CV0-004 Security Practice Question
An organization uses Azure and wants to ensure that only authenticated users from its on-premises Active Directory can access cloud resources. The company has Azure AD Connect set up and wants to enable single sign-on (SSO) for cloud applications. Which federation standard should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect as the default for all SSO scenarios, but the question specifically describes a traditional on-premises AD federation with browser-based cloud applications, which is the classic SAML use case.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
SAML
SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is the correct federation standard because it enables browser-based single sign-on (SSO) by exchanging authentication and authorization assertions between an identity provider (on-premises Active Directory via Azure AD Connect) and a service provider (cloud applications). SAML 2.0 is specifically designed for federated identity scenarios where users authenticate on-premises and gain access to cloud resources without re-entering credentials.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Kerberos
Why it's wrong here
Kerberos is an on-premises protocol, not used for cloud federation.
- ✗
OAuth 2.0
Why it's wrong here
OAuth 2.0 is for authorization, not federation.
- ✓
SAML
Why this is correct
SAML enables federation and SSO between identity providers and service providers.
- ✗
OpenID Connect
Why it's wrong here
OIDC is built on OAuth 2.0 for authentication, but SAML is more common for enterprise federation with Azure AD.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CV0-004 exam.