Okta Classic Engine release notes (Preview)

Version: 2025.01.0

January 2025

Generally Available

Okta Provisioning agent, version 2.2.0

This release contains bug fixes and minor improvements. The RPM installer is now signed. See Okta Provisioning agent and SDK version history.

Okta Active Directory agent, version 3.19.0

This release of the Okta Active Directory agent includes an additional layer of end-to-end encryption for payloads that are exchanged between Okta and the agent. Support for monitoring the Active Directory agent configuration file has been added, where a System Log event is emitted when the agent configuration has been changed on premises. This release also includes security enhancements and bug fixes. See Okta Active Directory agent version history

Block syncable passkeys

You can now block syncable passkeys during authentication. Previously, you could only block them during enrollment. This enhances the security of your org by preventing users from presenting such passkeys to attempt to enroll new, unmanaged devices. See FIDO2 (WebAuthn).

Additional use case selection in the OIN Wizard

Independent software vendors (ISVs) can select the following additional use case categories when they submit their integration to the OIN:

  • Automation

  • Centralized Logging

  • Directory and HR Sync

  • Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

See Use case selection in the OIN Wizard.

Early Access

Entitlement claims

You can now enrich tokens with app entitlements that produce deeper integrations. After you configure this feature for your app integration, use the Okta Expression Language in Identity Engine to add entitlements at runtime as OIDC claims and SAML assertions. See Generate federated claims.

Block syncable passkeys

You can now block syncable passkeys during authentication. Previously, you could only block them during enrollment. This enhances the security of your org by preventing users from presenting such passkeys to attempt to enroll new, unmanaged devices. See FIDO2 (WebAuthn).

Fixes

  • Incremental imports on a custom SCIM server sometimes removed user group memberships. (OKTA-736111)

  • In some orgs, users were unlocked based on the settings of the default AD password policy rather than a higher priority password policy. (OKTA-755979)

  • Leaving the Custom character restriction field empty in the Profile Editor resulted in an error. (OKTA-811861)

  • The Manage Applications permission for Custom Admin roles unnecessarily allowed admins to mange the client credentials section for OAuth 2.0 Service apps. (OKTA-821119)

  • Long group names were truncated on the Edit resources to a standard role page. (OKTA-839491)

  • Viewing group members in the Admin Console sometimes displayed an error. (OKTA-844568)

Weekly Updates

2025.01.1: Update 1 started deployment on January 15

Generally Available

New IP service categories

The NORDLAYER_VPN and PIA_VPN proxy services are now supported as IP service categories in enhanced dynamic zones. See Supported IP service categories.

Fixes

  • The Slack start date wasn't imported through schema discovery. (OKTA-826971)

  • User movement logs for Realm assignment jobs didn't display correctly. (OKTA-844398)

  • When an Okta group was deleted while an app group reconciliation job was in progress, the job to delete the downstream app group wasn't scheduled. (OKTA-826938)

Okta Integration Network

  • Airflow by Tech Prescient (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • Asana by Aquera (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • Avigilon Alta (SCIM) now supports user deactivation.
  • Corma (API Service) is now available. Learn more.
  • Dovetail (OIDC) has a new icon and integration guide.
  • ELMO (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • FCTR Identity Support Portal (SAML) is now available. Learn more.
  • Jotform (SAML) is now available. Learn more.
  • Island (SAML) has updated endpoints.
  • Natoma (SAML) is now available. Learn more.
  • Posit Workbench (SAML) is now available. Learn more.
  • Posit Workbench (OIDC) is now available. Learn more.
  • PrimeDrive (SAML) is now available. Learn more.
  • Rocketlane (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • SAP HANA Provisioning Connector by Aquera (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • Udemy Business (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • UKG Pro Workforce Management by Aquera (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • VASTOnline (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.
  • Vbrick Rev Cloud (SCIM) is now available. Learn more.

Role-based access control for Okta Workflows

As Okta Workflows has the ability to make comprehensive changes both within Okta and out to other connected SaaS apps, access to Workflows was restricted to Okta super admins. This limited the number of users, restricted the ability to scale the use of Okta Workflows, and reduced its overall value to customers.

With role-based access control (RBAC), you can assign Workflows privileges to more users without granting unnecessary access.

To support this feature, three new admin roles are now available:

  • Workflows Administrator: For full-access administration only within Okta Workflows
  • Workflows Auditor: For compliance management with read-only access
  • Connection Manager: For securely handling accounts and credentials

This feature allows customers to expand the use of Okta Workflows beyond super admins, enabling more team members to build and manage Workflows securely and efficiently.

To turn on this EA feature for your org, go to SettingsFeatures in the Admin Console and enable these options:

  • Workflows Access Control
  • Workflow Admin Role
  • Workflows Provisioning

See Access Control.

The addition of the RBAC feature includes four new event types to record related actions in Okta Workflows:

  • workflows.user.role.user.add
  • workflows.user.role.user.remove
  • workflows.user.role.group.add
  • workflows.user.role.group.remove

See the Event Types API.

Polling for Agentless Desktop Single Sign-on and Integrated Windows Authentication

Agentless Desktop Single Sign-on (ADSSO) and Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA) authentication sessions now include polling to reduce the likelihood of service disruptions when bandwidth use peaks. For users authenticating with ADSSO or IWA during peak use periods, this change increases the likelihood that a server will be available to process their authentication request.

RADIUS push notifications

The operating system is no longer included in RADIUS push notifications. Customers can contact Okta Support if they need to display this information.

Support for importing Active Directory group descriptions

The descriptions of groups sourced from Active Directory now use their description from AD. These replace any previous descriptions of AD-sourced groups in Okta, which used a pretty-printed version of the distinguished name (DN) instead.

Workday supports incremental imports

Workday now has the ability to run immediate, incremental imports. Incremental imports are much faster than full imports. However, they don't detect when users only have changes to custom attributes, so you must periodically run a full import to capture these changes. See Workday.

New flexible LDAP

A new LDAP schema allows flexibility by moving email to the custom schema and making first name, last name, username, and UID optional. This avoids error scenarios when an LDAP schema doesn't include specific attributes.

Prevent new single-factor access to the Admin Console

This feature prevents admins from configuring any new single-factor access to the Admin Console. This feature is now enabled by default for all orgs.

New browser tab reactivation behavior for the Sign-In Widget

The Sign-In Widget now avoids a full page refresh on custom domains when an inactive tab is reactivated. This change improves compatibility with browser memory saver features. This feature will be gradually made available to all orgs.

Sign in with duplicated email authenticators

Previously, users couldn't sign in if they had the same email enrolled twice as an authenticator. This change checks the status of each email authenticator and allows the user to sign in with the most suitable email authenticator.

Content security policy enforcement on end-user pages

Content Security Policy is now enforced for end-user pages in orgs with custom domains. Content Security Policy headers help detect attacks such as cross-site scripting and data injection by ensuring browsers know what kind of actions the webpage can execute. Future iterations of the Content Security Policy enforcement for end-user pages will become stricter than this first release. This feature will be gradually made available to all orgs.

Okta ThreatInsight coverage on core Okta API endpoints

Okta ThreatInsight coverage is now available for core Okta API endpoints (OpenID Connect & OAuth 2.0, Okta Management, and MyAccount API). Based on heuristics and machine learning models, Okta ThreatInsight maintains an evolving list of IP addresses that consistently show malicious activity across Okta's customer base. Requests from these bad IP addresses can be blocked or elevated for further analysis when Okta ThreatInsight is enabled for an Okta org.

Previously, Okta ThreatInsight coverage only applied to Okta authentication endpoints (including enrollment and recovery endpoints). With this release, enhanced attack patterns are detected for authentication endpoints and limited attack patterns are also detected for non-authentication endpoints.

There are no changes to the existing Okta ThreatInsight configuration. You can still enable Okta ThreatInsight with log and block mode, log mode, and exempt network zones. A new Negative IP Reputation reason is available for high security.threat.detected events. See System Log events for Okta ThreatInsight.

Application Entitlement Policy

Administrators can now override attribute mapping when assigning apps to individuals or groups. Attributes can also be reverted to their default mappings. See Override application attribute mapping. This feature will be gradually made available to all orgs.

Descriptive System Log events

When Okta identifies a security threat, the resulting security.threat.detected entry now provides a descriptive reason for the event. See System Log.

SSO apps dashboard widget

The new SSO apps widget displays the number of user sign-in events across each of your org's apps over a selected period of time. You can use it to see which apps are used most frequently and to easily monitor the authentication activity across your org. See Monitor your apps.

Toggle password visibility on the Okta Sign-In page

End users can now toggle visibility of their password on the Sign-In Widget, allowing them to check their password before they click Sign In. Note that passwords are visible for 30 seconds and then hidden automatically. See Authentication. See Enable delegated authentication for LDAP.

Email failure events in the System Log

Admins can now view email delivery failure events in the System Log. This helps admins better monitor the email event activity in their org. See System Log.

Federation Broker Mode

The new Federation Broker Mode allows Okta SSO without the need to pre-assign apps to specific users. Access is managed only by the authentication policy and the authorization rules of each app. This mode can improve import performance and can be helpful for larger-scale orgs that manage many users and apps. See Manage Federation Broker Mode.

User Import Scheduling

When importing users from an app to Okta, you can now schedule imports to occur at hourly, daily, or weekly intervals. Scheduling imports at a time that is convenient for your org reduces the likelihood of service disruptions and eliminates the need to start imports manually. If an application allows incremental imports, you can create both full and incremental import schedules. This is a self-service feature. See Edit app provisioning settings.

Choose additional filters for Office 365 sign-on policy

Filters have been added to enable admins to distinguish between web browsers and Modern Authentication clients when creating an app sign-on policy. See Office 365 sign-on rules options.

Device Authorization grant type

Advancements in internet technology have seen an explosion of smart devices and the Internet of Things. Consumers need to sign in to applications that run on these devices, but the devices either lack support for a web browser or have limited ability for input, such as smart TVs, car consoles, and thermostats. As a result, users resort to insecure authentication solutions that are error-prone and time-consuming.

The Device Authorization grant feature is an OAuth 2.0 grant type that allows users to sign in to input-constrained devices and also to devices that lack web browsers. This feature enables users to use a secondary device, such as a laptop or mobile phone, to complete sign-in to applications that run on such devices. See Configure Device Authorization.

Null values for SCIM provisioning

Null values for any attribute type can now be submitted to Okta when using SCIM provisioning. This change reduces the error messages customers receive and simplifies end user identity management. See Manage profiles.

Manage admin email notification subscriptions using API endpoints

Admins can manage email subscriptions using the Admin Email Subscription API endpoints.

  • Super admins can configure default subscription settings by admin type.

  • All admins can manage their own admin email notification subscriptions.

LDAP password reset option

LDAP delegated authentication settings can now be configured to allow users to reset their passwords. This change reduces the time needed for password management and allows users to reset their passwords quickly and easily. See Enable delegated authentication for LDAP.

LDAP admin password reset

For orgs integrated with LDAP, admins can now perform password resets for an active individual end user. See Reset a user password.

Windows Device Registration Task, version 1.4.1

This release fixed the following issues:

  • If there was a space in the sAMAccountName, an error appeared when installing the Okta Device Registration task and the installation completed but didn't function.
  • An unknown publisher warning appeared after double-clicking the Okta Device Registration MSI file.

Affected customers should uninstall the registration task and install 1.4.1 or later.

See Enforce Okta Device Trust for managed Windows computers and Device Trust for Windows Desktop Registration Task Version History.

Incremental Imports for CSV

Incremental imports improve performance by importing only users who were created, updated, or deleted since your last import. See Manage your CSV directory integration. Note that this feature is being re-released having previously been released to Production in 2020.09.0.

Password changed notification email

To eliminate unnecessary email notifications, the Password changed notification email setting is no longer enabled by default on new preview orgs. See Password changed notification for end users.

Office 365 Silent Activation

Using Okta as the Identity Provider, Okta Office 365 Silent Activation allows for a seamless experience for your Microsoft Office 365 end users accessing Office 365 apps on domain joined shared Workstations or VDI environments. Once your end users have logged into a domain-joined Windows machine, no further activation steps are required. See Office 365 Silent Activation: New Implementations.

End-user Welcome emails localized

The ability to localize the Welcome email that Okta sends to new end users by referencing the users' default locale property is now Generally Available. See Configure general customization settings.

People page improvements

The People page has been improved so the people list can be filtered by user type. See Universal Directory custom user types known issues.

Mobile tab available for mobile-capable apps

The Mobile tab available in the Okta Admin Console for mobile-capable OIN apps allows you to publish mobile applications to an App Store and deploy them to your end users.

Provisioning page UI element change

Drop-down menus on the Provisioning page (General Settings) were standardized.

UI element change

Drop-down menus on the Provisioning page (General Settings) are standardized. See Provision apps.

Early Access features, auto-enroll

You can now opt to auto-enroll in all Early Access features, instead of having to enable them as they become available.

Connecting Apps to Okta using the LDAP Interface

The LDAP Interface allows you to authenticate legacy LDAP apps to Universal Directory in the cloud. With the LDAP Interface, authentication is done directly against Okta via LDAP, without the need for an on-premise LDAP server. In addition, the LDAP interface supports other LDAP functions like search. See Set up and manage the LDAP Interface.