Files
zitadel/apps
464d1cb655 fix(login): resolve unknownContext error on password page caused by inconsistent ignoreUnknownUsernames handling (#12512)
# Which Problems Are Solved

The `/password` page (and related password pages) can show the
`unknownContext` error even though the user was resolved correctly and
login completes fine. Two causes:

1. `sendLoginname` used two different `ignoreUnknownUsernames` sources:
session creation was gated on the **user's org** login settings, while
the redirect's `loginName` masking and enumeration guards were gated on
a **caller-supplied flag** reflecting the request context (instance or
org scope). Whenever the two diverge — e.g. `ignoreUnknownUsernames`
enabled on the instance but not on the user's org, or the reverse — the
redirect carries a `loginName` that doesn't match the session cookie (or
no session is created at all), so the `/password` page can't load the
session and renders `unknownContext`, while password submission still
succeeds via its user-search fallback. This affects every caller of
`sendLoginname` — the manual `/loginname` form as well as the
server-side `login_hint` resolution; it was most reproducible with
`login_hint`, since that path resolves context settings at the instance
level, maximizing the chance of divergence with an org-level policy.

2. The password pages tried to re-derive "was enumeration protection
applied?" from login settings to suppress the error — but they resolve
settings from a different context than `sendLoginname` (falling back to
the default organization instead of the instance), so any org-level
custom policy made the suppression misfire. More fundamentally, the
alert was keyed on a failed session lookup, which is not an error state:
under enumeration protection no session exists by design, and the forms
recover without one (`sendPassword` falls back to user search;
`/password/set` works via code + userId).

# How the Problems Are Solved

`sendLoginname` no longer accepts `ignoreUnknownUsernames` from the
caller. It derives a single constant server-side from the
request-context login settings it already fetches and uses it for every
decision in the flow: session creation, `preventUserEnumeration`, the
multiple-users branch, the INITIAL-user check, the organization reset,
the auth-method guards, and the IdP redirect after domain discovery.
Redirect params use `session?.factors?.user?.loginName ??
command.loginName`: when a session exists, its loginName goes in the URL
so the next page always finds the session cookie; when protection
applies, no session (and no session cookie) is created and the raw input
is echoed, keeping known and unknown users fully indistinguishable —
including the previously observable `Set-Cookie` difference.
`UsernameForm` and `resolveLoginHint` stop forwarding the flag, which
also removes the redundant `getLoginSettings` call in
`resolveLoginHint`.

The password pages no longer consult login settings or the session
lookup for the `unknownContext` error and instead warn only when
required input is actually missing (matching the existing pattern on the
passkey/mfa/u2f pages): `/password` and `/password/change` when no
`loginName` searchParam is present, `/password/set` when neither
`loginName` nor `userId` is present. A missing session alone no longer
triggers the error.

Verified against a live instance in all four settings combinations
(uniform on/off, both divergence directions) including a
known-vs-unknown `login_hint` comparison producing byte-identical
responses under protection; full unit suite passes.

---------

Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
2026-08-04 12:49:28 +00:00
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