Fine-Grained Authorization in Microservice Architecture: A Decentralized Approach
Niklas Sänger, Sebastian Abeck · 2024
Authorization mechanisms are essential for securing microservice-based applications, with Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) being a prominent choice for fine-grained authorization. A decentralized authorization mechanism allows the transfer of responsibility for authorization enforcement from a central unit to multiple distributed and decentralized units. However, existing solutions often centralize authorization in microservice-based applications, which mitigate complexity but contradict the core principles of the microservice architecture, such as its overall distributed nature and loose coupling. To overcome this, we propose a microservice architecture that enables fine-grained authorization using ABAC on the microservice level. Our approach preserves the inherent loose coupling of microservices while ensuring high scalability. In particular, our architecture addresses the distribution of attributes among ABAC components, recognizing this as a critical consideration for robust authorization in microservice environments.