Serverless Function Role Privilege Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cybersecurity solutions are inadequate for protecting serverless functions from vulnerabilities and attacks, as they are designed to protect servers and infrastructure rather than addressing the specific threats to code and data in cloud-based function-as-a-service platforms.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a vulnerability scanner that analyzes serverless functions to identify strict security permissions and vulnerabilities, generates a security policy, and applies it to prevent overly privileged roles and insecure configurations, alerting developers and preventing deployment or execution when issues are detected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If current cybersecurity solutions are used to protect serverless functions, then infrastructure protection is provided, but vulnerabilities in serverless code and data remain unaddressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the focus of security analysis from infrastructure parameters to code and data parameters specific to serverless functions. The system analyzes function code, dependencies, and data access patterns to identify vulnerabilities tailored to the serverless execution model, rather than applying traditional infrastructure-based security parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a specialized security analysis system that acts as an intermediary between traditional cybersecurity solutions and serverless functions. This intermediary component bridges the gap by translating general security concerns into serverless-specific vulnerability assessments, making existing security capabilities applicable to new serverless architectures.
2Reliability
If comprehensive security analysis is performed on serverless functions, then security coverage is improved, but analysis time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs security analysis during the deployment phase before the function is executed in production. By conducting vulnerability scanning, dependency analysis, and data access pattern evaluation beforehand, the system ensures comprehensive security coverage without adding time overhead to the actual function execution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the security analysis into distinct segments: function code analysis, dependency vulnerability scanning, and data access pattern evaluation. This segmentation allows each aspect to be analyzed independently and efficiently, reducing overall analysis complexity while maintaining comprehensive coverage.
3Reliability
If security policies are applied to prevent overly privileged roles, then security is improved, but deployment flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated security policy generation that analyzes the function's actual requirements and creates appropriately scoped permissions automatically. This self-service approach eliminates the need for manual security policy configuration, maintaining deployment ease while ensuring security through precisely tailored least-privilege permissions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts security policy parameters based on the specific function's needs rather than applying fixed, restrictive policies. By changing the granularity and scope of permissions to match actual function requirements, the system maintains both high security and deployment flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
Based on analyzing a serverless function associated with a first role, a set of security permissions granted to the serverless function is identified based on the first role and a first attribute of the serverless function. A least privilege role indicating a set of least privilege security permissions for the serverless function is generated based, at least in part, on the first attribute. Based on comparing the least privilege role with the first role, it is determined if the set of security permissions granted to the serverless function is more permissive than the set of least privilege security permissions. Based on determining that the set of security permissions granted to the serverless function is more permissive than the set of least privilege security permissions, the first role is reported as over-permissive.