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Working with XACML Multiple Decision Profile Requests

In general, access control scenarios that the Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) has to handle are complicated and can contain a large number of attributes in each of the categories. Some of the attributes can have multiple values, and PEPs may often need to ask multiple access control questions, which can have overlapping attributes and corresponding values.

To handle such scenarios, WSO2 Identity Server supports XACML Multiple Decision Profile (MDP) requests.

MDP allows you to group multiple decisions as a single response after evaluating multiple requests. Here, the XACML Policy Decision Point (PDP) performs policy evaluation and provides an authorization dec ision response as a single <Result> element in the response context. A Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) can send a single request that can provide multiple requests to be evaluated by the PDP.

WSO2 Identity Server supports working with XACML MDP requests created either by repeating attribute categories, or by using hierarchical resources.

  • If you have a scenario where every access control question needs to be obtained by repeating categories in a request, you need to create a multiple decision request by repeating attribute categories. For a tutorial that walks you through a scenario that requires sending a MDP request with repeated attribute categories, see Working with MDP Requests by Repeating Attribute Categories .

  • If you have a scenario where you need to provide access control to a set of hierarchical resources stored in a repository, depending on the user attributes or roles, you need to create a multiple decision request to authorize the hierarchical resources. For a tutorial that walks you through an authorization scenario that requires sending a MDP request to authorize the hierarchical resources, see Working with MDP Requests to Authorize Hierarchical Resources .

  • You can also work with XACML MDP requests and responses in JSON format using WSO2 Identity Server. For a tutorial that walks you through how to work with MDP requests and responses in JSON format using WSO2 Identity Server, see Working with MDP Requests in JSON Format.

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