Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Guide to Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) Definition and Considerations

Published

Author(s)

Chung Tong Hu, David F. Ferraiolo, David R. Kuhn, Adam Schnitzer, Kenneth Sandlin, Robert Miller, Karen Scarfone

Abstract

This document provides Federal agencies with a definition of attribute based access control (ABAC). ABAC is a logical access control methodology where authorization to perform a set of operations is determined by evaluating attributes associated with the subject, object, requested operations, and, in some cases, environment conditions against policy, rules, or relationships that describe the allowable operations for a given set of attributes. This document also provides considerations for using ABAC to improve information sharing within organizations and between organizations while maintaining control of that information.
Citation
Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-162
Report Number
800-162

Keywords

ABAC, Access Control, Authorization, Privilege, Attributes, Policy.

Citation

, C. , Ferraiolo, D. , Kuhn, D. , Schnitzer, A. , Sandlin, K. , Miller, R. and Scarfone, K. (2014), Guide to Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) Definition and Considerations, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=914795 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created January 16, 2014, Updated April 9, 2020