MFA Re-Login Behavior Issue after logout on ServiceNow Customer Portal

ajaybonsray — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:06:14 GMT

Hello Team,

We have enabled user-based MFA for external customer users.

Step-Up MFA Policy- Enforce MFA for non-SSO logins

In the Multi-Factor Authentication properties, the following options are set to Yes:

Enable Email OTP for Multi-Factor Authentication
Enable enhanced MFA setup UI to allow users to configure factors independently

During testing in the Dev environment, the test user is prompted to configure MFA using both Authenticator App and Email OTP, and login works successfully with either method.

However, after the user logs out of the customer portal and attempts to log in again, the following message is displayed for both methods:

“Your account requires Multi-factor authentication. Please enter the 6-digit code generated by the authenticator app on your mobile device.”

Screenshot is also attached for your reference.

Even when MFA is unchecked on the user record, and all entries are deleted from User Multifactor Authentications, the user is again prompted to set up MFA with both App and Email on next login — but the same message appears after logout and re-login.

This behavior is consistent:

In a fresh browser window
In a different browser

Note: Email OTP is retrieved from logs, as email sending is restricted in the Dev environment.

Could you please review and advise on this MFA login behavior and suggest if we missed anything or any change required in MFA Policy?

Best regards,
Ajay Bonsray

question MFA Re-Login Behavior Issue after logout on ServiceNow Customer Portal in Community Central forum

MFA Re-Login Behavior Issue after logout on ServiceNow Customer Portal