Secure Message Transfer via Structural Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web service security standards, such as WS-Security and WS-Policy, are vulnerable to XML rewriting attacks due to their complexity and potential misimplementation, which can lead to performance issues and security breaches, particularly in network systems where message integrity and confidentiality are compromised.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to enhance message security by computing and including message structure information within the message itself, which is then signed and validated upon receipt, allowing early detection of attacks and reducing the need for intensive policy-driven validation, thereby protecting message integrity and confidentiality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If web service security standards (WS-Security, WS-Policy) are implemented to provide end-to-end message level security, then message security is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to XML rewriting attacks due to complexity and misimplementation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the security validation process into two distinct phases: (1) structural validation of the SOAP message envelope, headers, and body elements, and (2) policy-driven security validation. This segmentation allows the system to validate message structure independently before applying complex security policies, reducing the attack surface for XML rewriting attacks while maintaining comprehensive security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary structural validation of the SOAP message before applying policy-driven security checks. By validating the message structure upfront (checking envelope, headers, body elements conform to expected schemas), the system prevents malformed or malicious messages from proceeding to intensive security validation, thereby improving overall system efficiency and reducing vulnerability to certain classes of attacks.
2Reliability
If web service security standards are implemented with added XML security elements, then message integrity and confidentiality are improved, but network bandwidth consumption and CPU cycles increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial validation by performing structural checks on only the essential components of the SOAP message (envelope, critical headers, body elements) before applying full policy-driven security validation. This partial action approach validates sufficient message structure to detect obvious tampering without incurring the full computational cost of comprehensive security validation on every message, thereby reducing CPU cycle consumption while maintaining message integrity.
3Reliability
If comprehensive policy-driven security validation is performed on all messages, then security is improved, but processing time and system performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments validation into lightweight structural validation (performed on all messages) and intensive policy-driven security validation (performed selectively). The structural validation phase quickly checks message envelope, headers, and body conformity to expected schemas, filtering out obviously malformed messages before they consume resources in the full security validation pipeline, thereby improving overall processing throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary structural validation as a gatekeeping step before committing resources to comprehensive policy-driven security validation. By pre-validating message structure against known schemas and formats, the system eliminates obviously invalid messages early, reducing the volume of messages requiring intensive security processing and thereby improving overall system productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Secure message transfer of at least one message from a sender to a receiver within a network system may be provided. For example, a message structure information regarding the at least one message may be computed on a sender-side and according to a pre-given scheme. The computed message structure information may be added as message account information into the at least one message to be sent. The message account information may be protected by a signature. The at least one message may be transferred through the network system to the receiver. On a receiver-side, the message account information may be validated after reception of the at least one message and according to the pre-given scheme.