NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.
Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.
An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
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.
The Computational Complexity of Enforceability Validation for Generic Access Control Rules
Published
Author(s)
Chung Tong Hu, David R. Kuhn, David F. Ferraiolo
Abstract
In computer security, many researches have tackled on the possibility of a unified model of access control, which could enforce any access control policies within a single unified system. One issue that must be considered is the efficiency of such systems, i.e., what is the computational complexity for the enforceability validation of access control rules of a system that is capable of implementing any access control policy? We investigate this question by arguing that two fundamental requirements exist for any such system: satisfiability of access rules and ensuring absence of deadlock among rules. We then show that both of these problems are NP-Complete by using some basic computational theorems applied to the components of the generic access control process.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous, and Trustworthy Computing -Vol 1 (SUTC'06) - Volume 01
, C.
, Kuhn, D.
and Ferraiolo, D.
(2006),
The Computational Complexity of Enforceability Validation for Generic Access Control Rules, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous, and Trustworthy Computing -Vol 1 (SUTC'06) - Volume 01, Taichung, , [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50452
(Accessed October 2, 2025)