article

A layered approach to simplified access control in virtualized systems

Authors:

Bryan D. Payne,

Ramón Cáceres,

Wenke LeeAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, Volume 41, Issue 4

Pages 12 - 19

https://doi.org/10.1145/1278901.1278905

Published: 01 July 2007 Publication History

Abstract

In this work, we show how the abstraction layer created by a hypervisor, or virtual machine monitor, can be leveraged to reduce the complexity of mandatory access control policies throughout the system. Policies governing access control decisions in today's systems are complex and monolithic. Achieving strong security guarantees often means restricting usability across the entire system, which is a primary reason why mandatory access controls are rarely deployed. Our architecture uses a hypervisor and multiple virtual machines to decompose policies into multiple layers. This simplifies the policies and their enforcement, while minimizing the overall impact of security on the system. We show that the overhead of decomposing system policies into distinct policies for each layer can be negligible. Our initial implementation confirms that such layering leads to simpler security policies and enforcement mechanisms as well as a more robust layered trusted computing base. We hope that this work serves to start a dialog regarding the use of mandatory access controls within a hypervisor for both increasing security and improving manageability.

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Rehman HNazir MMustafa K(2020)Credentials Safety and System Security Pay-off and Trade-off: Comfort Level Security Assurance FrameworkStrategic System Assurance and Business Analytics10.1007/978-981-15-3647-2_19(255-274)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2020
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Index Terms

A layered approach to simplified access control in virtualized systems
1. Security and privacy
  1. Systems security
    1. Operating systems security

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review Volume 41, Issue 4

July 2007

86 pages

ISSN:0163-5980

DOI:10.1145/1278901

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Copyright © 2007 Authors.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 July 2007

Published in SIGOPS Volume 41, Issue 4

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Cited By

Rehman HNazir MMustafa K(2020)Credentials Safety and System Security Pay-off and Trade-off: Comfort Level Security Assurance FrameworkStrategic System Assurance and Business Analytics10.1007/978-981-15-3647-2_19(255-274)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3647-2_19
Fu XYang RDu XLuo BGuizani M(2019)Timing Channel in IaaS: How to Identify and InvestigateIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2018.28761467(1-11)Online publication date: 2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2876146
Shaw AAttak H(2017)Exploring Granular flow Integrity for Interconnected Trusted Platforms2017 IEEE Trustcom/BigDataSE/ICESS10.1109/Trustcom/BigDataSE/ICESS.2017.289(594-601)Online publication date: Aug-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/Trustcom/BigDataSE/ICESS.2017.289
Sfyrakis IGrosB T(2017)VirtusCap: Capability-Based Access Control for Unikernels2017 IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E)10.1109/IC2E.2017.34(226-237)Online publication date: Apr-2017
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Liang HLi MXu JHu WPei XJia XSong Y(2017)vmOSComputers and Security10.1016/j.cose.2016.10.00865:C(329-343)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2017
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Joe-Uzuegbu CIwuchukwu UEzema L(2015)Application virtualization techniques for malware forensics in social engineering2015 International Conference on Cyberspace (CYBER-Abuja)10.1109/CYBER-Abuja.2015.7360508(45-56)Online publication date: Nov-2015
https://doi.org/10.1109/CYBER-Abuja.2015.7360508
Garrison WLee A(2015)Decomposing, Comparing, and Synthesizing Access Control Expressiveness SimulationsProceedings of the 2015 IEEE 28th Computer Security Foundations Symposium10.1109/CSF.2015.9(18-32)Online publication date: 13-Jul-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/CSF.2015.9
Wu JWu YGuan BLin YKhan SMin-Allah NWang Y(2015)C2Hunter: Detection and Mitigation of Covert Channels in Data CentersHandbook on Data Centers10.1007/978-1-4939-2092-1_32(961-996)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2015
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Luo YXia CLv LWei ZLi Y(2015)Modeling, conflict detection, and verification of a new virtualization role-based access control frameworkSecurity and Communication Networks10.1002/sec.10258:10(1904-1925)Online publication date: 10-Jul-2015
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