Organizations relying on Microsoft Entra single sign-on (SSO) plug-ins for self-hosted Atlassian Jira and Confluence environments have reached an important milestone. Microsoft has officially completed the retirement of support for its Microsoft Entra SSO plug-ins for Atlassian Jira Server, Jira Data Center, Confluence Server, and Confluence Data Center. While the plug-ins will continue to function after the retirement date, they will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or feature improvements.
The support lifecycle officially ended on July 31, 2026, following Microsoft’s phased retirement that began on May 1, 2026. The announcement signals Microsoft’s continued investment in cloud-first identity solutions while encouraging organizations to adopt modern authentication methods that deliver stronger security, better scalability, and long-term reliability.
For IT administrators, identity teams, and Atlassian platform owners, this is not an immediate outage—but it is a significant operational and security milestone that requires proactive planning.
Microsoft Officially Ends Support
Microsoft has confirmed that support for the Microsoft Entra SSO plug-ins used with self-hosted Atlassian Jira and Confluence deployments has now ended. Although organizations can continue using the existing plug-ins, they should understand that these solutions have entered an unsupported state.
This means Microsoft will no longer provide:
- Security updates
- Bug fixes
- Technical support
- Product improvements
- Compatibility updates for future platform changes
Any future vulnerabilities or compatibility issues will remain unresolved by Microsoft, increasing the long-term operational risk for organizations that continue using these plug-ins.
Why Microsoft Is Retiring These Plug-ins
The retirement aligns with two major industry trends.
First, Atlassian has been encouraging customers for several years to modernize their collaboration platforms by moving toward Atlassian Cloud or by adopting the latest native capabilities available within Atlassian Data Center.
Second, Microsoft continues to prioritize cloud-native identity integrations that leverage Microsoft Entra ID, modern authentication standards such as SAML and OpenID Connect (OIDC), and Zero Trust security principles.
By ending support for legacy plug-ins, Microsoft can focus engineering resources on modern authentication experiences that offer improved security, simplified administration, and better long-term compatibility.
Who Is Affected?
This announcement primarily impacts organizations that use Microsoft’s Entra SSO plug-ins with:
- Atlassian Jira Server
- Atlassian Jira Data Center
- Atlassian Confluence Server
- Atlassian Confluence Data Center
These environments typically exist within on-premises or self-managed infrastructure.
Organizations using Microsoft Entra ID authentication with these specific Microsoft-developed plug-ins should immediately review their identity architecture and migration plans.
Who Is Not Affected?
Organizations using Atlassian Cloud are not affected by this retirement.
Existing Microsoft Entra integrations with Atlassian Cloud continue to be fully supported, allowing organizations using cloud deployments to continue authenticating users without interruption.
Similarly, organizations that never deployed the Microsoft Entra SSO plug-ins have no action to take.
What Happens After July 31, 2026?
One important aspect of Microsoft’s announcement is that the plug-ins will not suddenly stop working.
Instead, they enter a permanently unsupported state.
This means organizations may continue operating normally in the short term, but every passing month increases the associated operational and cybersecurity risks.
Potential concerns include:
- Newly discovered security vulnerabilities will remain unpatched.
- Future Microsoft Entra ID changes may introduce compatibility issues.
- Atlassian platform updates may break authentication functionality.
- Microsoft Support will not troubleshoot authentication problems.
- Compliance audits may identify unsupported authentication software as a security concern.
Organizations operating regulated environments should carefully evaluate whether unsupported authentication components align with their internal governance requirements.
Recommended Migration Options
Microsoft recommends that organizations begin transitioning away from the retired plug-ins as soon as possible.
Option 1: Migrate to Atlassian Cloud
For organizations planning broader digital transformation initiatives, migrating to Atlassian Cloud provides the most future-ready option.
Benefits include:
- Native Microsoft Entra integration
- Reduced infrastructure management
- Automatic updates
- Enhanced security features
- Continuous platform innovation
Cloud adoption also eliminates many of the maintenance responsibilities associated with self-hosted environments.
Option 2: Use Atlassian Data Center Native SAML SSO
Organizations that must remain on Atlassian Data Center can transition to Atlassian’s native SAML-based Single Sign-On capabilities.
Native SAML authentication offers:
- Better long-term support
- Improved compatibility
- Vendor-supported authentication
- Simplified identity management
- Modern security standards
This option allows organizations to maintain on-premises or self-managed deployments while moving away from unsupported Microsoft plug-ins.
Migration Checklist for IT Administrators
Organizations should prioritize the following actions:
1. Inventory Existing Deployments
Identify every Jira and Confluence environment currently using the Microsoft Entra SSO plug-ins.
2. Evaluate Authentication Architecture
Determine whether migration to Atlassian Cloud or native SAML authentication best fits your organization’s security strategy.
3. Update Identity Documentation
Revise internal authentication documentation, helpdesk procedures, disaster recovery plans, and identity architecture diagrams.
4. Notify Stakeholders
Communicate the retirement to:
- Jira administrators
- Confluence administrators
- Identity management teams
- Security teams
- Helpdesk personnel
- Business application owners
Early communication helps reduce operational surprises during migration.
5. Engage Microsoft or Implementation Partners
Organizations requiring assistance should work with Microsoft support teams, solution partners, or Atlassian specialists to build an effective migration roadmap.
Security Considerations
Although Microsoft has not identified any immediate compliance issues associated with the retirement itself, unsupported software introduces several indirect security risks.
Unsupported authentication components may:
- Increase exposure to newly discovered vulnerabilities.
- Complicate regulatory compliance.
- Affect cyber insurance assessments.
- Create audit findings related to unsupported software.
- Increase operational risk during future platform upgrades.
Identity systems are among the most critical components of enterprise infrastructure, making proactive modernization an important cybersecurity investment rather than simply an infrastructure upgrade.
Why This Matters for Enterprise IT
Identity platforms continue to evolve rapidly as organizations embrace Zero Trust security models, passwordless authentication, and cloud-native identity management.
Microsoft’s retirement of legacy Entra SSO plug-ins reflects the broader shift away from maintaining custom authentication extensions toward standardized, vendor-supported integration models.
Organizations that modernize now will benefit from:
- Stronger authentication security
- Reduced administrative overhead
- Better vendor support
- Improved compliance readiness
- Greater resilience against future platform changes
Conversely, delaying migration may increase technical debt and operational complexity over time.
The end of support for Microsoft Entra SSO plug-ins for Atlassian Jira and Confluence Data Center is not an emergency, but it is an important reminder that unsupported identity solutions should not remain part of long-term enterprise infrastructure.
Since support officially ended on July 31, 2026, organizations still relying on these plug-ins should prioritize migration planning as soon as possible. Whether the destination is Atlassian Cloud or Atlassian Data Center’s native SAML SSO capability, adopting supported authentication methods will improve security, ensure continued vendor support, and align identity management with modern enterprise best practices.
For IT leaders, security teams, and Atlassian administrators, now is the right time to review authentication strategies and ensure critical collaboration platforms remain secure, compliant, and ready for the future.
