Attribute Considerations for Access Control Systems

Published

June 18, 2019

Author(s)

Chung Tong Hu, David F. Ferraiolo, David Kuhn

Abstract

Attribute-based access control systems rely upon attributes to not only define access control policy rules but also enforce the access control. Attributes need to be established, issued, stored, and managed under an authority. Attributes shared across organizations should provide assurance via location, retrieval, publication, validation, update, modification, security, and revocation capabilities. Consequently, all attributes must be established, defined, and constrained by allowable values required by the appropriate digital policies; successful deployment of the schema for these attributes and allowable attribute values must be completed to help enable subject (e.g., consumers) and object (e.g., protected resource/service) owners with policy and relationship development. Once attributes and their allowable values are established, methods for provisioning attributes and appropriate attribute values to subjects and objects within a framework for storing, retrieving, updating, or revoking attributes must also be established. In addition, interfaces and mechanisms must be developed or adopted to enable sharing of these attributes. Finally, to achieve the assurance of attributes, an Attribute Evaluation Scheme, which brings confidence based on the five principal areas of interest, needs to be established:Preparation,Veracity,Security,Readiness, and Management.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-205

Report Number

800-205

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-205

Local Download

Keywords

access control, access control mechanism, access control model, access control policy, attribute considerations, attribute, assurance, attribute-based access control (ABAC), authorization, privilege.

Citation

, C. , Ferraiolo, D. and Kuhn, D. (2019), Attribute Considerations for Access Control Systems, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-205 (Accessed May 9, 2026)

Additional citation formats