So Long RBAC, and Thanks for All the Roles

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) has long been a standard approach for managing access permissions by assigning roles like "Admin," "Editor," and "Viewer," but as applications become more complex, this model is reaching its limitations. The increasing complexity of applications, heightened by factors such as location-based access, time-based rules, quotas, and nested resources, as well as the unpredictability introduced by AI-driven apps, necessitates more flexible solutions. While RBAC remains a valuable tool for its simplicity and clarity, newer models such as Fine-Grained Authorization (FGA), Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), and Relationship-Based Access Control (ReBAC) offer more nuanced approaches by incorporating attributes and relationships into access control decisions. These models allow for a dynamic and context-aware framework that can adapt to the complex needs of modern applications without losing the human-friendly labeling of RBAC. The integration of FGA with RBAC allows for maintaining the clarity of roles while adding the flexibility required to handle sophisticated access control requirements, ensuring that RBAC remains relevant as a foundational tool even as more advanced methods are adopted.