goauthentik/authentik

Nested user attributes not exposed as valid LDAP attributes in LDAP Outpost

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#16,954 opened on Sep 23, 2025

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Description

Describe the bug When exposing custom attributes via the LDAP outpost, nested attributes are not returned as individual LDAP attributes. Instead, they appear in a serialized map format that does not seem to comply with LDAP.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Configure a user in Authentik with a custom attribute containing nested values, e.g. settings.locale = en.
  2. Query the user via the LDAP outpost using ldapsearch.
  3. Inspect the LDAP response.

See that the attribute is returned as a serialized map string rather than as a proper multi-valued LDAP attribute.

Expected behavior I would expect the LDAP outpost to flatten or map the nested attribute into standard LDAP attributes, for example:

settingsLocale: en

or

settings.locale: en

instead of:

settings: map[locale:en]

Version and Deployment (please complete the following information):

  • authentik version: 2025.8.3
  • Deployment: Docker

Additional context Add any other context about the problem here.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate the LDAP outpost's attribute serialization logic, specifically how nested custom attributes are converted to LDAP attributes. Look for code that handles attribute flattening or mapping in the LDAP provider.
Tech stack
python
Domain
backendapi
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
PythonLDAP
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
75