Stacked Resource Principal Identities for Cross-Tenancy Security
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing approaches for enabling resources in different cloud service provider tenancies to access each other require exposing resource principal identities, compromising security and complicating policy management.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows a resource in one tenancy to access resources in another tenancy using the resource principal identity of its higher-level resource, eliminating the need for cross-tenancy policies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cross-tenancy policies are used to enable resource access between tenancies, then resource accessibility is improved, but security is compromised and policy complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces resource principal identities as intermediaries that enable cross-tenancy resource access without requiring direct policy statements between tenancies. The control plane acts as a mediator that validates resource principal identities and facilitates access requests, eliminating the need for administrators to expose internal resource identities or write complex cross-tenancy policies. This intermediary mechanism maintains security by keeping tenancy boundaries intact while enabling necessary resource access.
2Adaptability or versatility
If cross-tenancy policies are used to enable resource access between tenancies, then resource accessibility is improved, but policy management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Resource principal identities serve as intermediaries that abstract away the complexity of cross-tenancy policy management. Instead of requiring administrators to write and manage complex policy statements that explicitly define resource access rules between tenancies, the system automatically handles access validation through resource principal identities. The control plane manages the complexity behind the scenes, presenting a simplified interface to administrators.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service resource access by allowing resources to automatically obtain and use resource principal identities for cross-tenancy access. Resources can independently authenticate and access other tenancy resources without requiring manual policy configuration or administrator intervention for each access scenario. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex policy management while maintaining security and access control.
3Adaptability or versatility
If resource principal identities are exposed to enable cross-tenancy access, then resource accessibility is improved, but security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Resource principal identities act as secure intermediaries that enable cross-tenancy resource access without exposing internal resource identities. The control plane validates resource principal identities and facilitates access requests while maintaining tenancy isolation. This intermediary mechanism allows resources to access necessary resources in other tenancies without administrators needing to expose or manage internal resource identity details, thereby maintaining security while enabling accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is disclosed that provides the ability for a resource residing in one tenancy of a cloud service provider infrastructure (CSPI) to use the identity of a higher-level resource upon which the resource is built to access other resources residing in another tenancy of the CSPI. The system obtains a first identity associated with the first resource that is provisioned in a first tenancy of the CSPI and obtains a first token for the first resource. The system executes instructions to obtain a second identity associated with a second resource upon which the first resource is built. The second resource resides in a second tenancy of the CSPI. The system obtains a second identity associated with the second resource and obtains a second token for the first resource. The first resource uses the second token to access resources that reside in the second tenancy of the CSPI.