User account linking

Ory allows users to link their accounts to social sign-in providers after they sign up, as well as un-link social sign-in providers they previously added.

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Users can link their accounts only to social providers you configured in your Ory project.

Users can use account linking and un-linking:

• to start signing in with a profile created in a social sign-in provider when they originally signed up with email and password
• to link another social sign-in provider to their profile so that they can sign in with their GitHub profile and their Facebook profile
• to remove a social sign-in provider link from the profile (possible only when multiple sign-in methods are available to prevent locking users out from accounts)

Linking accounts

Users can link accounts manually through their account's settings page. To try out account linking, use the Ory Account Experience. Follow these steps:

1. Configure at least two sign-up methods in your Ory project. One of these methods must be through a social sign-in provider.
2. Go to your project's Ory Account Experience at https://{project.slug}.projects.oryapis.com/ui and sign up.
3. After you sign up, go to Account Settings and navigate to the Social Sign In section.
4. Select one of the buttons to link an available social sign-in provider.

Un-linking account

Users with multiple sign-in methods can un-link social sign-in providers from their account through their account's settings page. To try out account un-linking, use the Ory Account Experience. Follow these steps:

1. Go to your project's Ory Account Experience at https://{project.slug}.projects.oryapis.com/ui and sign in with a user account with multiple sign-in methods available.
2. Go to Account Settings and navigate to the Social Sign In section.
3. Use the buttons to un-link a social sign-in provider.

Automatic account linking

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Automatic account linking was previously not available in Ory. It has been recently added and is now enabled on the Ory Network as well as on the open-source master branch.

Users can link social sign-in accounts on login automatically using a secure flow. This is how it works:

1. The user creates an account with the identifier alice@example.com using a password.
2. Upon the next visit, the user clicks to sign in with a social sign-in provider. That social sign-in account (through the OIDC userinfo endpoint or the identity token) contains the same identifier alice@example.com.
3. Since the identifier is registered already, the user cannot be logged in directly. Instead, the user will be prompted for the password chosen in step 1.
4. Upon supplying the correct password, the social sign-in credential will be added to the user's identity. In the future, the user can sign in with either the password or the social sign-in provider.

Security considerations

Account linking constitutes a potential security threat if implemented incorrectly.

To better understand the danger, consider the following scenario:

• Your application allows users to create new accounts or sign in with ACME - a well-known social sign-in provider.
• John creates a new account in your application using his john@doe.com email.
• Malicious actors know that John uses john@doe.com to sign in to his account in your app.
• Malicious actors create an ACME account for john@doe.com.
• Malicious actors sign up in your application using the ACME account created for the john@doe.com account.
• Your system uses the default behavior and when it detects two accounts with the same identifier, malicious actors are asked to link the accounts.
• Malicious actors link the accounts.
• Malicious actors get access to the account that John created manually using his john@doe.com email.

Therefore, the user needs to prove knowledge of another credential before the accounts can be linked. In the scenario above, the malicious actor would be prompted to enter the password associated with the jon@doe.com identifier.