Analysis of ANSI RBAC Support in COM+

  • Authors:
  • Wesam Darwish;Konstantin Beznosov

  • Affiliations:
  • University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada;University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Computer Standards & Interfaces
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

We analyze access control mechanisms of the COM+ architecture and define a configuration of the COM+ protection system in more precise and less ambiguous language than the COM+ documentation. Using this configuration, we suggest an algorithm that formally specifies the semantics of authorization decisions in COM+. We analyze the level of support for the American National Standard Institute's (ANSI) specification of role-based access control (RBAC) components and functional specification in COM+. Our results indicate that COM+ falls short of supporting even Core RBAC. The main limitations exist due to the tight integration of the COM+ architecture with the underlying operating system, which prevents support for session management and role activation, as specified in ANSI RBAC.