# Confusing/unpolished error message when using Discourse as SSO provider
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [7월 23, 2019, 6:15오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762 "2019-07-23T18:15:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nylen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nylen)
#### Post date: [7월 23, 2019, 6:15오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/1 "2019-07-23T18:15:37Z")
If you don’t configure the `sso provider secrets` setting correctly when using Discourse as an SSO provider, you get a generic Error 500 message in the browser and a confusing error message in the logs:
> TypeError (no implicit conversion of nil into String) /var/www/discourse/lib/single\_sign\_on.rb:114:in `hexdigest’
Based on the code path being followed, this looks to be accidental, and I think this error message should be improved:
- In the logs, indicate that the SSO provider is misconfigured or an unauthorized attempt has been made
- In the browser, show a more appropriate error message (probably `HTTP 400 Bad Request` or `403 Forbidden`)
More details here (maybe an admin/moderator can move that post into this new thread for me):
> [@SSO client link giving error 500](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sso-client-link-giving-error-500/86854/6):
>
> For anyone else experiencing this error, I fixed it by filling in the sso provider secrets setting for the client domain name: In the Discourse code, when this secret is not set, the call to OpenSSL::HMAC.hexdigest fails with the following error in the logs: TypeError (no implicit conversion of nil into String) /var/www/discourse/lib/single\_sign\_on.rb:114:in `hexdigest’ Here is the relevant code path: [discourse/lib/single\_sign\_on\_provider.rb at f364317625ee273d1e8983faa271831db9129…](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/f3643176/lib/single_sign_on_provider.rb#L21-L34)
Note this is in the context of the `wp-discourse` plugin for WordPress but the issue has nothing to do with this plugin specifically.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 24, 2019, 4:12오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/2 "2019-07-24T04:12:01Z")
> [@nylen](#):
>
> don’t configure the `sso provider secrets` setting correctly
Do you mean leave it blank or put garbage data in it?
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### Author:  [@nylen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nylen)
#### Post date: [7월 24, 2019, 6:40오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/3 "2019-07-24T06:40:21Z")
This happens if the setting is left blank (more specifically, I think whenever there is no secret for the domain associated with an incoming SSO request).
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 24, 2019, 5:27오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/4 "2019-07-24T17:27:49Z")
Aha if the setting is blank I support a better error here @eviltrout can you do this or assign it?
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### Author:  [@eviltrout](https://meta.discourse.org/u/eviltrout)
#### Post date: [7월 26, 2019, 8:40오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/7 "2019-07-26T20:40:49Z")
@Osama did this and it’s been merged:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/525920a9794a4582d6588250daa302c36029fce8](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/525920a9794a4582d6588250daa302c36029fce8)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [7월 27, 2019, 12:35오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusing-unpolished-error-message-when-using-discourse-as-sso-provider/123762/8 "2019-07-27T00:35:10Z")