
{
"value":"babs@jensen.org"
}
],
"meta": {
"resourceType":"User",
"created":"2011-08-08T04:56:22Z",
"lastModified":"2011-08-08T08:00:12Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"version":"W\/\"b431af54f0671a2\""
}
}
3.5.2. Modifying with PATCH
HTTP PATCH is an OPTIONAL server function that enables clients to
update one or more attributes of a SCIM resource using a sequence of
operations to "add", "remove", or "replace" values. Clients may
discover service provider support for PATCH by querying the service
provider configuration (see Section 4).
The general form of the SCIM PATCH request is based on JSON Patch
[RFC6902]. One difference between SCIM PATCH and JSON Patch is that
SCIM servers do not support array indexing and do not support
[RFC6902] operation types relating to array element manipulation,
such as "move".
The body of each request MUST contain the "schemas" attribute with
the URI value of "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp".
The body of an HTTP PATCH request MUST contain the attribute
"Operations", whose value is an array of one or more PATCH
operations. Each PATCH operation object MUST have exactly one "op"
member, whose value indicates the operation to perform and MAY be one
of "add", "remove", or "replace". The semantics of each operation
are defined in the following subsections.
The following is an example representation of a PATCH request showing
the basic JSON structure (non-normative):
{ "schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations":[
{
"op":"add",
"path":"members",
"value":[
{
"display": "Babs Jensen",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223...413861904646",
"value": "2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646"
}
]
},
... + additional operations if needed ...
]
}
Figure 6: Example JSON Body for SCIM PATCH Request
The "path" attribute value is a String containing an attribute path
describing the target of the operation. The "path" attribute is
OPTIONAL for "add" and "replace" and is REQUIRED for "remove"
operations. See relevant operation sections below for details.
The "path" attribute is described by the following ABNF syntax rule:
PATH = attrPath / valuePath [subAttr]
Figure 7: SCIM PATCH PATH Rule
The ABNF rules "attrPath", "valuePath", and "subAttr" are defined in
Section 3.4.2.2. The "valuePath" rule allows specific values of a
complex multi-valued attribute to be selected.
Valid examples of "path" are as follows:
"path":"members"
"path":"name.familyName"
"path":"addresses[type eq \"work\"]"
"path":"members[value eq
\"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646\"]"
"path":"members[value eq
\"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646\"].displayName"
Figure 8: Example Path Values
Each operation against an attribute MUST be compatible with the
attribute's mutability and schema as defined in Sections 2.2 and 2.3
of [RFC7643]. For example, a client MUST NOT modify an attribute
that has mutability "readOnly" or "immutable". However, a client MAY
"add" a value to an "immutable" attribute if the attribute had no
previous value. An operation that is not compatible with an
attribute's mutability or schema SHALL return the appropriate HTTP
response status code and a JSON detail error response as defined in
Section 3.12.
The attribute notation rules described in Section 3.10 apply for
describing attribute paths. For all operations, the value of the
"schemas" attribute on the SCIM service provider's representation of
the resource SHALL be assumed by default. If one of the PATCH
operations modifies the "schemas" attribute, subsequent operations
SHALL assume the modified state of the "schemas" attribute. Clients
MAY implicitly modify the "schemas" attribute by adding (or
replacing) an attribute with its fully qualified name, including
schema URN. For example, adding the attribute "urn:ietf:params:scim:
schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User:employeeNumber" automatically
adds the value
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User" to the
resource's "schemas" attribute.
Each PATCH operation represents a single action to be applied to the
same SCIM resource specified by the request URI. Operations are
applied sequentially in the order they appear in the array. Each
operation in the sequence is applied to the target resource; the
resulting resource becomes the target of the next operation.
Evaluation continues until all operations are successfully applied or
until an error condition is encountered.
For multi-valued attributes, a PATCH operation that sets a value's
"primary" sub-attribute to "true" SHALL cause the server to
automatically set "primary" to "false" for any other values in the
array.
A PATCH request, regardless of the number of operations, SHALL be
treated as atomic. If a single operation encounters an error
condition, the original SCIM resource MUST be restored, and a failure
status SHALL be returned.
If a request fails, the server SHALL return an HTTP response status
code and a JSON detail error response as defined in Section 3.12.
On successful completion, the server either MUST return a 200 OK
response code and the entire resource within the response body,
subject to the "attributes" query parameter (see Section 3.9), or MAY
return HTTP status code 204 (No Content) and the appropriate response
headers for a successful PATCH request. The server MUST return a 200
OK if the "attributes" parameter is specified in the request.
3.5.2.1. Add Operation
The "add" operation is used to add a new attribute value to an
existing resource.
The operation MUST contain a "value" member whose content specifies
the value to be added. The value MAY be a quoted value, or it may be
a JSON object containing the sub-attributes of the complex attribute
specified in the operation's "path".
The result of the add operation depends upon what the target location
indicated by "path" references:
o If omitted, the target location is assumed to be the resource
itself. The "value" parameter contains a set of attributes to be
added to the resource.
o If the target location does not exist, the attribute and value are
added.
o If the target location specifies a complex attribute, a set of
sub-attributes SHALL be specified in the "value" parameter.
o If the target location specifies a multi-valued attribute, a new
value is added to the attribute.
o If the target location specifies a single-valued attribute, the
existing value is replaced.
o If the target location specifies an attribute that does not exist
(has no value), the attribute is added with the new value.
o If the target location exists, the value is replaced.
o If the target location already contains the value specified, no
changes SHOULD be made to the resource, and a success response
SHOULD be returned. Unless other operations change the resource,
this operation SHALL NOT change the modify timestamp of the
resource.
The following example shows how to add a member to a group. Some
text was removed for readability (indicated by "..."):
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-...-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{ "schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations":[
{
"op":"add",
"path":"members",
"value":[
{
"display": "Babs Jensen",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223...413861904646",
"value": "2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646"
}
]
}
]
}
If the user was already a member of this group, no changes should be
made to the resource, and a success response should be returned.
The server responds with either the entire updated Group or no
response body:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
ETag: W/"b431af54f0671a2"
Location:
"https://example.com/Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-...-9b4da3f908ce"
The following example shows how to add one or more attributes to a
User resource without using a "path" attribute.
PATCH /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations":[{
"op":"add",
"value":{
"emails":[
{
"value":"babs@jensen.org",
"type":"home"
}
],
"nickname":"Babs"
}]
}
In the above example, an additional value is added to the
multi-valued attribute "emails". The second attribute, "nickname",
is added to the User resource. If the resource already had an
existing "nickname", the value is replaced per the processing rules
above for single-valued attributes.
3.5.2.2. Remove Operation
The "remove" operation removes the value at the target location
specified by the required attribute "path". The operation performs
the following functions, depending on the target location specified
by "path":
o If "path" is unspecified, the operation fails with HTTP status
code 400 and a "scimType" error code of "noTarget".
o If the target location is a single-value attribute, the attribute
and its associated value is removed, and the attribute SHALL be
considered unassigned.
o If the target location is a multi-valued attribute and no filter
is specified, the attribute and all values are removed, and the
attribute SHALL be considered unassigned.
o If the target location is a multi-valued attribute and a complex
filter is specified comparing a "value", the values matched by the
filter are removed. If no other values remain after removal of
the selected values, the multi-valued attribute SHALL be
considered unassigned.
o If the target location is a complex multi-valued attribute and a
complex filter is specified based on the attribute's
sub-attributes, the matching records are removed. Sub-attributes
whose values have been removed SHALL be considered unassigned. If
the complex multi-valued attribute has no remaining records, the
attribute SHALL be considered unassigned.
If an attribute is removed or becomes unassigned and is defined as a
required attribute or a read-only attribute, the server SHALL return
an HTTP response status code and a JSON detail error response as
defined in Section 3.12, with a "scimType" error code of
"mutability".
The following example shows how to remove a member from a group. As
with the previous example, the "display" sub-attribute is optional.
If the user was not a member of this group, no changes should be made
to the resource, and a success response should be returned.
Note that server responses have been omitted for the rest of the
PATCH examples.
Remove a single member from a group. Some text was removed for
readability (indicated by "..."):
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-...-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations":[{
"op":"remove",
"path":"members[value eq \"2819c223-7f76-...413861904646\"]"
}]
}
Remove all members of a group:
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-...-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{ "schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations":[{
"op":"remove","path":"members"
}]
}
Removal of a value from a complex multi-valued attribute (request
headers removed for brevity):
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [{
"op":"remove",
"path":"emails[type eq \"work\" and value ew \"example.com\"]"
}]
}
Example request to remove and add a member. Some text was removed
for readability (indicated by "..."):
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-...-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{ "schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [
{
"op":"remove",
"path":
"members[value eq\"2819c223...919d-413861904646\"]"
},
{
"op":"add",
"path":"members",
"value": [
{
"display": "James Smith",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/08e1d05d...473d93df9210",
"value": "08e1d05d...473d93df9210"
}
]
}
]
}
The following example shows how to replace all of the members of a
group with a different members list. Some text was removed for
readability (indicated by "..."):
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-4692-b4fd-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [
{
"op":"remove","path":"members"
},
{
"op":"add",
"path":"members",
"value":[
{
"display": "Babs Jensen",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223...413861904646",
"value": "2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646"
},
{
"display": "James Smith",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/08e1d05d...473d93df9210",
"value": "08e1d05d-121c-4561-8b96-473d93df9210"
}]
}
]
}
3.5.2.3. Replace Operation
The "replace" operation replaces the value at the target location
specified by the "path". The operation performs the following
functions, depending on the target location specified by "path":
o If the "path" parameter is omitted, the target is assumed to be
the resource itself. In this case, the "value" attribute SHALL
contain a list of one or more attributes that are to be replaced.
o If the target location is a single-value attribute, the attributes
value is replaced.
o If the target location is a multi-valued attribute and no filter
is specified, the attribute and all values are replaced.
o If the target location path specifies an attribute that does not
exist, the service provider SHALL treat the operation as an "add".
o If the target location specifies a complex attribute, a set of
sub-attributes SHALL be specified in the "value" parameter, which
replaces any existing values or adds where an attribute did not
previously exist. Sub-attributes that are not specified in the
"value" parameter are left unchanged.
o If the target location is a multi-valued attribute and a value
selection ("valuePath") filter is specified that matches one or
more values of the multi-valued attribute, then all matching
record values SHALL be replaced.
o If the target location is a complex multi-valued attribute with a
value selection filter ("valuePath") and a specific sub-attribute
(e.g., "addresses[type eq "work"].streetAddress"), the matching
sub-attribute of all matching records is replaced.
o If the target location is a multi-valued attribute for which a
value selection filter ("valuePath") has been supplied and no
record match was made, the service provider SHALL indicate failure
by returning HTTP status code 400 and a "scimType" error code of
"noTarget".
The following example shows how to replace all of the members of a
group with a different members list in a single replace operation.
Some text was removed for readability (indicated by "..."):
PATCH /Groups/acbf3ae7-8463-4692-b4fd-9b4da3f908ce
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [{
"op":"replace",
"path":"members",
"value":[
{
"display": "Babs Jensen",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223...413861904646",
"value": "2819c223...413861904646"
},
{
"display": "James Smith",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/08e1d05d...473d93df9210",
"value": "08e1d05d...473d93df9210"
}
]
}]
}
The following example shows how to change a User's entire "work"
address, using a "valuePath" filter. Note that by setting "primary"
to "true", the service provider will reset "primary" to "false" for
any other existing values of "addresses".
PATCH /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [{
"op":"replace",
"path":"addresses[type eq \"work\"]",
"value":
{
"type": "work",
"streetAddress": "911 Universal City Plaza",
"locality": "Hollywood",
"region": "CA",
"postalCode": "91608",
"country": "US",
"formatted":
"911 Universal City Plaza\nHollywood, CA 91608 US",
"primary": true
}
}]
}
The following example shows how to change a specific sub-attribute
"streetAddress" of complex attribute "emails" selected by a
"valuePath" filter:
PATCH /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [{
"op":"replace",
"path":"addresses[type eq \"work\"].streetAddress",
"value":"1010 Broadway Ave"
}]
}
The following example shows how to replace all values of one or more
specific attributes of a User resource. Note that other attributes
are unaffected.
PATCH /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":
["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp"],
"Operations": [{
"op":"replace",
"value":{
"emails":[
{
"value":"bjensen@example.com",
"type":"work",
"primary":true
},
{
"value":"babs@jensen.org",
"type":"home"
}
],
"nickname":"Babs"
}]
}
3.6. Deleting Resources
Clients request resource removal via DELETE. Service providers MAY
choose not to permanently delete the resource but MUST return a 404
(Not Found) error code for all operations associated with the
previously deleted resource. Service providers MUST omit the
resource from future query results. In addition, the service
provider SHOULD NOT consider the deleted resource in conflict
calculation. For example, if a User resource is deleted, a CREATE
request for a User resource with the same userName as the previously
deleted resource SHOULD NOT fail with a 409 error due to userName
conflict.
DELETE /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-Match: W/"c310cd84f0281b7"
In response to a successful DELETE, the server SHALL return a
successful HTTP status code 204 (No Content). A non-normative
example response:
HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Example: Client's attempt to retrieve the previously deleted User
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
Host: example.com
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Server response:
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":"Resource 2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646 not found",
"status": "404"
}
3.7. Bulk Operations
The SCIM bulk operation is an optional server feature that enables
clients to send a potentially large collection of resource operations
in a single request. Support for bulk requests can be discovered by
querying the service provider configuration (see Section 4). The
body of a bulk operation contains a set of HTTP resource operations
using one of the HTTP methods supported by the API, i.e., POST, PUT,
PATCH, or DELETE.
Bulk requests are identified using the following schema URI:
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkRequest". Bulk responses
are identified using the following URI:
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkResponse". Bulk requests
and bulk responses share many attributes. Unless otherwise
specified, each attribute below is present in both bulk requests and
bulk responses.
The following singular attribute is defined, in addition to the
common attributes defined in [RFC7643].
failOnErrors
An integer specifying the number of errors that the service
provider will accept before the operation is terminated and an
error response is returned. OPTIONAL in a request. Not valid in
a response.
The following complex multi-valued attribute is defined, in addition
to the common attributes defined in [RFC7643].
Operations
Defines operations within a bulk job. Each operation corresponds
to a single HTTP request against a resource endpoint. REQUIRED.
The Operations attribute has the following sub-attributes:
method The HTTP method of the current operation. Possible values
are "POST", "PUT", "PATCH", or "DELETE". REQUIRED.
bulkId The transient identifier of a newly created resource,
unique within a bulk request and created by the client. The
bulkId serves as a surrogate resource id enabling clients to
uniquely identify newly created resources in the response and
cross-reference new resources in and across operations within a
bulk request. REQUIRED when "method" is "POST".
version The current resource version. Version MAY be used if the
service provider supports entity-tags (ETags) (Section 2.3 of
[RFC7232]) and "method" is "PUT", "PATCH", or "DELETE".
path The resource's relative path to the SCIM service provider's
root. If "method" is "POST", the value must specify a resource
type endpoint, e.g., /Users or /Groups, whereas all other
"method" values must specify the path to a specific resource,
e.g., /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646. REQUIRED in
a request.
data The resource data as it would appear for a single SCIM POST,
PUT, or PATCH operation. REQUIRED in a request when "method"
is "POST", "PUT", or "PATCH".
location The resource endpoint URL. REQUIRED in a response,
except in the event of a POST failure.
response The HTTP response body for the specified request
operation. When indicating a response with an HTTP status
other than a 200-series response, the response body MUST be
included. For normal completion, the server MAY elect to omit
the response body.
status The HTTP response status code for the requested operation.
When indicating an error, the "response" attribute MUST contain
the detail error response as per Section 3.12.
If a bulk job is processed successfully, HTTP response code 200 OK
MUST be returned; otherwise, an appropriate HTTP error code MUST be
returned.
The service provider MUST continue performing as many changes as
possible and disregard partial failures. The client MAY override
this behavior by specifying a value for the "failOnErrors" attribute.
The "failOnErrors" attribute defines the number of errors that the
service provider should accept before failing the remaining
operations returning the response.
To be able to reference a newly created resource, the bulkId
attribute MAY be specified when creating new resources. The "bulkId"
is defined by the client as a surrogate identifier in a POST
operation (see Section 3.7.2). The service provider MUST return the
same "bulkId" together with the newly created resource. The "bulkId"
can then be used by the client to map the service provider id with
the "bulkId" of the created resource.
A SCIM service provider MAY elect to optimize the sequence of
operations received (e.g., to improve processing performance). When
doing so, the service provider MUST ensure that the client's intent
is preserved and the same stateful result is achieved as for
non-optimized processing. For example, before a "User" can be added
to a "Group", they must first be created. Processing these requests
out of order might result in a failure to add the new "User" to the
"Group".
3.7.1. Circular Reference Processing
The service provider MUST try to resolve circular cross-references
between resources in a single bulk job but MAY stop after a failed
attempt and instead return HTTP status code 409 (Conflict). The
following example exhibits the potential conflict.
POST /v2/Bulk
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkRequest"],
"Operations": [
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Groups",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"data": {
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"displayName": "Group A",
"members": [
{
"type": "Group",
"value": "bulkId:ytrewq"
}
]
}
},
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Groups",
"bulkId": "ytrewq",
"data": {
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"displayName": "Group B",
"members": [
{
"type": "Group",
"value": "bulkId:qwerty"
}
]
}
}
]
}
If the service provider resolved the above circular references, the
following is returned from a subsequent GET request.
GET /v2/Groups?filter=displayName sw 'Group'
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"],
"totalResults": 2,
"Resources": [
{
"id": "c3a26dd3-27a0-4dec-a2ac-ce211e105f97",
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"displayName": "Group A",
"meta": {
"resourceType": "Group",
"created": "2011-08-01T18:29:49.793Z",
"lastModified": "2011-08-01T18:29:51.135Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/c3a26dd3-27a0-4dec-a2ac-ce211e105f97",
"version": "W\/\"mvwNGaxB5SDq074p\""
},
"members": [
{
"value": "6c5bb468-14b2-4183-baf2-06d523e03bd3",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/6c5bb468-14b2-4183-baf2-06d523e03bd3",
"type": "Group"
}
]
},
{
"id": "6c5bb468-14b2-4183-baf2-06d523e03bd3",
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"displayName": "Group B",
"meta": {
"resourceType": "Group",
"created": "2011-08-01T18:29:50.873Z",
"lastModified": "2011-08-01T18:29:50.873Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/6c5bb468-14b2-4183-baf2-06d523e03bd3",
"version": "W\/\"wGB85s2QJMjiNnuI\""
},
"members": [
{
"value": "c3a26dd3-27a0-4dec-a2ac-ce211e105f97",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/c3a26dd3-27a0-4dec-a2ac-ce211e105f97",
"type": "Group"
}
]
}
]
}
3.7.2. "bulkId" Temporary Identifiers
A SCIM client can, within one bulk operation, create a new "User",
create a new "Group", and add the newly created "User" to the newly
created "Group". In order to add the new "User" to the "Group", the
client must use the surrogate id attribute, "bulkId", to reference
the User. The "bulkId" attribute value must be prepended with the
literal "bulkId:"; e.g., if the bulkId is 'qwerty', the value is
"bulkId:qwerty". The service provider MUST replace the string
"bulkId:qwerty" with the permanent resource id once created.
To create multiple distinct requests, each with their own "bulkId",
the SCIM client specifies different "bulkId" values for each separate
request.
The following example creates a User with the "userName" 'Alice' and
a "Group" with "displayName", with a value of "Tour Guides" with
Alice as a member. Notice that each operation has its own "bulkId"
value. However, the second operation (whose "bulkId" is "ytrewq")
refers to the "bulkId" of "qwerty" in order to add Alice to the new
'Tour Guides' group.
POST /v2/Bulk
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkRequest"],
"Operations": [
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Users",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"data": {
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"userName": "Alice"
}
},
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Groups",
"bulkId": "ytrewq",
"data": {
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"displayName": "Tour Guides",
"members": [
{
"type": "User",
"value": "bulkId:qwerty"
}
]
}
}
]
}
The service provider returns the following response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkResponse"],
"Operations": [
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a",
"method": "POST",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"version": "W\/\"4weymrEsh5O6cAEK\"",
"status": {
"code": "201"
}
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a",
"method": "POST",
"bulkId": "ytrewq",
"version": "W\/\"lha5bbazU3fNvfe5\"",
"status": {
"code": "201"
}
}
]
}
In the above example, the "Alice" User resource has an "id" of
"92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a" and the 'Tour Guides' Group
has an "id" of "e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a".
A subsequent GET request for the 'Tour Guides' Group (with an "id" of
"e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a") returns the following, with
Alice's "id" as the value for the member in the Group 'Tour Guides':
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location:
https://example.com/v2/Groups/e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a
ETag: W/"lha5bbazU3fNvfe5"
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group"],
"id": "e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a",
"displayName": "Tour Guides",
"meta": {
"resourceType": "Group",
"created": "2011-08-01T18:29:49.793Z",
"lastModified": "2011-08-01T20:31:02.315Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Groups/e9e30dba-f08f-4109-8486-d5c6a331660a",
"version": "W\/\"lha5bbazU3fNvfe5\""
},
"members": [
{
"value": "92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a",
"$ref":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a",
"type": "User"
}
]
}
Extensions that include references to other resources MUST be handled
in the same way by the service provider. The following example uses
the bulkId attribute within the enterprise extension managerId
attribute.
POST /v2/Bulk
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkRequest"],
"Operations": [
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Users",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"data": {
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"userName": "Alice"
}
},
{
"method": "POST",
"path": "/Users",
"bulkId": "ytrewq",
"data": {
"schemas": [
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User",
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User"
],
"userName": "Bob",
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User": {
"employeeNumber": "11250",
"manager": {
"value": "bulkId:qwerty"
}
}
}
}
]
}
3.7.3. Response and Error Handling
The service provider response MUST include the result of all
processed operations. A "location" attribute that includes the
resource's endpoint MUST be returned for all operations except for
failed POST operations (which have no location). The status
attribute includes information about the success or failure of one
operation within the bulk job. The status attribute MUST include the
code attribute that holds the HTTP response code that would have been
returned if a single HTTP request would have been used. If an error
occurred, the status MUST also include the description attribute
containing a human-readable explanation of the error.
"status": "201"
The following is an example of a status in a failed operation.
"status": "400",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"scimType":"invalidSyntax"
"detail":
"Request is unparsable, syntactically incorrect, or violates schema.",
"status":"400"
}
The following example shows how to add, update, and remove a user.
The "failOnErrors" attribute is set to '1', indicating that the
service provider will stop processing and return results after one
error. The POST operation's bulkId value is set to 'qwerty',
enabling the client to match the new User with the returned
resource "id" of
"92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a".
POST /v2/Bulk
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkRequest"],
"failOnErrors":1,
"Operations":[
{
"method":"POST",
"path":"/Users",
"bulkId":"qwerty",
"data":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:User"],
"userName":"Alice"
}
},
{
"method":"PUT",
"path":"/Users/b7c14771-226c-4d05-8860-134711653041",
"version":"W\/\"3694e05e9dff591\"",
"data":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"b7c14771-226c-4d05-8860-134711653041",
"userName":"Bob"
}
},
{
"method": "PATCH",
"path": "/Users/5d8d29d3-342c-4b5f-8683-a3cb6763ffcc",
"version": "W/\"edac3253e2c0ef2\"",
"data": {[
{
"op": "remove",
"path": "nickName"
},
{
"op": "add",
"path": "userName",
"value": "Dave"
}
]}
},
{
"method":"DELETE",
"path":"/Users/e9025315-6bea-44e1-899c-1e07454e468b",
"version":"W\/\"0ee8add0a938e1a\""
}
]
}
The service provider returns the following response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkResponse"],
"Operations": [
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/92b725cd-9465-4e7d-8c16-01f8e146b87a",
"method": "POST",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"version": "W\/\"oY4m4wn58tkVjJxK\"",
"status": "201"
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/b7c14771-226c-4d05-8860-134711653041",
"method": "PUT",
"version": "W\/\"huJj29dMNgu3WXPD\"",
"status": "200"
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/5d8d29d3-342c-4b5f-8683-a3cb6763ffcc",
"method": "PATCH",
"version": "W\/\"huJj29dMNgu3WXPD\"",
"status": "200"
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/e9025315-6bea-44e1-899c-1e07454e468b",
"method": "DELETE",
"status": "204"
}
]
}
The following response is returned if an error occurred when
attempting to create the User 'Alice'. The service provider stops
processing the bulk operation and immediately returns a response to
the client. The response contains the error and any successful
results prior to the error.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkResponse"],
"Operations": [
{
"method": "POST",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"status": "400",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"scimType":"invalidSyntax"
"detail":
"Request is unparsable, syntactically incorrect, or violates schema.",
"status":"400"
}
}
]
}
If the "failOnErrors" attribute is not specified or the service
provider has not reached the error limit defined by the client, the
service provider will continue to process all operations. The
following is an example in which all operations failed.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:BulkResponse"],
"Operations": [
{
"method": "POST",
"bulkId": "qwerty",
"status": "400",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"scimType":"invalidSyntax"
"detail":
"Request is unparsable, syntactically incorrect, or violates schema.",
"status":"400"
}
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/b7c14771-226c-4d05-8860-134711653041",
"method": "PUT",
"status": "412",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":
"Failed to update. Resource changed on the server.",
"status":"412"
}
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/5d8d29d3-342c-4b5f-8683-a3cb6763ffcc",
"method": "PATCH",
"status": "412",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":
"Failed to update. Resource changed on the server.",
"status":"412"
}
},
{
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/e9025315-6bea-44e1-899c-1e07454e468b",
"method": "DELETE",
"status": "404",
"response":{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":"Resource does not exist.",
"status":"404"
}
}
]
}
3.7.4. Maximum Operations
The service provider MUST define the maximum number of operations and
maximum payload size a client may send in a single request. These
limits MAY be retrieved from the service provider configuration (see
'bulk' in Sections 5 and 8.5 of [RFC7643]). If either limit is
exceeded, the service provider MUST return HTTP response code 413
(Payload Too Large). The returned response MUST specify the limit
exceeded in the body of the error response.
In the following example, the client sent a request exceeding the
service provider's maximum payload size of 1 megabyte:
POST /v2/Bulk
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: 4294967296
...
The server sends the following error in response to the oversized
request:
HTTP/1.1 413 Payload Too Large
Content-Type: application/scim+json
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"status": "413",
"detail":
"The size of the bulk operation exceeds the maxPayloadSize (1048576)."
}
3.8. Data Input/Output Formats
Servers MUST accept requests and be able to return JSON-structured
responses using UTF-8 encoding [RFC3629]. UTF-8 SHALL be the default
encoding format. Other media types MAY be supported by service
providers but are beyond the scope of this specification.
Clients using other encodings MUST specify the format in which the
data is submitted via an HTTP "Content-Type" header as specified in
Section 3.1.1.5 of [RFC7231] and MAY specify the desired response
data format via an HTTP "Accept" header (Section 5.3.2 of [RFC7231]),
e.g., "Accept: application/scim+json", or via URI suffix:
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646.scim
Host: example.com
Service providers MUST support the "Accept" header
"Accept: application/scim+json" and SHOULD support the header
"Accept: application/json", both of which specify JSON documents
conforming to [RFC7159]. The format defaults to
"application/scim+json" if no format is specified.
Singular attributes are encoded as string name-value pairs in
JSON, e.g.,
"attribute": "value"
Multi-valued attributes in JSON are encoded as arrays, e.g.,
"attributes": [ "value1", "value2" ]
Elements with nested elements are represented as objects in
JSON, e.g.,
"attribute": { "subattribute1": "value1", "subattribute2": "value2" }
3.9. Additional Operation Response Parameters
For any SCIM operation where a resource representation is returned
(e.g., HTTP GET), the attributes returned are defined as the minimum
attribute set plus default attribute set. The minimum set is
composed of those attributes that have their "returned"
characteristic set to "always" (see Section 2.2 of [RFC7643]). The
default attribute set is composed of those attributes that have the
"returned" characteristic set to "default".
Clients MAY request a partial resource representation on any
operation that returns a resource within the response by specifying
either of the mutually exclusive URL query parameters "attributes" or
"excludedAttributes", as follows:
attributes When specified, the default list of attributes SHALL be
overridden, and each resource returned MUST contain the
minimum set of resource attributes and any attributes or
sub-attributes explicitly requested by the "attributes"
parameter. The query parameter attributes value is a
comma-separated list of resource attribute names in standard
attribute notation (Section 3.10) form (e.g., userName, name,
emails).
excludedAttributes When specified, each resource returned MUST
contain the minimum set of resource attributes.
Additionally, the default set of attributes minus those
attributes listed in "excludedAttributes" is returned. The
query parameter attributes value is a comma-separated list of
resource attribute names in standard attribute notation
(Section 3.10) form (e.g., userName, name, emails).
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646?attributes=userName
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
The following response is returned:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location:
https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
ETag: W/"a330bc54f0671c9"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"userName":"bjensen"
}
3.10. Attribute Notation
All operations share a common scheme for referencing simple and
complex attributes. In general, attributes are uniquely identified
by prefixing the attribute name with its schema URN separated by a
colon (":") character; e.g., the core User resource attribute
'userName' is identified as
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User:userName". Clients MAY
omit core schema attribute URN prefixes but SHOULD fully qualify
extended attributes with the associated schema extension URN to avoid
naming conflicts. For example, the attribute 'age' defined in
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:exampleCo:2.0:hr" is uniquely
identified as "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:exampleCo:2.0:hr:age".
Complex attributes' sub-attributes are referenced via nested dot
('.') notation, i.e., {urn}:{Attribute name}.{Sub-Attribute name}.
For example, the fully qualified path for a User's givenName is
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User:name.givenName". All
facets (URN, attribute, and sub-attribute name) of the fully encoded
attribute name are case insensitive.
3.11. "/Me" Authenticated Subject Alias
A client MAY use a URL of the form "<base-URI>/Me" as a URI alias for
the User or other resource associated with the currently
authenticated subject for any SCIM operation. A service provider MAY
respond in one of three ways:
o A service provider that does NOT support this feature SHOULD
respond with HTTP status code 501 (Not Implemented).
o A service provider MAY choose to redirect the client using HTTP
status code 308 (Permanent Redirect) to the resource associated
with the authenticated subject. The client MAY then repeat the
request at the indicated location.
o A service provider MAY process the SCIM request directly. In any
response, the HTTP "Location" header MUST be the permanent
location of the aliased resource associated with the authenticated
subject.
When using the SCIM Create Resource command (HTTP POST) with the
"/Me" alias, the desired resourceType being created is at the
discretion of the service provider, based on the authenticated
subject (if not anonymous) making the request and any request body
attributes (e.g., "schemas"). See Section 7.6 for information on
security considerations related to this operation.
3.12. HTTP Status and Error Response Handling
The SCIM protocol uses the HTTP response status codes defined in
Section 6 of [RFC7231] to indicate operation success or failure. In
addition to returning an HTTP response code, implementers MUST return
the errors in the body of the response in a JSON format, using the
attributes described below. Error responses are identified using the
following "schema" URI:
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error". The following
attributes are defined for a SCIM error response using a JSON body:
status
The HTTP status code (see Section 6 of [RFC7231]) expressed as a
JSON string. REQUIRED.
scimType
A SCIM detail error keyword. See Table 9. OPTIONAL.
detail
A detailed human-readable message. OPTIONAL.
Implementers SHOULD handle the identified HTTP status codes as
described below.
+----------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
| Status | Applicability | Suggested Explanation |
+----------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
| 307 (Temporary | GET, POST, | The client is directed to repeat |
| Redirect) | PUT, PATCH, | the same HTTP request at the |
| | DELETE | location identified. The client |
| | | SHOULD NOT use the location |
| | | provided in the response as a |
| | | permanent reference to the |
| | | resource and SHOULD continue to |
| | | use the original request URI |
| | | [RFC7231]. |
| | | |
| 308 (Permanent | GET, POST, | The client is directed to repeat |
| Redirect) | PUT, PATCH, | the same HTTP request at the |
| | DELETE | location identified. The client |
| | | SHOULD use the location provided |
| | | in the response as the permanent |
| | | reference to the resource |
| | | [RFC7538]. |
| | | |
| 400 (Bad | GET, POST, | Request is unparsable, |
| Request) | PUT, PATCH, | syntactically incorrect, or |
| | DELETE | violates schema. |
| | | |
| 401 | GET, POST, | Authorization failure. The |
| (Unauthorized) | PUT, PATCH, | authorization header is invalid |
| | DELETE | or missing. |
| | | |
| 403 | GET, POST, | Operation is not permitted based |
| (Forbidden) | PUT, PATCH, | on the supplied authorization. |
| | DELETE | |
| | | |
| 404 (Not | GET, POST, | Specified resource (e.g., User) |
| Found) | PUT, PATCH, | or endpoint does not exist. |
| | DELETE | |
| | | |
| 409 (Conflict) | POST, PUT, | The specified version number |
| | PATCH, DELETE | does not match the resource's |
| | | latest version number, or a |
| | | service provider refused to |
| | | create a new, duplicate |
| | | resource. |
| | | |
| 412 | PUT, PATCH, | Failed to update. Resource has |
| (Precondition | DELETE | changed on the server. |
| Failed) | | |
| | | |
| 413 (Payload | POST | {"maxOperations": |
| Too Large) | | 1000,"maxPayloadSize": 1048576} |
| | | |
| 500 (Internal | GET, POST, | An internal error. Implementers |
| Server Error) | PUT, PATCH, | SHOULD provide descriptive |
| | DELETE | debugging advice. |
| | | |
| 501 (Not | GET, POST, | Service provider does not |
| Implemented) | PUT, PATCH, | support the request operation, |
| | DELETE | e.g., PATCH. |
+----------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
Table 8: SCIM HTTP Status Code Usage
For HTTP status code 400 (Bad Request) responses, the following
detail error types are defined:
+---------------+--------------------------------+------------------+
| scimType | Description | Applicability |
+---------------+--------------------------------+------------------+
| invalidFilter | The specified filter syntax | GET (Section |
| | was invalid (does not comply | 3.4.2), POST |
| | with Figure 1), or the | (Search - |
| | specified attribute and filter | Section 3.4.3), |
| | comparison combination is not | PATCH (Path |
| | supported. | Filter - Section |
| | | 3.5.2) |
| | | |
| tooMany | The specified filter yields | GET (Section |
| | many more results than the | 3.4.2), POST |
| | server is willing to calculate | (Search - |
| | or process. For example, a | Section 3.4.3) |
| | filter such as "(userName pr)" | |
| | by itself would return all | |
| | entries with a "userName" and | |
| | MAY not be acceptable to the | |
| | service provider. | |
| | | |
| uniqueness | One or more of the attribute | POST (Create - |
| | values are already in use or | Section 3.3), |
| | are reserved. | PUT (Section |
| | | 3.5.1), PATCH |
| | | (Section 3.5.2) |
| | | |
| mutability | The attempted modification is | PUT (Section |
| | not compatible with the target | 3.5.1), PATCH |
| | attribute's mutability or | (Section 3.5.2) |
| | current state (e.g., | |
| | modification of an "immutable" | |
| | attribute with an existing | |
| | value). | |
| | | |
| invalidSyntax | The request body message | POST (Search - |
| | structure was invalid or did | Section 3.4.3, |
| | not conform to the request | Create - Section |
| | schema. | 3.3, Bulk - |
| | | Section 3.7), |
| | | PUT (Section |
| | | 3.5.1) |
| | | |
| invalidPath | The "path" attribute was | PATCH (Section |
| | invalid or malformed (see | 3.5.2) |
| | Figure 7). | |
| | | |
| noTarget | The specified "path" did not | PATCH (Section |
| | yield an attribute or | 3.5.2) |
| | attribute value that could be | |
| | operated on. This occurs when | |
| | the specified "path" value | |
| | contains a filter that yields | |
| | no match. | |
| | | |
| invalidValue | A required value was missing, | GET (Section |
| | or the value specified was not | 3.4.2), POST |
| | compatible with the operation | (Create - |
| | or attribute type (see Section | Section 3.3, |
| | 2.2 of [RFC7643]), or resource | Query - Section |
| | schema (see Section 4 of | 3.4.3), PUT |
| | [RFC7643]). | (Section 3.5.1), |
| | | PATCH (Section |
| | | 3.5.2) |
| | | |
| invalidVers | The specified SCIM protocol | GET (Section |
| | version is not supported (see | 3.4.2), POST |
| | Section 3.13). | (ALL), PUT |
| | | (Section 3.5.1), |
| | | PATCH (Section |
| | | 3.5.2), DELETE |
| | | (Section 3.6) |
| | | |
| sensitive | The specified request cannot | GET (Section |
| | be completed, due to the | 3.4.2) |
| | passing of sensitive (e.g., | |
| | personal) information in a | |
| | request URI. For example, | |
| | personal information SHALL NOT | |
| | be transmitted over request | |
| | URIs. See Section 7.5.2. | |
+---------------+--------------------------------+------------------+
Table 9: SCIM Detail Error Keyword Values
Note that in Table 9 above, the information in the Applicability
column applies to the normal HTTP method but MAY apply within a SCIM
bulk operation (via HTTP POST).
Example of an error in response to a non-existent GET request:
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":"Resource 2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646 not found",
"status": "404"
}
Example of an error in response to a PUT request:
HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"scimType":"mutability"
"detail":"Attribute 'id' is readOnly",
"status": "400"
}
3.13. SCIM Protocol Versioning
The Base URL MAY be appended with a version identifier as a separate
segment in the URL path. At the time of this writing, the identifier
is 'v2'. If specified, the version identifier MUST appear in the URL
path immediately preceding the resource endpoint and conform to the
following scheme: the character 'v' followed by the desired SCIM
version number, e.g., a version 'v2' User request is specified as
/v2/Users. When specified, service providers MUST perform the
operation using the desired version or reject the request. When
omitted, service providers SHOULD perform the operation using the
most recent SCIM protocol version supported by the service provider.
3.14. Versioning Resources
The SCIM protocol supports resource versioning via standard HTTP
ETags (Section 2.3 of [RFC7232]). Service providers MAY support weak
ETags as the preferred mechanism for performing conditional
retrievals and ensuring that clients do not inadvertently overwrite
each other's changes, respectively. When supported, SCIM ETags MUST
be specified as an HTTP header and SHOULD be specified within the
'version' attribute contained in the resource's 'meta' attribute.
Example create request:
POST /Users HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
Content-Length: ...
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"userName":"bjensen",
"externalId":"bjensen",
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara"
}
}
The server responds with an ETag in the response header and meta
structure:
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/scim+json
Location:
https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646
ETag: W/"e180ee84f0671b1"
{
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User"],
"id":"2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"meta":{
"resourceType":"User",
"created":"2011-08-01T21:32:44.882Z",
"lastModified":"2011-08-01T21:32:44.882Z",
"location":
"https://example.com/v2/Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646",
"version":"W\/\"e180ee84f0671b1\""
},
"name":{
"formatted":"Ms. Barbara J Jensen III",
"familyName":"Jensen",
"givenName":"Barbara"
},
"userName":"bjensen"
}
With the returned ETag, clients MAY choose to retrieve the resource
only if the resource has been modified.
An example of conditional retrieval, using the If-None-Match header
(Section 3.2 of [RFC7232]):
GET /Users/2819c223-7f76-453a-919d-413861904646?attributes=displayName
Host: example.com
Accept: application/scim+json
Authorization: Bearer h480djs93hd8
If-None-Match: W/"e180ee84f0671b1"
If the resource has not changed, the service provider simply returns
an empty body with a 304 (Not Modified) response code.
If the service provider supports versioning of resources, the client
MAY supply an If-Match header (Section 3.1 of [RFC7232]) for PUT and
PATCH operations to ensure that the requested operation succeeds only
if the supplied ETag matches the latest service provider resource,
e.g., If-Match: W/"e180ee84f0671b1".
4. Service Provider Configuration Endpoints
SCIM defines three endpoints to facilitate discovery of SCIM service
provider features and schema that MAY be retrieved using HTTP GET:
/ServiceProviderConfig
An HTTP GET to this endpoint will return a JSON structure that
describes the SCIM specification features available on a service
provider. This endpoint SHALL return responses with a JSON object
using a "schemas" attribute of
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:ServiceProviderConfig".
The attributes returned in the JSON object are defined in
Section 5 of [RFC7643]. An example representation of SCIM service
provider configuration may be found in Section 8.5 of [RFC7643].
/Schemas
An HTTP GET to this endpoint is used to retrieve information about
resource schemas supported by a SCIM service provider. An HTTP
GET to the endpoint "/Schemas" SHALL return all supported schemas
in ListResponse format (see Figure 3). Individual schema
definitions can be returned by appending the schema URI to the
/Schemas endpoint. For example:
/Schemas/urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User
The contents of each schema returned are described in Section 7 of
[RFC7643]. An example representation of SCIM schemas may be found
in Section 8.7 of [RFC7643].
/ResourceTypes
An HTTP GET to this endpoint is used to discover the types of
resources available on a SCIM service provider (e.g., Users and
Groups). Each resource type defines the endpoints, the core
schema URI that defines the resource, and any supported schema
extensions. The attributes defining a resource type can be found
in Section 6 of [RFC7643], and an example representation can be
found in Section 8.6 of [RFC7643].
In cases where a request is for a specific "ResourceType" or
"Schema", the single JSON object is returned in the same way that a
single User or Group is retrieved, as per Section 3.4.1. When
returning multiple ResourceTypes or Schemas, the message form
described by the "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"
(ListResponse) form SHALL be used as shown in Figure 3 and in
Figure 9 below. Query parameters described in Section 3.4.2, such as
filtering, sorting, and pagination, SHALL be ignored. If a "filter"
is provided, the service provider SHOULD respond with HTTP status
code 403 (Forbidden) to ensure that clients cannot incorrectly assume
that any matching conditions specified in a filter are true.
The following is a non-normative example of an HTTP GET to the
/ResourceTypes endpoint:
{
"totalResults":2,
"itemsPerPage":10,
"startIndex":1,
"schemas":["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:ListResponse"],
"Resources":[{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:ResourceType"],
"id":"User",
"name":"User",
"endpoint": "/Users",
"description": "User Account",
"schema": "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:User",
"schemaExtensions": [{
"schema":
"urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:extension:enterprise:2.0:User",
"required": true
}],
"meta": {
"location":"https://example.com/v2/ResourceTypes/User",
"resourceType": "ResourceType"
}
},
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:ResourceType"],
"id":"Group",
"name":"Group",
"endpoint": "/Groups",
"description": "Group",
"schema": "urn:ietf:params:scim:schemas:core:2.0:Group",
"meta": {
"location":"https://example.com/v2/ResourceTypes/Group",
"resourceType": "ResourceType"
}
}]
}
Figure 9: Example Resource Type JSON Representation
5. Preparation and Comparison of Internationalized Strings
To increase the likelihood that the input and comparison of usernames
and passwords will work in ways that make sense for typical users
throughout the world, there are rules for preparing, enforcing, and
comparing internationalized strings that represent usernames and
passwords. Before comparing or evaluating the uniqueness of a
"userName" or "password" attribute, service providers MUST use the
preparation, enforcement, and comparison of internationalized strings
(PRECIS) preparation and comparison rules described in Sections 3 and
4, respectively, of [RFC7613], which is based on the PRECIS framework
specification [RFC7564]. See Section 3.4 of [RFC7613] for discussion
on "Case Mapping vs. Case Preparation" regarding "userName"
attributes.
6. Multi-Tenancy
A single service provider may expose the SCIM protocol to multiple
clients. Depending on the nature of the service, the clients may
have authority to access and alter resources initially created by
other clients. Alternatively, clients may expect to access disjoint
sets of resources and may expect that their resources are
inaccessible to other clients. These scenarios are called
"multi-tenancy", where each client is understood to be or represent
a "tenant" of the service provider. Clients may also be
multi-tenanted.
The following common cases may occur:
1. All clients share all resources (no tenancy).
2. Each single client creates and accesses a private subset of
resources (1 client:1 Tenant).
3. Sets of clients share sets of resources (M clients:1 Tenant).
4. One client can create and access several private subsets of
resources (1 client:M Tenants).
Service providers may implement any subset of the above cases.
Multi-tenancy is OPTIONAL. The SCIM protocol does not define a
scheme for multi-tenancy.
The SCIM protocol does not prescribe the mechanisms whereby clients
and service providers interact for the following:
o Registering or provisioning Tenants
o Associating a subset of clients with a subset of the Tenants
o Indicating which tenant is associated with the data in a request
or response, or indicating which Tenant is the subject of a query
6.1. Associating Clients to Tenants
The service provider MAY use one of the authentication mechanisms
discussed in Section 2 to determine the identity of the client and
thus infer the associated Tenant.
For implementations where a client is associated with more than one
Tenant, the service provider MAY use one of the three methods below
for explicit specification of the Tenant.
If any of these methods of allowing the client to explicitly specify
the Tenant are employed, the service provider should ensure that
access controls are in place to prevent or allow cross-tenant use
cases.
The service provider should consider precedence in cases where a
client may explicitly specify a Tenant while being implicitly
associated with a different Tenant.
In all of these methods, the {tenant_id} is a unique identifier for
the Tenant as defined by the service provider.
o A URL prefix: "https://www.example.com/Tenants/{tenant_id}/v2/
Users".
o A sub-domain: "https://{tenant_id}.example.com/v2/Groups".
o An HTTP header: The service provider may recognize a {tenant_id}
provided by the client in an HTTP header as the indicator of the
desired target Tenant.
6.2. SCIM Identifiers with Multiple Tenants
Considerations for a multi-tenant implementation:
o The service provider may choose to implement SCIM ids that are
unique across all resources for all Tenants, but this is not
required.
o The externalId, defined by the client, is required to be unique
ONLY within the resources associated with the associated Tenant.
7. Security Considerations
7.1. HTTP Considerations
The SCIM protocol layers on top of HTTP and is thus subject to the
security considerations of HTTP (Section 9 of [RFC7230]) and its
related specifications.
As stated in Section 2.7.1 of [RFC7230], a SCIM client MUST NOT
generate the "userinfo" (i.e., username and password) component
(and its "@" delimiter) when an "http" URI reference is generated
with a message, as userinfo and its "@" delimiter are now disallowed
in HTTP.
7.2. TLS Support Considerations
SCIM resources (e.g., Users and Groups) contain sensitive
information, including passwords. Therefore, SCIM clients and
service providers MUST require the use of a transport-layer security
mechanism when communicating with SCIM service providers. The SCIM
service provider MUST support TLS 1.2 [RFC5246] and MAY support
additional transport-layer mechanisms meeting its security
requirements. When using TLS, the client MUST perform a TLS/SSL
server identity check, per [RFC6125]. Implementation security
considerations for TLS can be found in [RFC7525].
7.3. Authorization Token Considerations
When using authorization tokens such as those issued by OAuth 2.0
[RFC6749], implementers MUST take into account threats and
countermeasures as documented in Section 8 of [RFC7521].
7.4. Bearer Token and Cookie Considerations
Since the possession of a bearer token or cookie MAY authorize the
holder to potentially read, modify, or delete resources, bearer
tokens and cookies MUST contain sufficient entropy to prevent a
random guessing attack; for example, see Section 5.2 of [RFC6750] and
Section 5.1.4.2.2 of [RFC6819].
As with all SCIM communications, bearer tokens and HTTP cookies MUST
be exchanged using TLS.
Bearer tokens MUST have a limited lifetime that can be determined
directly or indirectly (e.g., by checking with a validation service)
by the service provider. By expiring tokens, clients are forced to
obtain a new token (which usually involves re-authentication) for
continued authorized access. For example, in OAuth 2.0, a client MAY
use OAuth token refresh to obtain a new bearer token after
authenticating to an authorization server. See Section 6 of
[RFC6749].
As with bearer tokens, an HTTP cookie SHOULD last no longer than the
lifetime of a browser session. An expiry time should be set that
limits session cookie lifetime as per Section 5.2.1 of [RFC6265].
Implementations supporting OAuth bearer tokens need to factor in
security considerations of this authorization method [RFC7521].
Since security is only as good as the weakest link, implementers also
need to consider authentication choices coupled with OAuth bearer
tokens. The security considerations of the default authentication
method for OAuth bearer tokens, HTTP Basic, are well documented in
[HTTP-BASIC-AUTH]; therefore, implementers are encouraged to use
stronger authentication methods. Designating the specific methods of
authentication and authorization is out of scope for SCIM; however,
this information is provided as a resource to implementers.
7.5. Privacy Considerations
7.5.1. Personal Information
The SCIM Core Schema specification [RFC7643] defines attributes that
may contain personally identifying information as well as other
sensitive personal data. The privacy considerations in the Security
Considerations section of [RFC7643] MUST be considered.
7.5.2. Disclosure of Sensitive Information in URIs
As mentioned in Section 9.4 of [RFC7231], SCIM clients requesting
information using query filters that use HTTP GET SHOULD give
consideration to the information content of the filters and whether
or not their exposure in a URI would represent a breach of security
or confidentiality through leakage in web browsers or server logs.
This is particularly true for information that is legally considered
"personally identifiable information" or is otherwise restricted by
privacy laws. In these situations, to ensure maximum security and
confidentiality, clients SHOULD query using HTTP POST (see
Section 3.4.3).
Servers that receive HTTP GET requests using filters that contain
sensitive or confidential personal information SHOULD respond with
HTTP status code 403 to indicate that the operation is forbidden. A
"scimType" error code of "sensitive" may be returned to indicate that
the request must be submitted using POST. The following is a
non-normative example:
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":
"Query filter involving 'name' is restricted or confidential",
"scimType": "sensitive",
"status": "403"
}
EID 6893 (Verified) is as follows:Section: 7.5.2
Original Text:
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":
"Query filter involving 'name' is restricted or confidential",
"scimType": "sensitive",
"status": "404"
}
Corrected Text:
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
{
"schemas": ["urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:Error"],
"detail":
"Query filter involving 'name' is restricted or confidential",
"scimType": "sensitive",
"status": "403"
}
Notes:
The error "status" value in the figure is wrong. It should be "403", consistent with the normative text and the HTTP Status at the start of the figure.
7.6. Anonymous Requests
If a SCIM service provider accepts anonymous requests such as SCIM
resource creation requests (via HTTP POST), appropriate security
measures should be put in place to prevent or limit exposure to
attacks. The following countermeasures MAY be used:
o Try to authenticate web user interface components that formulate
the SCIM creation request. While the end-user may be anonymous,
the web user interface component often has its own way to
authenticate to the SCIM service provider (e.g., has an OAuth
client credential [RFC6749]), and the web user interface component
may implement its own measures (e.g., the Completely Automated
Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA))
to ensure that a legitimate request is being made.
o Limit the number of requests that any particular client MAY make
in a period of time.
o For User resources, default newly created resources with an
"active" setting of "false", and use a secondary confirmation
process (e.g., email confirmation) to ensure that the resource
created is real.
7.7. Secure Storage and Handling of Sensitive Data
An attacker may obtain valid username/password combinations from the
SCIM service provider's underlying database by gaining access to the
database and/or launching injection attacks. This could lead to
unintended disclosure of username/password combinations. The impact
may extend beyond the domain of the SCIM service provider if the data
was provisioned from other domains.
Administrators should undertake industry best practices to protect
the storage of credentials and, in particular, SHOULD follow
recommendations outlined in Section 5.1.4.1 of [RFC6819]. These
recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following:
o Provide injection attack countermeasures (e.g., by validating all
inputs and parameters);
o Credentials should not be stored in cleartext form;
o Store credentials using an encrypted protection mechanism (e.g.,
hashing); and
o Where possible, avoid passwords as the sole form of
authentication, and consider using credentials that are based on
asymmetric cryptography.
As outlined in Section 5.1.4.2 of [RFC6819], administrators SHOULD
take countermeasures such as the following, to prevent online attacks
on secrets:
o Utilize a secure password policy in order to increase user
password entropy, which will in turn hinder online attacks and
password guessing;
o Mitigate attacks on passwords by locking respective accounts that
have a number of failed attempts;
o Use "tar pit" techniques by temporarily locking a respective
account and delaying responses for a certain duration. The
duration may increase with the number of failed attempts; and
o Use authentication systems that use CAPTCHAs and other factors for
authenticating users, to further reduce the possibility of
automated attacks.
Service providers SHOULD define an access control model that
differentiates between individual client applications and their
specific need to access information, and any User self-service rights
to review and update personal profile information. This may include
OAuth 2.0 delegation profiles that allow client systems to act on
behalf of users with their permission.
7.8. Case-Insensitive Comparison and International Languages
When comparing Unicode strings such as those in query filters or
testing for uniqueness of usernames and passwords, strings MUST be
appropriately prepared before comparison. See Section 5.
8. IANA Considerations
8.1. Media Type Registration
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of media type application/scim+json
Type name: application
Subtype name: scim+json
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: none
Encoding considerations: 8bit
Security considerations: See Section 7 of this document (RFC 7644)
Interoperability considerations: The "application/scim+json" media
type is intended to identify JSON structure data that conforms to
the SCIM protocol and schema specifications. Older versions of
SCIM are known to informally use "application/json".
Published specification: this document (RFC 7644)
Applications that use this media type: It is expected that
applications that use this type may be special-purpose
applications intended for inter-domain provisioning. Clients may
also be applications (e.g., mobile applications) that need to use
SCIM for self-registration of user accounts. SCIM services may be
offered by web applications that offer support for standards-based
provisioning or may be a dedicated SCIM service provider such as a
"cloud directory". Content may be treated as equivalent to the
"application/json" type for the purpose of displaying in web
browsers.
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
File extension(s): .scim .scm
Macintosh file type code(s):
Person & email address to contact for further information: SCIM
mailing list "<scim@ietf.org>"
Intended usage: COMMON* (see restrictions)
Restrictions on usage: For most client types, it is sufficient to
recognize the content as equivalent to "application/json".
Applications intending to use the SCIM protocol SHOULD use the
"application/scim+json" media type.
Author: Phil Hunt
Change controller: IETF
8.2. Registering URIs for SCIM Messages
As per the "SCIM Schema URIs for Data Resources" registry established
by [RFC7643], the following defines and registers the SCIM protocol
request/response JSON schema URN identifier prefix of
"urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0", which is part of the
URN sub-namespace for SCIM. There is no specific associated
resource type.
+---------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
| Schema URI | Name | Reference |
+---------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | List/Query | See Section |
| messages:2.0:ListResponse | Response | 3.4.2 |
| | | |
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | POST Query | See Section |
| messages:2.0:SearchRequest | Request | 3.4.3 |
| | | |
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | PATCH Operation | See Section |
| messages:2.0:PatchOp | | 3.5.2 |
| | | |
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | Bulk Operations | See Section |
| messages:2.0:BulkRequest | Request | 3.7 |
| | | |
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | Bulk Operations | See Section |
| messages:2.0:BulkResponse | Response | 3.7 |
| | | |
| urn:ietf:params:scim:api: | Error Response | See Section |
| messages:2.0:Error | | 3.12 |
+---------------------------------+-----------------+---------------+
Table 10: SCIM Schema URIs for Data Resources
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of
ISO 10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, DOI 10.17487/RFC3629,
November 2003, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3629>.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, January 2005,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed., and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
Syntax Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[RFC5246] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5246, August 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5246>.
[RFC5789] Dusseault, L. and J. Snell, "PATCH Method for HTTP",
RFC 5789, DOI 10.17487/RFC5789, March 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5789>.
[RFC6125] Saint-Andre, P. and J. Hodges, "Representation and
Verification of Domain-Based Application Service Identity
within Internet Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509
(PKIX) Certificates in the Context of Transport Layer
Security (TLS)", RFC 6125, DOI 10.17487/RFC6125,
March 2011, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6125>.
[RFC6749] Hardt, D., Ed., "The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework",
RFC 6749, DOI 10.17487/RFC6749, October 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6749>.
[RFC6750] Jones, M. and D. Hardt, "The OAuth 2.0 Authorization
Framework: Bearer Token Usage", RFC 6750,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6750, October 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6750>.
[RFC7159] Bray, T., Ed., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
Interchange Format", RFC 7159, DOI 10.17487/RFC7159,
March 2014, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7159>.
[RFC7230] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing",
RFC 7230, DOI 10.17487/RFC7230, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7230>.
[RFC7231] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content",
RFC 7231, DOI 10.17487/RFC7231, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7231>.
[RFC7232] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Conditional Requests",
RFC 7232, DOI 10.17487/RFC7232, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7232>.
[RFC7235] Fielding, R., Ed., and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication", RFC 7235,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7235, June 2014,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7235>.
[RFC7538] Reschke, J., "The Hypertext Transfer Protocol Status
Code 308 (Permanent Redirect)", RFC 7538,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7538, April 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7538>.
[RFC7613] Saint-Andre, P. and A. Melnikov, "Preparation,
Enforcement, and Comparison of Internationalized Strings
Representing Usernames and Passwords", RFC 7613,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7613, August 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7613>.
[RFC7643] Hunt, P., Ed., Grizzle, K., Wahlstroem, E., and
C. Mortimore, "System for Cross-domain Identity
Management: Core Schema", RFC 7643, DOI 10.17487/RFC7643,
September 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7643>.
9.2. Informative References
[HTTP-BASIC-AUTH]
Reschke, J., "The 'Basic' HTTP Authentication Scheme",
Work in Progress, draft-ietf-httpauth-basicauth-update-07,
February 2015.
[OAuth-PoP-Arch]
Hunt, P., Ed., Richer, J., Mills, W., Mishra, P., and H.
Tschofenig, "OAuth 2.0 Proof-of-Possession (PoP) Security
Architecture", Work in Progress,
draft-ietf-oauth-pop-architecture-02, July 2015.
[OpenSearch]
Clinton, D., "OpenSearch Protocol 1.1, Draft 5",
December 2005, <http://www.opensearch.org/Specifications/
OpenSearch/1.1>.
[RFC6265] Barth, A., "HTTP State Management Mechanism", RFC 6265,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6265, April 2011,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6265>.
[RFC6819] Lodderstedt, T., Ed., McGloin, M., and P. Hunt, "OAuth 2.0
Threat Model and Security Considerations", RFC 6819,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6819, January 2013,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6819>.
[RFC6902] Bryan, P., Ed., and M. Nottingham, Ed., "JavaScript Object
Notation (JSON) Patch", RFC 6902, DOI 10.17487/RFC6902,
April 2013, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6902>.
[RFC7486] Farrell, S., Hoffman, P., and M. Thomas, "HTTP Origin-
Bound Authentication (HOBA)", RFC 7486,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7486, March 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7486>.
[RFC7521] Campbell, B., Mortimore, C., Jones, M., and Y. Goland,
"Assertion Framework for OAuth 2.0 Client Authentication
and Authorization Grants", RFC 7521, DOI 10.17487/RFC7521,
May 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7521>.
[RFC7525] Sheffer, Y., Holz, R., and P. Saint-Andre,
"Recommendations for Secure Use of Transport Layer
Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security
(DTLS)", BCP 195, RFC 7525, DOI 10.17487/RFC7525,
May 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7525>.
[RFC7564] Saint-Andre, P. and M. Blanchet, "PRECIS Framework:
Preparation, Enforcement, and Comparison of
Internationalized Strings in Application Protocols",
RFC 7564, DOI 10.17487/RFC7564, May 2015,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7564>.
[XML-Schema]
Biron, P. and A. Malhotra, "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes
Second Edition", W3C Recommendation, October 2004,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/>.
Acknowledgements
The editor would like to acknowledge the contribution and work of the
editors of draft versions of this document:
Trey Drake, UnboundID
Chuck Mortimore, Salesforce
The editor would like to thank the participants in the SCIM working
group for their support of this specification.
Contributors
Samuel Erdtman (samuel@erdtman.se)
Patrick Harding (pharding@pingidentity.com)
Authors' Addresses
Phil Hunt (editor)
Oracle Corporation
Email: phil.hunt@yahoo.com
Kelly Grizzle
SailPoint
Email: kelly.grizzle@sailpoint.com
Morteza Ansari
Cisco
Email: morteza.ansari@cisco.com
Erik Wahlstroem
Nexus Technology
Email: erik.wahlstrom@nexusgroup.com
Chuck Mortimore
Salesforce.com
Email: cmortimore@salesforce.com