# ServiceNow Vulnerability Configuration Guide

This guide walks you through configuring ServiceNow Vulnerability Response for use with Synqly's Vulnerabilities Connector.

ServiceNow supports two authentication methods for this integration, shown as tabs below.

- **OAuth 2.0 (recommended):** A Client Credentials application that authenticates as a linked Application User. Access is governed by that user's roles, with no REST API Access Policies required.
- **Basic Credentials:** A dedicated service account with username and password.


After authentication is set up, configure the integration using the values from your chosen path.

## Prerequisites

**Log in and create a service account.** A dedicated account avoids broken integrations if an employee account is deactivated. Log in to ServiceNow as an admin, go to **All > Organization > Users**, select **New**, set **User ID** (required), select **Internal Integration User**, and complete any other required fields. Open the new user, go to the **Roles** tab, select **Edit...**, and add the `admin` collection.

The `admin` role is currently required for the Vulnerabilities connector to function. We plan to document a least-privilege role set in a later revision of this guide.

## Generating Credentials

OAuth 2.0 (recommended)
OAuth 2.0 requests are authenticated as the **Application User** linked to the OAuth Application Registry. That user's roles govern all API access.

ServiceNow authenticates this method with an OAuth 2.0 **Client Credentials** application. With this approach, you authenticate an *application* (using a Client ID and Client Secret) that then acts as a linked **OAuth application user**. The application credentials themselves carry no permissions—that user's roles and ACLs determine what the integration can read or write, exactly as they would for Basic Credentials, but without embedding a username or password in the integration settings.

### 1. Verify the Client Credentials grant type is enabled

In the ServiceNow filter navigator, type `sys_properties.list` and press **Enter**. Search for `glide.oauth.inbound.client.credential.grant_type.enabled` and confirm its value is **true**.

On instances running the Zurich release or later (where the Machine Identity Console is available), this property is typically already set to **true**. If you can see the Machine Identity Console in the navigation, you can skip this step and return here only if token requests fail with `access_denied`.

If the property does not exist, click **New** and create it: set **Name** to `glide.oauth.inbound.client.credential.grant_type.enabled`, **Type** to `true | false`, and **Value** to `true`.

### 2. Create the OAuth integration

Navigate to **All > Machine Identity Console**, then click the **Inbound integrations** tab. Click **New Integration**.

In the **"Select your application connection type"** dialog, select **OAuth - Client credentials grant** ("Used for machine-to-machine access to the application without the user's context").

Fill in the **Details** section:

| Field | Value |
|  --- | --- |
| Name | A descriptive name, for example `Synqly Integration`. |
| Provider name | A label for the external system connecting to ServiceNow, for example `Synqly`. |
| OAuth application user | The service account that should own tokens issued from this integration. This is the key field—the token acts as this user, and that user's roles and ACLs govern all API access. |
| Client ID | Auto-generated. |
| Client secret | Auto-generated. |


In the **Auth scope** section, leave **Auth scope** empty and **uncheck** the **Allow access only to APIs in selected scope** checkbox.

**Unchecking "Allow access only to APIs in selected scope" is required.** When unchecked, access is governed entirely by the **OAuth application user**'s roles and ACLs. If the checkbox is left checked or an Auth scope is added, different ServiceNow REST surfaces require different scopes and will conflict with each other, producing `403: Missing required api access scope` or `403: Access to unscoped api is not allowed` errors.

Click **Save**.

The Client secret is masked after saving. Copy it before clicking Save, or use the copy icon next to the field on the saved record. Store both the Client ID and Client secret securely; you will need them when configuring the integration in Synqly.

### 3. Confirm the Application User

The **OAuth application user** is set directly on the creation form in step 2. Verify that the correct service account is selected before saving.

Do not create a REST API Access Policy that enforces a specific Auth Scope (for example on `table_api_access`) for OAuth traffic. Combining this integration with REST API Access Policies produces `403` scope-conflict errors identical to those described in step 2 above.

### Dependency chain


```
Client ID + Client Secret
        |  (authenticate)
        v
  OAuth Integration Record
        |  (acts as)
        v
   OAuth Application User
        |  (governed by)
        v
   Roles and ACLs
        |
        v
 What the token can read or write
```

The OAuth credentials themselves grant no permissions on their own—they are a key to the door. What is behind that door is defined entirely by the OAuth application user's roles, assigned in the next step below.

### 4. Assign roles to the Application User

Open the Application User you set in step 2 and, in the **Roles** tab, select **Edit...**, and add the `admin` collection. The `admin` role is required for the Vulnerabilities connector to function.

### Configure the integration

**URL**
The root URL of your ServiceNow instance, for example `https://<tenant>.service-now.com/`.

**Client ID**
The Client ID from the Application Registry record.

**Client Secret**
The Client Secret from the Application Registry record.

**Token URL** (optional)
Only set this if your identity provider issues tokens from a URL other than your ServiceNow instance's default OAuth token endpoint.

**OAuth Scopes** (optional)
Leave empty for a Broadly scoped Application Registry (recommended). Only set this if the registry is Securely scoped with explicit Auth Scopes—see the warning in step 2 above.

Basic Credentials
Use basic authentication with the service account you created in the Prerequisites section.

### 1. Set a password

In **All > Organization > Users**, open the service account and set a password. Save the **User ID** and password securely; you will use them in Synqly.

### Configure the integration

**URL**
The root URL of your ServiceNow instance, for example `https://<tenant>.service-now.com/`.

**Username**
The **User ID** of the service account.

**Password**
The password for that user.