A Comparison of Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) Standards for Data Service Applications

Published

October 3, 2016

Author(s)

David Ferraiolo, Ramaswamy Chandramouli, Chung Tong Hu, David Kuhn

Abstract

Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) and Next Generation Access Control (NGAC) are very different attribute based access control (ABAC) standards with similar goals and objectives. An objective of both is to provide a standardized way for expressing and enforcing vastly diverse access control policies on various types of data services. However, the two standards differ with respect to the manner in which access control policies are specified and implemented. This document describes XACML and NGAC, and then compares them with respect to five criteria. The goal of this publication is to help ABAC users and vendors make informed decisions when addressing future data service policy enforcement requirements.

Citation

Special Publication (NIST SP) - 800-178

Report Number

800-178

NIST Pub Series

Special Publication (NIST SP)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-178

Local Download

Keywords

access control, access control mechanism, access control model, access control policy, attribute based access control (ABAC), authorization, Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), Next Generation Access Control (NGAC), privilege

Citation

Ferraiolo, D. , Chandramouli, R. , Hu, C. and Kuhn, D. (2016), A Comparison of Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) Standards for Data Service Applications, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-178, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921235 (Accessed May 10, 2026)

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