Technical Deep Dive: AuthZ Control Plane for Agents
Blog post from P0 Security
The P0 Authz Control Plane for Agents is designed to help developer and security teams manage access control for agentic applications that interact with internal data sources via a chat interface. By providing API endpoints, it enables the restriction of access to various MCP tools based on user roles and facilitates data access policy definition at multiple levels within data sources like Postgres. P0 supports Just-in-Time Access by allowing approval requests for temporary access, ensuring that only role-appropriate tools are accessible to users. This approach addresses the challenges posed by agentic AI apps, which have more freedom in executing data actions compared to traditional web applications. P0 implements a two-layer control system: the MCP Tool Access Control filters tools based on user roles, while the Data Layer Access Control ensures users can only execute authorized SQL queries. P0's setup includes defining policies in its Policy Studio, which map roles to tools and evaluate SQL query permissions, thereby narrowing user access to only the data they are permitted to see. Additionally, P0 supports a Just-in-Time and Human-in-the-Loop system, allowing AI to autonomously request access to roles or tools, subject to human approval, thereby enhancing security without compromising functionality.