Security Context Dependency Analysis via Tracing and Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The widespread use of administrative privileges by users increases the vulnerability of computing devices to security threats, as many applications require elevated access rights unnecessarily, leading to inefficiencies and increased troubleshooting time, and existing methods for investigating security context dependencies are time-consuming and limited.
Innovation Solution
The techniques involve monitoring and analyzing security checks to identify dependencies on a given security context by re-submitting access and privilege checks with modified security identifiers and privileges, logging events, and intercepting checks to determine causes of incompatibilities, allowing for efficient identification of required access rights and privileges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users run applications with administrative privileges to ensure access to all files and resources, then application compatibility and access capability are improved, but system security vulnerability increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the security context analysis into two distinct execution phases: a tracing phase that monitors and logs security checks with elevated rights, and a validation phase that verifies findings by running the application with reduced rights. This segmentation allows systematic identification of which specific security checks fail without administrative privileges, enabling targeted resolution rather than blanket privilege elevation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary analysis by executing the application in a tracing phase with administrative privileges to identify all security checks that succeed with elevated rights. This preliminary identification creates a baseline knowledge base of required security contexts, which is then used in the validation phase to determine the minimum necessary privileges, thereby avoiding unnecessary administrative rights in production.
2Measurement precision
If conventional methods like setting breakpoints and stepping through code are used to investigate application dependencies on security context, then detailed analysis capability is improved, but time consumption and operational complexity increase prohibitively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by having the application monitor and log its own security checks automatically during execution. The tracing module intercepts security checks generated by the application and logs them with detailed information about the security context required. This automated self-monitoring eliminates the need for manual breakpoint setting and code stepping, dramatically reducing investigation time while maintaining precise dependency identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a tracing module as an intermediary between the application and the security subsystem. This intermediary automatically captures security checks, logs them with relevant context information, and facilitates analysis without requiring direct manual intervention in the application code. The intermediary handles the complexity of security context monitoring, making the process accessible to IT personnel and third-party developers who lack source code access.
3Reliability
If file tracing and registry tracing are used to monitor access to secured computer objects, then access monitoring capability is improved, but the scope of detection and overall efficiency remain limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal tracing mechanism that handles multiple types of security checks through a single integrated framework. The tracing module can monitor file system access, registry access, and other secured object access uniformly by intercepting security checks at the subsystem level. This multi-functional approach expands detection scope beyond what specialized file or registry tracers can achieve individually, while maintaining reliable monitoring through consistent logging of all security check outcomes.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for identifying dependencies of an application upon a given security context includes monitoring security checks generated by the application. The security checks requiring elevated rights are identified and the state of execution of the application corresponding to the identified security checks may be logged. The security checks requiring elevated rights may be identified by monitoring access checks, monitoring privilege checks, checking user/group identifiers against a list of known identifiers associated with elevated rights, or the like.