---
title: "Attribute-based access control (ABAC) · Highflame Glossary"
description: "Authorization decisions keyed to attributes (the agent's claims, owner, trust tier, and delegation depth) rather than shared keys or static roles."
doc_version: "0.1.0"
last_updated: "2026-07-25T03:14:58.002Z"
canonical: "https://www.highflame.com/glossary/abac"
---

[Home](/index.md)·[Glossary](/glossary.md)·Attribute-based access control (ABAC)

# Attribute-based access control (ABAC)

Authorization decisions keyed to attributes (the agent's claims, owner, trust tier, and delegation depth) rather than shared keys or static roles.

Learn more: [Agent Authorization](/learn/ai-agent-authorization.md)

Part of [the Agent Control Fabric](/platform.md): Highflame's identity, policy, and enforcement substrate for AI agents.

[Book a demo](/contact.md) [All terms](/glossary.md)

## Keep exploring the glossary.

[

### Authorization

Deciding whether a given actor is allowed to take a given action. Distinct from authentication (proving who you are); authorization is what an agent may do.

Read →](/glossary/authorization.md)[

### Blast radius

The set of systems and data a compromised agent or credential could reach. Identity-scoped access shrinks it; cascade revocation contains it.

Read →](/glossary/blast-radius.md)[

### Breakout controls

Runtime controls that keep an agent aligned to its mission: containing, redirecting, or stopping it when it veers off course, before the action lands.

Read →](/glossary/breakout-controls.md)[

### Cascade revocation

Revoking a parent credential instantly invalidates everything it delegated, collapsing the affected delegation tree rather than waiting for tokens to expire.

Read →](/glossary/cascade-revocation.md)[

### Cedar

An open, formally analyzable policy language. Highflame authors authorization policy in Cedar and enforces the same policy at every boundary an agent crosses.

Read →](/glossary/cedar.md)[

### CIBA

Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication: an out-of-band flow that pauses a sensitive agent action for explicit, attributable human approval.

Read →](/glossary/ciba.md)

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