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lockLDAP Authentication

Available in Overleaf Extended CE is the ability to use a LDAP server to manage users. It is also possible to use with Active Directory systems. The information in this page is valid for both Overleaf Toolkit Users and legacy docker-compose.yml users.

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Configuration

Internally, Overleaf LDAP uses the passport-ldapautharrow-up-right library. Most of these configuration options are passed through to the server config object which is used to configure passport-ldapauth. If you are having issues configuring LDAP, it is worth reading the README for passport-ldapauth to get a feel for the configuration it expects.

The environment variable EXTERNAL_AUTH is required to enable the LDAP authentication module. This environment variable specifies which external authentication methods are activated. The value of this variable is a list. If the list includes ldap then LDAP authentication will be activated.

For example: EXTERNAL_AUTH=ldap saml

When using Local and LDAP authentication methods, a user enters a username and password in the login form. If LDAP authentication is enabled, it is attempted first:

  1. An LDAP user is searched for in the LDAP directory using the filter defined by OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_FILTER and authenticated.

  2. If authentication is successful, the Overleaf users database is checked for a user with the primary email address that matches the email address of the authenticated LDAP user:

    • If a matching user is found, the hashedPassword field for this user is deleted (if it exists). This ensures that the user can only log in via LDAP authentication in the future.

    • If no matching user is found, a new Overleaf user is created using the email, first name, and last name retrieved from the LDAP server.

  3. If LDAP authentication fails or is unsuccessful, local authentication is attempted.

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Environment Variables

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_URL (required)

    • URL of the LDAP server.

      • Example: ldaps://ldap.example.com:636 (LDAP over SSL)

      • Example: ldap://ldap.example.com:389 (unencrypted or STARTTLS, if configured).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_EMAIL_ATT

    • The email attribute returned by the LDAP server, default mail. Each LDAP user must have at least one email address. If multiple addresses are provided, only the first one will be used.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_FIRST_NAME_ATT

    • The property name holding the first name of the user which is used in the application, usually givenName.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_LAST_NAME_ATT

    • The property name holding the family name of the user which is used in the application, usually sn.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_NAME_ATT

    • The property name holding the full name of the user, usually cn. If either of the two previous variables is not defined, the first and/or last name of the user is extracted from this variable. Otherwise, it is not used.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_PLACEHOLDER

    • The placeholder for the login form, defaults to Username.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_UPDATE_USER_DETAILS_ON_LOGIN

    • If set to true, updates the LDAP user first_name and last_name field on login, and turn off the user details form on the /user/settings page for LDAP users. Otherwise, details will be fetched only on first login.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_BIND_DN

    • The distinguished name of the LDAP user that should be used for the LDAP connection (this user should be able to search/list accounts on the LDAP server), e.g., cn=ldap_reader,dc=example,dc=com. If not defined, anonymous binding is used.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_BIND_CREDENTIALS

    • Password for OVERLEAF_LDAP_BIND_DN.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_BIND_PROPERTY

    • Property of the user to bind against the client, defaults to dn.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_BASE (required)

    • The base DN from which to search for users. E.g., ou=people,dc=example,dc=com.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_FILTER

    • LDAP search filter with which to find a user. Use the literal '{{username}}' to have the given username be interpolated in for the LDAP search.

      • Example: (|(uid={{username}})(mail={{username}})) (user can login with email or with login name).

      • Example: (sAMAccountName={{username}}) (Active Directory).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_SCOPE

    • The scope of the search can be base, one, or sub (default).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_ATTRIBUTES

    • JSON array of attributes to fetch from the LDAP server, e.g., ["uid", "mail", "givenName", "sn"]. By default, all attributes are fetched.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_STARTTLS

    • If true, LDAP over TLS is used.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_TLS_OPTS_CA_PATH

    • Path to the file containing the CA certificate used to verify the LDAP server's SSL/TLS certificate. If there are multiple certificates, then it can be a JSON array of paths to the certificates. The files must be accessible to the docker container.

      • Example (one certificate): /var/lib/overleaf/certs/ldap_ca_cert.pem

      • Example (multiple certificates): ["/var/lib/overleaf/certs/ldap_ca_cert1.pem", "/var/lib/overleaf/certs/ldap_ca_cert2.pem"]

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_TLS_OPTS_REJECT_UNAUTH

    • If true, the server certificate is verified against the list of supplied CAs.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CACHE

    • If true, then up to 100 credentials at a time will be cached for 5 minutes.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_TIMEOUT

    • How long the client should let operations live for before timing out, ms (Default: Infinity).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT

    • How long the client should wait before timing out on TCP connections, ms (Default: OS default).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_IS_ADMIN_ATT and OVERLEAF_LDAP_IS_ADMIN_ATT_VALUE

    • When both environment variables are set, the login process updates user.isAdmin = true if the LDAP profile contains the attribute specified by OVERLEAF_LDAP_IS_ADMIN_ATT and its value either matches OVERLEAF_LDAP_IS_ADMIN_ATT_VALUE or is an array containing OVERLEAF_LDAP_IS_ADMIN_ATT_VALUE, otherwise user.isAdmin is set to false. If either of these variables is not set, then the admin status is only set to true during admin user creation in Launchpad.

The following five variables are used to configure how user contacts are retrieved from the LDAP server.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_FILTER

    • The filter used to search for users in the LDAP server to be loaded into contacts. The placeholder '{{userProperty}}' within the filter is replaced with the value of the property specified by OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_PROPERTY from the LDAP user initiating the search. If not defined, no users are retrieved from the LDAP server into contacts.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_SEARCH_BASE

    • Specifies the base DN from which to start searching for the contacts. Defaults to OVERLEAF_LDAP_SEARCH_BASE.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_SEARCH_SCOPE

    • The scope of the search can be base, one, or sub (default).

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_PROPERTY

    • Specifies the property of the user object that will replace the '{{userProperty}}' placeholder in the OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_FILTER.

  • OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_NON_LDAP_VALUE

    • Specifies the value of the OVERLEAF_LDAP_CONTACTS_PROPERTY if the search is initiated by a non-LDAP user. If this variable is not defined, the resulting filter will match nothing. The value * can be used as a wildcard.

chevron-rightExamplehashtag

The above example results in loading into the contacts of the current LDAP user all LDAP users who have the same UNIX gid. Non-LDAP users will have all LDAP users with UNIX gid=1000 in their contacts.

chevron-rightSample variables.env filehashtag
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