Authorize access to queues using Azure role assignment conditions

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Attribute-based access control (ABAC) is an authorization strategy that defines access levels based on attributes associated with an access request such as the security principal, the resource, the environment and the request itself. With ABAC, you can grant a security principal access to a resource based on Azure role assignment conditions.

Important

Azure attribute-based access control (Azure ABAC) is generally available (GA) for controlling access to Azure Blob Storage, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, and Azure Queues using request, resource, environment, and principal attributes in both the standard and premium storage account performance tiers. Currently, the container metadata resource attribute and the list blob include request attribute are in PREVIEW. For complete feature status information of ABAC for Azure Storage, see Status of condition features in Azure Storage.

See the Supplemental Terms of Use for Azure Previews for legal terms that apply to Azure features that are in beta, preview, or otherwise not yet released into general availability.

Overview of conditions in Azure Storage

You can use of Microsoft Entra ID (Microsoft Entra ID) to authorize requests to Azure storage resources using Azure RBAC. Azure RBAC helps you manage access to resources by defining who has access to resources and what they can do with those resources, using role definitions and role assignments. Azure Storage defines a set of Azure built-in roles that encompass common sets of permissions used to access Azure storage data. You can also define custom roles with select sets of permissions. Azure Storage supports role assignments for both storage accounts and blob containers or queues.

Azure ABAC builds on Azure RBAC by adding role assignment conditions in the context of specific actions. A role assignment condition is an additional check that is evaluated when the action on the storage resource is being authorized. This condition is expressed as a predicate using attributes associated with any of the following:

  • Security principal that is requesting authorization
  • Resource to which access is being requested
  • Parameters of the request
  • Environment from which the request originates

The benefits of using role assignment conditions are:

  • Enable finer-grained access to resources - For example, if you want to grant a user access to peek messages in a specific queue, you can use peek messages DataAction and the queue name storage attribute.
  • Reduce the number of role assignments you have to create and manage - You can do this by using a generalized role assignment for a security group, and then restricting the access for individual members of the group using a condition that matches attributes of a principal with attributes of a specific resource being accessed (such as a queue).
  • Express access control rules in terms of attributes with business meaning - For example, you can express your conditions using attributes that represent a project name, business application, organization function, or classification level.

The tradeoff of using conditions is that you need a structured and consistent taxonomy when using attributes across your organization. Attributes must be protected to prevent access from being compromised. Also, conditions must be carefully designed and reviewed for their effect.

Supported attributes and operations

You can configure conditions on role assignments for DataActions to achieve these goals. You can use conditions with a custom role or select built-in roles. Note, conditions are not supported for management Actions through the Storage resource provider.

You can add conditions to built-in roles or custom roles. The built-in roles on which you can use role-assignment conditions include:

You can use conditions with custom roles so long as the role includes actions that support conditions.

The Azure role assignment condition format allows use of @Principal, @Resource or @Request attributes in the conditions. A @Principal attribute is a custom security attribute on a principal, such as a user, enterprise application (service principal), or managed identity. A @Resource attribute refers to an existing attribute of a storage resource that is being accessed, such as a storage account or a queue. A @Request attribute refers to an attribute or parameter included in a storage operation request.

Azure RBAC currently supports 2,000 role assignments in a subscription. If you need to create thousands of Azure role assignments, you may encounter this limit. Managing hundreds or thousands of role assignments can be difficult. In some cases, you can use conditions to reduce the number of role assignments on your storage account and make them easier to manage. You can scale the management of role assignments using conditions and Microsoft Entra custom security attributes for principals.

Next steps

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