# Authentication failure via ActiveDirectory ServicePrincipal

**URL:** <https://forum.liquibase.org/t/authentication-failure-via-activedirectory-serviceprincipal/10853>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [April 10, 2026, 11:22am UTC](https://forum.liquibase.org/t/authentication-failure-via-activedirectory-serviceprincipal/10853 "2026-04-10T11:22:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![icobarrubias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@icobarrubias](https://forum.liquibase.org/u/icobarrubias)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 11:22am UTC](https://forum.liquibase.org/t/authentication-failure-via-activedirectory-serviceprincipal/10853/1 "2026-04-10T11:22:42Z")

</div>

I’m running Liquibase database migrations against **Azure SQL** in a GitHub Actions pipeline, authenticating as an **Azure Service Principal** (already logged in via `azure/login@v2`). I want to avoid storing SQL username/password credentials and use Azure AD authentication instead.

Liquibase version: 4.32.0 (community, via `liquibase/setup-liquibase@v2`)

JDBC URL:

`jdbc:sqlserver://.server.net:1433;`  
`databaseName=;`  
`encrypt=true;`  
`hostNameInCertificate=*.server.net;`  
`authentication=ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal;`  
`loginTimeout=30`

Credentials passed as:

- `--username` = Azure SP Client ID (`appId`)
- `--password` = Azure SP Client Secret

Workflow:

```auto
- name: Run Liquibase Update
  env:
    LB_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
    LB_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET }}
  run: |
    liquibase \
      --url="${DB_URL}" \
      --username="$LB_USERNAME" \
      --password="$LB_PASSWORD" \
      --changeLogFile="changelog-master.yml" \
      update

```

Error:

`ERROR: Exception Primary Class: SQLServerException`  
`ERROR: Exception Primary Reason: Failed to load MSAL4J Java library for`  
`performing ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal authentication.`  
`ERROR: Exception Primary Source: 5.0.0`  
`Unexpected error running Liquibase: Connection could not be created to`  
`jdbc:sqlserver://.server.net:1433;databaseName=;`  
`encrypt=true;hostNameInCertificate=*.database.windows.net;`  
`authentication=ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal;loginTimeout=30`  
`with driver com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver.`  
`Failed to load MSAL4J Java library for performing`  
`ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal authentication.`

Has anyone successfully connected Liquibase CLI to Azure SQL using Service Principal auth in GitHub Actions?