Fine-Grained API Privilege Elevation for Lower Windows Attack Surface

The patent segments the previously monolithic administrator rights into fine-grained permission sets. Instead of elevating processes to full administrator rights, the system divides administrative capabilities into discrete permissions that can be selectively granted to individual processes based on their specific needs, thereby maintaining necessary functionality while reducing the attack surface.

The patent applies local quality by granting different permission levels to different processes based on their specific requirements. Rather than uniformly elevating all processes to full administrator rights, the system tailors permission grants to each process's actual needs, ensuring minimal necessary privileges are assigned locally to each process context.

The patent transforms the static, coarse-grained elevation model into a dynamic system where permissions can be selectively granted and revoked based on real-time process behavior and policy evaluation. The system dynamically adjusts permission levels for individual processes rather than using fixed elevation states, enabling fine-grained security control while maintaining implementation feasibility through automated policy enforcement.

The patent changes the parameter of permission granularity from coarse (full administrator rights or none) to fine (individual permission bits). By modifying the permission parameter structure to allow selective granting of specific administrative capabilities, the system achieves precise security control without sacrificing ease of implementation, as the underlying mechanism builds upon existing operating system permission infrastructure.

The patent applies partial action by inspecting and controlling only those Win32 API function calls that are relevant to administrative operations, rather than uniformly inspecting all function calls. The system selectively applies security evaluation to specific API categories based on their security sensitivity, reducing the overall inspection burden while maintaining security control where necessary.

The patent introduces an intermediary layer (the permission evaluation mechanism) that sits between application processes and the operating system kernel. This intermediary selectively intercepts and evaluates only the necessary API calls related to administrative operations, allowing normal system operations to proceed without excessive inspection overhead while maintaining security control for critical functions.