diff --git a/src/saml2/assertion.py b/src/saml2/assertion.py
index 4c0ab1511..69d54e9cd 100644
--- a/src/saml2/assertion.py
+++ b/src/saml2/assertion.py
@@ -488,6 +488,38 @@ def not_on_or_after(self, sp_entity_id):
 
         return in_a_while(**self.get_lifetime(sp_entity_id))
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _subject_id_or_pairwise_id(
+        ava,
+        required,
+    ):
+        """
+        If both subject-id and pairwise-id are present in required attributes, check if both are present in
+        available attributes and if so default to pairwise-id only.
+        """
+        if required is None:
+            return ava, None
+
+        # check if both subject-id and pairwise-id are in required attributes
+        subject_id = None
+        pairwise_id = None
+        for item in required:
+            if item["name"] == "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:attribute:subject-id":
+                subject_id = item
+            if item["name"] == "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:attribute:pairwise-id":
+                pairwise_id = item
+
+        # if both are in required attributes, check if both are in available attributes and if so remove subject-id
+        # from required attributes and ava
+        if subject_id and pairwise_id:
+            if all(
+                [friendly_name in ava for friendly_name in [subject_id["friendly_name"], pairwise_id["friendly_name"]]]
+            ):
+                required.pop(required.index(subject_id))
+                ava.pop(subject_id["friendly_name"])
+
+        return ava, required
+
     def filter(self, ava, sp_entity_id, mdstore=None, required=None, optional=None):
         """What attribute and attribute values returns depends on what
         the SP or the registration authority has said it wants in the request
@@ -518,6 +550,10 @@ def filter(self, ava, sp_entity_id, mdstore=None, required=None, optional=None):
 
         subject_ava = ava.copy()
 
+        # make sure we don't assert both subject-id and pairwise-id if subject-id requirement is "any"
+        if self.metadata_store and self.metadata_store.subject_id_requirement_type(sp_entity_id) == "any":
+            subject_ava, required = self._subject_id_or_pairwise_id(subject_ava, required)
+
         # entity category restrictions
         _ent_rest = self.get_entity_categories(sp_entity_id, mds=mdstore, required=required)
         if _ent_rest:
diff --git a/src/saml2/mdstore.py b/src/saml2/mdstore.py
index 2ea9742f0..3b780298f 100644
--- a/src/saml2/mdstore.py
+++ b/src/saml2/mdstore.py
@@ -1304,14 +1304,17 @@ def attribute_requirement(self, entity_id, index=None):
             if entity_id in md_source:
                 return md_source.attribute_requirement(entity_id, index)
 
-    def subject_id_requirement(self, entity_id):
+    def subject_id_requirement_type(self, entity_id):
         try:
             entity_attributes = self.entity_attributes(entity_id)
         except KeyError:
-            return []
+            return ""
 
         subject_id_reqs = entity_attributes.get("urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:profiles:subject-id:req") or []
-        subject_id_req = next(iter(subject_id_reqs), None)
+        return next(iter(subject_id_reqs), None)
+
+    def subject_id_requirement(self, entity_id):
+        subject_id_req = self.subject_id_requirement_type(entity_id)
         if subject_id_req == "any":
             return [
                 {
diff --git a/tests/test_37_entity_categories.py b/tests/test_37_entity_categories.py
index 894b03cf3..49c959b52 100644
--- a/tests/test_37_entity_categories.py
+++ b/tests/test_37_entity_categories.py
@@ -400,3 +400,39 @@ def test_filter_ava_refeds_personalized_access():
     assert _eq(ava["eduPersonScopedAffiliation"], ["student@example.com"])
     assert _eq(ava["eduPersonAssurance"], ["http://www.swamid.se/policy/assurance/al1"])
     assert _eq(ava["schacHomeOrganization"], ["example.com"])
+
+
+def test_filter_subject_id_or_pairwise_id():
+    entity_id = "https://esi-coco.example.edu/saml2/metadata/"
+    mds = MetadataStore(ATTRCONV, sec_config, disable_ssl_certificate_validation=True)
+    mds.imp([{"class": "saml2.mdstore.MetaDataFile", "metadata": [(full_path("entity_esi_and_coco_sp.xml"),)]}])
+
+    policy_conf = {"default": {"lifetime": {"minutes": 15}, "entity_categories": ["swamid"]}}
+
+    policy = Policy(policy_conf, mds)
+
+    ava = {
+        "subject-id": ["subject-id"],
+        "pairwise-id": ["pairwise-id"],
+    }
+
+    required_attributes = [
+        {
+            "__class__": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata&RequestedAttribute",
+            "name": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:attribute:pairwise-id",
+            "name_format": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri",
+            "friendly_name": "pairwise-id",
+            "is_required": "true",
+        },
+        {
+            "__class__": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata&RequestedAttribute",
+            "name": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:attribute:subject-id",
+            "name_format": "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri",
+            "friendly_name": "subject-id",
+            "is_required": "true",
+        },
+    ]
+
+    ava = policy.filter(ava, entity_id, required=required_attributes)
+
+    assert _eq(list(ava.keys()), ["pairwise-id"])