SSO authentication results in a 401 due to wrong server time

Symptoms

SAML authentication results in a 401 error for all users.

Appian authentication works as expected.

The authentication attempt in the <APPIAN_HOME>/logs/login-audit.csv is logged as FAILED.

Cause

SAML response has a timestamp associated with it. This issue may happen if a wrong date or time is set on the servers involved in the authentication process, which will invalidate the SAML request/response.

This has been observed in cases where server hosting the Appian application has the server time off by a minute or more.

Action

Ensure that the servers involved in the authentication process are configured with the correct time.

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian.