Role-Based Access Control Lists for Network Security Group Propagation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Access Control Lists (ACLs) in network security are inflexible and resource-intensive, requiring frequent updates and recompilation, leading to increased complexity and the risk of network outages due to changes in network topology, and often apply security policies too late in the network traversal, causing unnecessary traffic and administrative burdens.
Innovation Solution
Implementing Role-Based Access Control Lists (RBACLs) that move the point of access control closer to the ingress node, using security groups to enforce permissions based on roles, reducing network traffic and allowing for scalable and dynamic network management without additional hardware or topology changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional ACLs are used to enforce security policies, then security control is achieved, but the complexity of ACL management increases dramatically and processing costs approach quadratic growth with the number of users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the security policy enforcement into two parts: (1) Security Group Tags (SGTs) are assigned to users and groups at the authentication server, and (2) Role-Based Access Control Lists (RBACLs) are distributed to network devices. This segmentation allows the complex policy logic to be separated from the forwarding path, reducing ACL management complexity while maintaining security control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces Security Group Tags (SGTs) as an intermediary mechanism between user authentication and ACL enforcement. Instead of directly mapping user IP addresses to ACL rules, SGTs serve as intermediate identifiers that simplify the matching process and reduce the number of ACL entries needed, thereby reducing management complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If ACLs are updated frequently to accommodate network topology changes, then security policy adaptability improves, but network outages and security holes increase due to recompilation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-computing and distributing RBACL rules to network devices before topology changes occur. When a user authenticates, their SGT is assigned in advance, and the corresponding RBACL rules are prepared and distributed to relevant network devices beforehand. This eliminates the need for frequent ACL recompilation during topology changes, maintaining network stability while preserving adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic SGT assignment that adapts to network topology changes without requiring ACL recompilation. Users are dynamically assigned SGTs based on their authentication and current network position, allowing the system to adapt to topology changes while RBACL rules remain stable on network devices, thus preventing network outages.
3Reliability
If ACLs are applied at the egress node, then security enforcement is achieved, but unnecessary network traffic is generated as packets traverse the core network only to be discarded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables preliminary security enforcement by distributing RBACL rules to ingress network devices and core routers in advance. These devices can perform security filtering at the ingress point or early in the network path, discarding unauthorized packets before they traverse the core network. This preliminary action eliminates unnecessary traffic while maintaining security enforcement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the dimensional approach to security enforcement from a single point (egress node) to multiple dimensions by enabling RBACL processing at multiple network locations (ingress devices, core routers, egress devices). This multi-dimensional enforcement allows early packet filtering while maintaining the flexibility of centralized policy management.
4Ease of operation
If individual IP addresses are tracked in ACLs, then user-specific security control is achieved, but the size of ACLs increases dramatically multiplying source addresses by destination addresses by permissions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual user ACL entries into consolidated RBACL rules by grouping users into Security Groups. Instead of creating separate ACL entries for each user-destination-permission combination, users are assigned SGTs based on their group memberships, and a single RBACL rule can control access for multiple users simultaneously. This merging dramatically reduces ACL size while maintaining user-specific security control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes RBACL rules universal by designing them to work with multiple users, destinations, and permissions simultaneously through SGT-based matching. A single RBACL rule can apply to all users in a security group accessing multiple destinations with various permissions, eliminating the need for numerous individual ACL entries and reducing ACL size while preserving granular control.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for best effort propagation of security group information is disclosed. The method includes determining if a reserved group identifier is associated with a destination and, if the reserved group identifier is associated with the destination, indicating that a packet received at a network node can be sent to another network node. The packet includes destination information that identifies the destination as a destination of the packet.