MFA QR Code Not Displaying During Setup

[Sirri]

Hi everyone,

I'm facing an issue while setting up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

When I open the MFA enrollment page, the QR code is not displayed (the QR code area is blank). Because of this, I'm unable to scan it using my authenticator app and complete the MFA registration.

What I've tried:

• Refreshed the page
• Tried a different browser
• Cleared browser cache
• Tried an Incognito/Private window

The issue still persists.

Has anyone encountered this problem before? Is there a known issue or any alternative way to complete the MFA setup when the QR code is not displayed?

I've attached a screenshot for reference.

[yashkamde]

Hello @Sirri ,

Did you already setup your account on Authenticator app?

[Sirri]

@yashkamde 
Yes, initially I was able to set up the authenticator successfully and it worked fine. However, due to some issues with the authenticator app, I had to uninstall and reinstall it. Before uninstalling, I was logged into the instance, and afterwards I updated the user_multifactor_auth table for the user by setting the validated field to false.

Even after making that change, I’m still unable to get the QR code to appear on the enrollment page.

Thank you for your guidance on this — please let me know if there are any additional steps I should take.

[yashkamde]

Okay But As far as I know, since the Authenticator app was reinstalled, the existing authenticator setup may no longer be available. In that case, you would need to either recover the existing authenticator setup or somehow access the PDI and temporarily disable MFA to complete the enrollment again.

Additionally the MFA policy also needs to be deactivated in the Multi Factor Authentication >  MFA Context so that you can access the instance and complete the authenticator enrollment again.

If my response helped mark as helpful and accept the solution.

[Sirri]

I had previously attempted to disable MFA through the Properties section; however, I was unable to complete the change at that time due to a security-related error in the ServiceNow Australia instance.

As a result, the required changes could not be made. Currently, I am locked out of the application, and whenever I try to log in, I encounter the same issue.

Kindly assist in resolving this issue and advise on the next steps.

[Ambuj Tripathi]

Hi @Sirri 

There can be multiple reasons for this issue, but I have seen these two frequent reasons for this failure -

1: Your instance doesn't have KMF setup done properly, which is why the TOTP secret generation may be failing.

2: The supporting CCSI (Client Callable script include) may be missing or misconfigured - 

GlideMultifactorAuthenticator

This is required to fetch the QR code content - GlideMultifactorAuthenticator.loadPopupContent().

Apart from these two possible reasons, which you can validate by enabling the browser debug logs and open the browser console to see what's breaking on the client side. At the same time, check in the system logs to identify what's failing in the backend.

The workaround for this can be that you can try to select any other MFA factor and complete the setup if other factors are available. And once you are able to login, then navigate to your own user profile and try configuring MFA from there.