Access Control Configuration Analysis Facility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing operating systems lack effective tools to systematically analyze and detect information-flow vulnerabilities in access control configurations, leading to potential security risks due to complex and rigid access control mechanisms that can result in overly permissive settings and privilege escalations.
Innovation Solution
A facility is developed to analyze access control configurations by separating mechanisms and policies, using an augmented relational calculus to identify vulnerabilities through a snapshot of access control metadata, employing an inference engine to compute fixpoints and generate derivation trees that highlight policy violations, and providing readable vulnerability reports.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If low-level access control interfaces are used to query and manipulate metadata, then the system can maintain existing access control mechanisms, but software developers cannot effectively specify information-flow goals and verify their intent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary analysis facility that acts as a mediator between developers and the operating system's access control mechanisms. This facility provides high-level interfaces that translate developer intent into low-level access control configurations, enabling developers to specify information-flow goals without directly managing complex metadata. The intermediary analyzes the desired information flow and automatically generates appropriate access control settings, thereby simplifying the developer experience while maintaining the underlying complex mechanisms.
2Reliability
If complex low-level access control settings are configured manually, then the system can enforce access control policies, but the configuration is error-prone and may not be correctly implemented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the analysis facility perform automated analysis of access control configurations before they are deployed. The facility evaluates the intended information flow policies against the actual access control settings, identifying potential errors and misconfigurations before they can cause security issues. This pre-deployment verification ensures that access control policies are correctly implemented while maintaining ease of configuration through automated checking.
Solution Approach 2:
The analysis facility provides feedback mechanisms that automatically evaluate access control configurations and report violations or potential issues. By continuously monitoring and providing feedback on the correctness of access control settings, the system helps administrators verify that their configurations match their security intentions, thereby improving reliability without increasing operational complexity.
3Reliability
If the protection model is rigid with fixed privileged kernel mode and user mode, then the system can maintain security boundaries, but applications run with more privileges than needed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic privilege management capabilities that allow applications to obtain only the privileges they need at specific times rather than maintaining fixed high-privilege modes. The analysis facility identifies information flow requirements and dynamically adjusts access control settings to grant minimum necessary privileges. This dynamic approach maintains security boundaries while reducing the risk of privilege escalation by ensuring applications run with the least privileged access possible.
4Extent of automation
If implicit access control decisions are made during login, then the system can automate security decisions, but the user's access control permissions are not discernible until login occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The analysis facility performs preliminary analysis of access control configurations before login occurs, generating reports that disclose the implicit access decisions that will be made. This allows administrators and users to understand what access control permissions will be applied before the actual login and automation take place, preventing information loss while maintaining the benefits of automated decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A facility is described for analyzing access control configurations. In various embodiments, the facility comprises an operating system having resources and identifications of principals, the principals having access control privileges relating to the resources, the access control privileges described by access control metadata; an access control scanner component that receives the access control metadata, determines relationships between principals and resources, and emits access control relations information; and an access control inference engine that receives the emitted access control relations information and an access control policy model, analyzes the received information and model, and emits a vulnerability report. In various embodiments, the facility generates an information flow based on access control relations, an access control mechanism model, and an access control policy model; determines, based on the generated information flow, whether privilege escalation is possible; and when privilege escalation is possible, indicates in a vulnerability report that privilege escalation is possible.