Require authorization for SOAP requests

reference brazil Updated Sep 10, 2026 1 min read sc-soap-request-authorization.md
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Use the glide.basicauth.required.soap property to designate if incoming SOAP requests should require basic authorization.

The glide.basicauth.required.soap property controls whether basic authentication is required to make a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request to an instance. If the glide.basicauth.required.soap property is not set to true, unauthenticated users performing SOAP operations are mapped to the soap.guest user.

This may enable an unauthenticated user to perform operations on the instance as if a logged in user to the instance. There may be additional impact if the user define within com.glide.soap.guest_user is assigned additional roles. The property glide.soap.require_ws_security (default false) controls whether WS-Security header validation is mandatory. When set to false, requests without WS-Security are allowed if other auth mechanisms (basic auth, session) are present.

When set to false, both properties allow unauthenticated SOAP requests to map to the guest user and execute without credential validation, enabling unauthorized data export and system operations.

Ensure the glide.basicauth.required.soap property exists and is set to true. Alternatively, configure the instance for Web Services (WS) Security by setting the glide.soap.require_ws_security property to true and following the product documentation to configure WS security profiles. If the property doesn't exist in the sys_properties table, add it to the table.

Warning: This is a safe harbor property, meaning the value can't be altered once it's changed. It is non-revertible.

More information

Attribute

Description

Configuration name

  • glide.basicauth.required.soap
  • glide.soap.require_ws_security

Configuration type

System Properties (/sys_properties_list.do)

Data type

Boolean

Recommended value

  • false
  • false

Default value

  • true
  • false

Fallback value

  • true
  • false

Category

API and web service

Security risk

  • Severity score: 8.1
  • CVSS rating: High
  • Security risk details: When set to false, both properties allow unauthenticated SOAP requests to map to the guest user and execute without credential validation, enabling unauthorized data export and system operations.

Functional impact

Disabling either property relaxes SOAP request authentication requirements. Basic authentication is optional or WS-Security validation is optional, allowing unauthenticated or weakly-authenticated requests to proceed.

Dependencies and prerequisites

None

**Parent Topic:**[API and web service](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/platform-security/instance-security-hardening-settings/sc-api-web-service.md)
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