Configuring azure oidc for github actions

Configuring Azure OIDC for GitHub Actions

Sets up secret-less Azure authentication for GitHub Actions. After running these scripts, deploys work via git push with no client secrets to rotate.

Why OIDC

• No client secrets stored in GitHub or in code
• Branch-scoped: the test SP can't deploy to production and vice versa
• Federated credential subject is bound to refs/heads/{branch} exactly — drift causes AADSTS70021

Workflow checklist

Copy this checklist into your response and check items off as you complete them:

OIDC + GitHub Actions setup:
- [ ] Step 1: Verify az login + gh auth login (and AZURE_CONFIG_DIR if shared machine)
- [ ] Step 2: Confirm GitHub repo exists, branches (test, production) created
- [ ] Step 3: Run scripts/create-sp-with-oidc.sh → creates test + prod SPs + federated creds
- [ ] Step 4: Run scripts/generate-sql-password.sh → SQL admin passwords
- [ ] Step 5: Run scripts/add-github-secrets.sh → 6 secrets set
- [ ] Step 6: For each additional environment branch (acme-demo, customer-uat, etc.), re-run with that branch name
- [ ] Step 7: First push to test → verify the workflow authenticates (no AADSTS70021)

Setup sequence

Run these scripts in order. Each is idempotent (safe to re-run).

# Prerequisites: az login and gh auth login already done.
# Use AZURE_CONFIG_DIR if this project shares a machine with others.

export ORG="acme"             # short org prefix
export PROJECT="taskapp"      # short project name
export GITHUB_ORG="myorg"
export REPO="taskapp"

# 1. Create both service principals + federated credentials
bash scripts/create-sp-with-oidc.sh

# 2. Generate SQL admin passwords (test + prod)
bash scripts/generate-sql-password.sh

# 3. Set the 6 GitHub secrets
bash scripts/add-github-secrets.sh

Each script prints what it will do, what already exists, and what was created.

The 6 GitHub secrets

Secret	Scope	Source
AZURE_TENANT_ID	Both envs	az account show --query tenantId
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID	Both envs	az account show --query id
AZURE_CLIENT_ID_TEST	Test SP appId	create-sp-with-oidc.sh output
AZURE_CLIENT_ID_PROD	Prod SP appId	create-sp-with-oidc.sh output
SQL_ADMIN_PASSWORD_TEST	Test SQL admin	generate-sql-password.sh output
SQL_ADMIN_PASSWORD_PROD	Prod SQL admin	generate-sql-password.sh output

Critical: federated credential subject format

Azure rejects the OIDC token if the subject doesn't match exactly:

repo:{GitHubOrg}/{Repo}:ref:refs/heads/{branch}

Common mistake	Error
ref:refs/heads/main when workflow pushes from test	AADSTS70021: No matching federated identity record found
pull_request subject for branch push	same
Extra trailing slash	same
Repo case mismatch (MyOrg vs myorg)	same

If you see AADSTS70021, dump the actual issuer + subject from the failed run, then compare against the federated credential:

az ad app federated-credential list --id "$CLIENT_ID" -o table

When to use User Access Administrator

The default Contributor role is sufficient for SWA + SQL deploys. You need User Access Administrator when Bicep contains Microsoft.Authorization/roleAssignments resources — typically:

• FC1 Flex Consumption (Function App MI → Storage Blob Data Owner)
• Container Apps Jobs that need AcrPull or similar
• Any module that does roleAssignments on a child resource

Grant at the smallest scope that works (RG > subscription):

az role assignment create \
  --assignee "$SP_OID" \
  --role "User Access Administrator" \
  --scope "/subscriptions/$SUB_ID/resourceGroups/$ORG-$PROJECT-rg-test"

If the RG doesn't exist yet, scope to subscription temporarily.

SP creation gotcha — WARNING in stdout

az ad sp create-for-rbac --sdk-auth prepends a WARNING: line to stdout. If that ends up in AZURE_CREDENTIALS (the legacy format), authentication silently fails. OIDC sidesteps this — we only store the appId, never the SP JSON. But if you ever need AZURE_CREDENTIALS, strip the warning:

az ad sp create-for-rbac ... --sdk-auth 2>/dev/null \
  | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=sys.stdin.read(); print(json.dumps(json.loads(d[d.find('{'):]),indent=2))"

Composes with

• scaffolding-azure-bicep-infrastructure — generates the workflow files that consume these secrets
• Microsoft's entra-app-registration — deeper app-registration mechanics
• Microsoft's azure-rbac — RBAC verification on running deployments

Reference

See references/federated-credentials.md for the full breakdown of subject formats, audiences, and verification commands.