ACL User Classification for Security Vulnerability Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large-scale, multi-user computing platforms face challenges in managing lengthy and complicated access control lists (ACLs), which are critical for platform security but often overlooked due to their complexity, making it difficult to identify and address security vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
A software application analyzes ACLs to classify users into a short list of user classes, flags likely security vulnerabilities, and provides this information for display on a graphical user interface, allowing administrators to rapidly address these issues, with the option for the application to automatically modify ACLs to remove vulnerabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ACLs are made comprehensive to control access to hundreds or thousands of computing resources, then platform security is improved, but the complexity and length of ACLs increases making them difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comprehensive ACL into multiple simplified ACLs, each associated with a specific computing resource type (e.g., database tables, files, interfaces). This segmentation reduces the complexity of individual ACLs while maintaining comprehensive security coverage across all resources through the inheritance hierarchy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested ACL structure where simpler ACLs are contained within more comprehensive ACLs. The inheritance hierarchy allows ACLs to be nested within each other, enabling comprehensive security policies to be broken down into manageable layers that can be independently managed and inherited.
2Reliability
If comprehensive ACLs are used to control access to multiple computing resources, then security coverage is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring security vulnerabilities increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the comprehensive ACL into resource-specific simplified ACLs, the patent makes vulnerability detection easier. Each simplified ACL can be independently analyzed for security issues, and the segmentation creates clear boundaries that simplify the measurement of security coverage and vulnerability exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary analysis layer that examines the relationship between simplified ACLs and computing resources. This intermediary layer facilitates the detection and measurement of security vulnerabilities by providing a structured framework for evaluating ACL configurations without requiring analysis of the entire comprehensive ACL at once.
3Measurement precision
If administrators manually review lengthy ACLs to ensure security, then security accuracy is improved, but the time required for review increases
Solution Approach 1:
The simplified ACLs are designed to be self-explanatory and self-validating through their inheritance hierarchy. The structure inherently enforces security policies, reducing the need for manual review while maintaining high security accuracy. The system serves itself by using the simplified ACL structure to automatically determine access rights.
Solution Approach 2:
Segmenting the comprehensive ACL into smaller, resource-specific simplified ACLs reduces the time required for manual review. Administrators can quickly review individual simplified ACLs rather than lengthy comprehensive ACLs, while the inheritance hierarchy ensures that security accuracy is maintained across all resources.
Data Source
AI summary
An example embodiment may involve: obtaining a representation of an access control list (ACL), wherein the ACL includes an entry that defines user capabilities with respect to a computing resource; determining a user class based on the entry and one or more rules, wherein the one or more rules are based on whether the computing resource is a database table for a task-based application, and wherein the one or more rules are based on whether the computing resource is read accessible or write accessible; and providing, for display on a graphical user interface, an indication of the user class.