Building Your First ABAC Policy

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) allows you to create sophisticated access policies based on attributes of users, resources, and the environment. In this guide, we'll walk you through creating an ABAC policy step by step.

Our Example Scenario

Throughout this guide, we'll work with a practical example that demonstrates ABAC's power:

Example Policy

"Students at Stanford University who study full-time are the only ones that can rent University bicycles after 5pm."

This policy involves multiple attributes:

• User attributes: university, is_full_time
• Resource attributes: time
• Action: rent

Let's build this policy together!

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Step 1: Creating User Attributes

User attributes define characteristics of your users that influence their access rights.

1. Navigate to the Directory panel
2. Click the Settings button
3. In the User Attributes side panel, click Add Attribute

For our bicycle rental example, we need two user attributes:

• university: The university the student attends
• is_full_time: Whether the student is enrolled full-time

Remember to click Save after defining your attributes.

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Step 2: Creating Tenant Attributes

Tenant attributes apply to entire organizations or groups within your system.

1. Navigate to the Users panel
2. Click the Tenant Attributes button
3. Click Add New Tenant Attribute

Example tenant attributes might include:

• is_paying: Whether the tenant has an active subscription
• tier: Service tier level
• user_count: Number of licensed users

Don't forget to click Save your tenant attributes.

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Step 3: Defining User Sets

User sets are groups of users that share common attribute values. Think of them as dynamic groups that automatically include users based on their attributes.

To access the creation of ABAC rules, navigate to Policy > ABAC Rules.

For our example, we'll create a user set for Full-time Stanford Students:

1. Click Create New ABAC User Set
2. Enter the Title and click Add Condition
3. Set these conditions:
   • user.university = "Stanford"
   • user.is_full_time = true

Tenant Boundaries in User Sets

Important security considerations:

• Tenant boundaries are not automatically enforced for user sets
• To enforce tenant boundaries, either:
  • Add a condition on user.roles
  • Use tenant attributes and compare resource.tenant in resource sets

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Step 4: Creating Resources

Resources are the objects or services you want to protect. Each resource can have attributes and allowed actions.

1. Navigate to the Policy screen and the Resources Tab
2. Click Add Resource

For our bicycle rental system:

1. Create a bicycle resource
2. Add the time attribute
3. Define two actions:
   • ride
   • rent

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Step 5: Defining Resource Sets

Resource sets group resources based on their attributes. In our example, we need to identify Bicycles available after 5pm

Create the condition:

• resource.time > "17:00"

Advanced: Comparing Resource and User Attributes

You can create conditions that compare resource attributes with user attributes using (ref) operators:

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Step 6: Applying Permissions

The final step is connecting your user sets with resource sets through permissions.

1. Navigate to the Policy screen
2. Find your Full-Time Stanford Student User Set
3. Locate the Bicycles after 5pm Resource Set
4. Check the appropriate permission boxes

Don't forget to click Save your changes!

Important Note

You cannot use the key type for any attribute you create, as it is a reserved keyword.

Complex Policy Support

The Permit.io UI supports complex policies with multiple condition groups and conditions: