Rebuttal to the NIST RBAC model proposal

Abstract

In this abstract, we rebut the proposed RBAC unified reference model as defined by Sandhu, Ferriaolo, and Kuhn. As a unified reference model, this proposal simply re-enforces some of the concepts that are fundamental to RBAC (i.e., roles, users, and permissions) without clarifying the more complex concepts. Also, the definitions of the concepts are too informal to drive any useful standards proposal. We suggest formalizing the base concepts, including the addition of role administration, and that more work is necessary for constraints to be useful.