The schematic protection model

Abstract

The protection state of a system is defined by the privileges possessed by subjects at a given moment. Operations that change this state are themselves authorized by the current state. This poses a design problem in constructing the initial state so that all derivable states conform to a particular policy. It also raises an analysis problem of characterizing the protection states derivable from a given initial state. A protection model provides a framework for both design and analysis. Design generality and tractable analysis are inherently conflicting goals. Analysis is particularly difficult if creation of subjects is permitted. The schematic protection model resolves this conflict by classifying subjects and objects into protection types. The privileges possessed by a subject consist of a type-determined part specified by a static protection scheme and a dynamic part consisting of tickets (capabilities). It is shown that analysis is tractable for this model provided certain restrictions are imposed on subject creation. A scheme authorizes creation of subjects via a binary relation on subject types. Our principal constraint is that this relation be acyclic, excepting loops that authorize a subject to create subjects of its own type. Our assumptions admit a variety of useful systems.

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