A policy describes the conditions under which an action is permitted or forbidden. We show that a fragment of (multi-sorted) first-order logic can be used to represent and reason about policies. Because we use first-order logic, policies have a clear syntax and semantics. We show that further restricting the fragment results in a language that is still quite expressive yet is also tractable. More precisely, questions about entailment, such as `May Alice access the file?', can be answered in time that is a low-order polynomial (indeed, almost linear in some cases), as can questions about the consistency of policy sets. We also give a brief overview of a prototype that we have built whose reasoning engine is based on the logic and whose interface is designed for non-logicians, allowing them to enter both policies and background information, such as `Alice is a student', and to ask questions about the policies.

Abstract. Access-control policies have grown from simple matrices to non-trivial specifications written in sophisticated languages. The increasing complexity of these policies demands correspondingly strong automated reasoning techniques for understanding and debugging them. The need for these techniques is even more pressing given the rich and dynamic nature of the environments in which these policies evaluate. We define a framework to represent the behavior of accesscontrol policies in a dynamic environment. We then specify several interesting, decidable analyses using first-order temporal logic. Our work illustrates the subtle interplay between logical and state-based methods, particularly in the presence of three-valued policies. We also define a notion of policy equivalence that is especially useful for modular reasoning. 1

Proof-Carrying Code (PCC) and other applications in computer security require machine-checkable proofs of properties of machine-language programs. The main advantage of the PCC approach is that the amount of code that must be explicitly trusted is very small: it consists of the logic in which predicates and proofs are expressed, the safety predicate, and the proof checker. We have built a minimal proof checker, and we explain its design principles, and the representation issues of the logic, safety predicate, and safety proofs. We show that the trusted computing base (TCB) in such a system can indeed be very small. In our current system the TCB is less than 2,700 lines of code (an order of magnitude smaller even than other PCC systems) which adds to our confidence of its correctness.

XrML is becoming a popular language in industry for writing software licenses. The semantics for XrML is implicitly given by an algorithm that determines if a permission follows from a set of licenses. We focus on a fragment of the language and use it to highlight some problematic aspects of the algorithm. We then correct the problems, introduce formal semantics, and show that our semantics captures the (corrected) algorithm. Next, we consider the complexity of determining if a permission is implied by a set of XrML licenses. We prove that the general problem is undecidable, but it is polynomial-time computable for an expressive fragment of the language. We extend XrML to capture a wider range of licenses by adding negation to the language. Finally, we discuss the key differences between XrML and MPEG-21, an international standard based on XrML.

We present a unified declarative platform for specifying, implementing, and analyzing secure networked information systems. Our work builds upon techniques from logic-based trust management systems, declarative networking, and data analysis via provenance. We make the following contributions. First, we propose the Secure Network Datalog (SeNDlog) language that unifies Binder, a logic-based language for access control in distributed systems, and Network Datalog, a distributed recursive query language for declarative networks. SeNDlog enables network routing, information systems, and their security policies to be specified and implemented within a common declarative framework. Second, we extend existing distributed recursive query processing techniques to execute SeNDlog programs that incorporate authenticated communication among untrusted nodes. Third, we demonstrate that distributed network provenance can be supported naturally within our declarative framework for network security analysis and diagnostics. Finally, using a local cluster and the PlanetLab testbed, we perform a detailed performance study of a variety of secure networked systems implemented using our platform.

In this paper, we present a declarative language and system for describing and implementing secure networks. Our proposed language, SeNDlog, is an attempt at unifying Binder, a logic-based language for access control in distributed systems, and Network Datalog (NDlog), a database query language for declarative networks. The contributions of this paper are as follows. First, we highlight the similarities and differences between Binder and NDlog with regards to their notion of location, trust model, and evaluation strategies. Second, we motivate and propose the SeNDlog language that combines features from Binder and NDlog. Third, we demonstrate the use of SeNDlog for specifying secure networks and present directions for future work. 1

We present a new technique for generating a formal proof that an access request satisfies access-control policy, for use in logic-based access-control frameworks. Our approach is tailored to settings where credentials needed to complete a proof might need to be obtained from, or reactively created by, distant components in a distributed system. In such contexts, our approach substantially improves upon previous proposals in both computation and communication costs, and better guides users to create the most appropriate credentials in those cases where needed credentials do not yet exist. At the same time, our strategy offers strictly superior proving ability, in the sense that it finds a proof in every case that previous approaches would (and more). We detail our method and evaluate an implementation of it using both policies in active use in an access-control testbed at our institution and larger policies indicative of a widespread deployment.

DKAL is a new declarative authorization language for distributed systems. It is based on existential fixed-point logic and is considerably more expressive than existing authorization languages in the literature. Yet its query algorithm is within the same bounds of computational complexity as e.g. that of SecPAL. DKAL’s communication is targeted which is beneficial for security and for liability protection. DKAL enables flexible use of functions; in particular principals can quote (to other principals) whatever has been said to them. DKAL strengthens the trust delegation mechanism of SecPAL. A novel information order contributes to succinctness. DKAL introduces a semantic safety condition that guarantees the termination of the query algorithm. 1.

Abstract. As its name indicates, NGSCB aims to be the “Next-Generation Secure Computing Base”. As envisioned in the context of Trusted Computing initiatives, NGSCB provides protection against software attacks. This paper describes NGSCB using a logic for authentication and access control. Its goal is to document and explain the principals and primary APIs employed in NGSCB. 1.

This paper presents the design and implementation of PCFS, a file system that uses formal proofs and capabilities to efficiently enforce access policies expressed in a rich logic. Salient features include backwards compatibility with existing programs and automatic enforcement of access rules that depend on both time and system state. We rigorously prove that enforcement using capabilities is correct, and evaluate the file system’s performance.