Implementation of permission system based on RBAC

One: Story Background

Recently, we need to deploy an independent permission management system for our project. What is considered is to directly use open source permission projects, directly use open source projects and modify them, and combine them with our projects to achieve permission control. In the process of selecting projects, I learned the related concepts of RBAC. Today, I will summarize what RBAC is and how to implement the authority control system through RBAC.

Two: What is RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

2.1 Concept

• RBAC is an acronym for Role-Based Access Control. It is an access control model for managing and controlling user access rights in a system.

• In the RBAC model, access rights are granted through roles. Each role is assigned to one or more users, and each role has specific permissions and access levels. By associating permissions with roles, you can simplify permissions management and easily make changes to users' permissions when needed.

• The core idea of ​​RBAC is to directly associate the authorization of permissions from users to roles, thereby improving system security and management flexibility. By using RBAC, users and permissions in large systems can be better organized and managed, enabling administrators to better control user access to resources.

2.2 Key components

Key components of the RBAC model include the following elements:

1. Roles: defines a set of related permissions, such as administrators, users, auditors, etc. Each role represents specific job responsibilities or access needs.
2. Permissions: Indicates operations that can be performed or resources that can be accessed. Permissions can be system-level or access to specific functions or data.
3. Users: Individual users in the system are assigned to one or more roles.
4. Authorization: Associate roles with permissions and assign roles to users. The authorization process determines the user's access rights in the system.

By using RBAC, organizations can implement fine-grained access control, ensuring that users can only access the resources they need, and improving system security and manageability

2.3 Three well-known principles of RBAC

RBAC supports three well-known security principles: the principle of least privilege, the principle of separation of duties, and the principle of data abstraction.

2.3.1 Least privilege

The reason why it is supported by RBAC is that RBAC can configure its role as the minimum set of permissions required to complete its tasks.

2.3.2 Classification of Responsibilities

It can be reflected by invoking mutually independent and mutually exclusive roles to jointly complete sensitive tasks, such as requiring a bookkeeper and financial administrator to participate in the same posting.

2.3.3 Data abstraction

It can be reflected by the abstraction of permissions, such as abstract permissions such as borrowing and deposits for financial operations, instead of the typical read, write, and execute permissions provided by the operating system. However, these principles must be reflected through the detailed configuration of each component of RBAC.

2.4 Five types of RBAC

RBAC (Role Based Access Control) can be divided into the following types:

1. Basic RBAC (Basic RBAC): The basic RBAC model defines the basic relationship between roles, permissions, and users. Each role is granted a set of permissions, and users are assigned to one or more roles. This is the simplest and most common type of RBAC.

2. Static RBAC (Static RBAC): In the static RBAC model, the relationship between roles and permissions is fixed and does not change with time or context. Once the association of roles and permissions is defined, they remain unchanged in the system.

3. Dynamic RBAC (Dynamic RBAC): In the dynamic RBAC model, the relationship between roles and permissions is variable. This means that at runtime, administrators can add, remove, or modify associations of roles and permissions as needed. This flexibility allows for dynamic rights management as the system adapts to changing needs and contexts.

4. Inherited RBAC (Hierarchical RBAC): In the inherited RBAC model, there can be an inheritance relationship between roles. A role can inherit the permissions of another role and can assign its own permissions to other roles. This hierarchy simplifies rights management and makes relationships between roles more flexible.

5. Condition-based RBAC (Constraint-Based RBAC): The condition-based RBAC model allows the introduction of conditions or constraints in the authorization process. These conditions can be time constraints, location constraints, data range, etc. By introducing conditions, user access to resources can be controlled at a more granular level.

2.5 Graphic representation

Through a diagram to reflect the concept of RBAC. Different role types grant different specific permissions, and for specific users, it is sufficient to assign specific permissions to specific users. When a user's role changes, its permissions change accordingly.

Three: The advantages and disadvantages of RBAC

Using RBAC will have corresponding advantages and disadvantages. Here, the advantages and disadvantages of corresponding RBAC are summarized in the form of a table:

advantage	shortcoming
Centralized role management simplifies authority management	The configuration is complex and requires careful planning and management of the association of roles and permissions
Improve security and reduce false authorization	Implementing and maintaining RBAC requires certain technical and administrative resources
Simplify user management and reduce administrative workload	Requires additional overhead to define and maintain relationships between roles, permissions, and users
Flexibility and scalability, enabling rapid adaptation to change	Assignments of roles and authorities need to be regularly evaluated and updated to accommodate organizational change and growth
Reduce risks and avoid administrators authorizing excessive permissions	Misuse of roles and permissions can lead to security breaches and data breaches
Provides auditing and traceability, recording user activity and permission changes	When implementing complex authorization policies, additional extensions and customizations may be required
Support compliance requirements to meet regulatory and legal requirements	Users may be limited to certain operations or resources, which may affect business processes and flexibility

Four: Realize the permission system through RBAC

If you want to implement a permission system through RBAC, you need to pay attention to the following main aspects:

1. Determine the roles : First of all, it is necessary to understand which roles are needed in the system, and how the roles and users' responsibilities and functions correspond. For example, a blog site may have various roles such as administrator, author, and reader.
2. Determine Permissions : Define the corresponding permissions for each role. Permissions refer to actions that can be performed or resources that can be accessed. For example, administrators might have permissions to create, edit, and delete articles, while authors only have permission to edit and publish articles.
3. Assign roles : Assign users to appropriate roles. This can be determined by the user's job title, department, or other identification. For example, a new user might be assigned the reader role, while a manager might be assigned the administrator role.
4. Design a role hierarchy : If you have multiple roles in your system and there is an inheritance relationship between these roles, you can design a role hierarchy. This simplifies the management of permissions. For example, a high-level role might inherit all the permissions of a low-level role, with additional permissions.
5. Define access control policies : determine who can access which resources and perform what actions. This is accomplished by assigning each role a specific set of permissions. For example, an administrator can access all articles and manage them, while a reader can only access and read articles.
6. Implementation and Management : Apply RBAC design to your system and ensure that appropriate permissions and access control policies are enforced. Ensure that the process of assigning and changing permissions is secure, and regularly review and update roles and permissions.

Five: Summary & Improvement

This article gives the relevant concepts of RBAC and the corresponding key components. Introduced the principles of RBAC and the 5 basic types, and expressed how RBAC should exist in the system through the diagram. After introducing the basic concepts, the advantages and disadvantages of RBAC are analyzed, and then the important process of RBAC to realize the permission system is described. I hope that through this blog, readers can fully understand what RBAC is. Through the understanding of the concept, it can be combined with reality, used in projects, or in the process of opening up!