Broker Service for Selective File Access Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Applications have unrestricted access to file system data, posing a risk for malicious code to harm various file system data, as they can access both intended and unrelated data.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a broker service that manages file system access by registering allowed file types for each application, isolating the application process within a container, and enabling access only to registered file types, thereby preventing direct access to unauthorized data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If applications have unrestricted access to file system data, then applications can access all needed files without permission checks, but malicious code can harm unrelated file system data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a broker service as an intermediary between applications and the file system. The broker service receives file access requests from applications, checks whether the requested file type is in the application's allowed list, and either grants or denies access accordingly. This mediator resolves the contradiction by maintaining ease of operation for legitimate files while blocking malicious access to unrelated data.
2Reliability
If a broker service is introduced to control file access, then security against malicious code is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring application manifests to be registered before the application runs. The manifest specifies the file types the application is allowed to access, and this registration happens in advance during application installation or launch. The broker service uses this pre-registered information to quickly make access decisions, reducing the complexity of real-time security checks while maintaining high reliability.
3Reliability
If applications are isolated in containers, then direct access to unauthorized files is prevented, but application functionality may be restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different applications to have different file type access permissions based on their specific needs. Each application's manifest contains a customized list of allowed file types, creating locally optimized access rights for each application rather than a uniform restriction. This ensures that each application gets exactly the file access capability it needs for its functionality while being restricted from accessing unrelated file types.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for enabling selective file system access by applications. An application is installed in a computing device. An application manifest associated with the application is received. The application manifest indicates one or more file types that the application is allowed to access. The indicated file type(s) are registered in a location accessible by a broker service. The application is launched as an application process. The application process is isolated in an application container. The application container prevents direct access by the application process to file system data. An access request related to first data of the file system data is received at the broker service from the application process. Access by the application process to the first data is enabled when the broker service determines that a file type of the first data is included in the registered file type(s).