AUTHORIZATION_MODEL.md

CeloHT Authorization Model

Overview

CeloHT uses a role-based and permission-aware authorization model designed to ensure that authenticated users, agents, administrators, community contributors, developers, and automated services can only access resources and perform actions appropriate to their responsibilities.

Authentication answers:

Who are you?

Authorization answers:

What are you allowed to do?

CeloHT keeps these two security functions separate.

The authorization architecture follows the principles of:

• Least privilege

• Role separation

• Explicit permissions

• Deny-by-default

• Separation of duties

• Resource ownership

• Community governance

• Auditability

• Administrative accountability

---

1. Authorization Principles

CeloHT authorization follows these fundamental principles.

1.1 Deny by Default

Access should be denied unless the required permission is explicitly granted.

1.2 Least Privilege

Users and services should receive only the permissions required to perform their responsibilities.

1.3 Separation of Duties

Critical operations should not depend on a single unrestricted identity.

1.4 Explicit Authorization

Authentication alone does not grant access to protected resources.

1.5 Resource-Level Protection

Authorization should be evaluated not only at the endpoint level but also at the resource level.

1.6 Auditable Privileged Actions

Sensitive administrative and financial operations should produce auditable records.

---

2. Authorization Architecture

The conceptual authorization model is:

                    AUTHENTICATED ACTOR
                            |
                            v
                    IDENTITY CONTEXT
                            |
             +--------------+--------------+
             |              |              |
             v              v              v
           ROLE         PERMISSIONS     RESOURCE
             |              |              |
             +--------------+--------------+
                            |
                            v
                    POLICY EVALUATION
                            |
                  +---------+---------+
                  |                   |
                ALLOW                DENY

The policy engine evaluates whether the authenticated actor is authorized to perform a specific action on a specific resource.

---

3. Authorization Dimensions

CeloHT may evaluate authorization using multiple dimensions.

Identity

Who is requesting the operation?

Role

What role does the actor have?

Permission

What action is being requested?

Resource

What object or service is being accessed?

Ownership

Does the actor own or control the resource?

Context

Are there additional conditions?

Examples:

• Community membership

• Agent status

• Geographic/service scope

• Operational status

• Transaction limits

• Governance approval

• Security state

---

4. Core Roles

CeloHT may use the following logical roles.

Role | Description -- | -- Public User | Unauthenticated or public visitor Authenticated User | Verified platform user Community Member | Participant in a CeloHT community Agent | Authorized participant in the agent network Contributor | Person contributing to project development or documentation Educator | Authorized education or training contributor Moderator | Community moderation role Developer | Technical contributor with development permissions Maintainer | Trusted repository or system maintainer Administrator | Authorized platform administrator Security Administrator | Responsible for security operations Governance Participant | Participant in governance processes Service Account | Automated software identity

---

34. Authorization and Community Governance

CeloHT's community-driven governance model does not eliminate technical authorization boundaries.

Community governance determines decisions within its defined governance framework.

Technical systems still require controlled access to:

• Infrastructure

• Repositories

• Databases

• Administrative interfaces

• Deployment systems

• Security systems

• Treasury infrastructure

Governance and technical authorization should therefore operate as complementary systems.

---

35. Recommended Authorization Layers

CeloHT should maintain authorization at multiple layers:

Layer 1
Identity
Layer 2
Application Role
Layer 3
Permission
Layer 4
Resource Ownership
Layer 5
Context / Policy
Layer 6
Blockchain Authorization

A request should pass every applicable layer before execution.

---

36. Security Boundaries

The following must be treated as separate security boundaries:

• Browser/client

• API

• Database

• Blockchain

• Smart contracts

• Wallets

• Infrastructure

• CI/CD

• Administrative systems

Compromise of one layer should not automatically grant unrestricted access to another.

---

37. Authorization Best Practices

CeloHT should:

• Use deny-by-default policies.

• Enforce authorization server-side.

• Use least privilege.

• Avoid shared accounts.

• Separate development and production access.

• Protect administrative functions.

• Review privileged roles periodically.

• Log sensitive authorization events.

• Use multi-signature controls for appropriate financial operations.

• Rotate credentials.

• Remove obsolete permissions.

• Test authorization controls continuously.

---

38. Authorization Testing

Authorization testing should include:

Positive Tests

Verify that authorized users can perform permitted actions.

Negative Tests

Verify that unauthorized users cannot perform restricted actions.

Boundary Tests

Verify access between:

• Users

• Communities

• Agents

• Administrators

• Resources

• Environments

Privilege Escalation Tests

Verify that users cannot manipulate requests to obtain higher privileges.

---

39. Authorization Lifecycle

Request Access
|
v
Identity Verification
|
v
Role Assignment
|
v
Permission Assignment
|
v
Resource Access
|
v
Audit
|
v
Periodic Review
|
v
Revocation

---

40. Relationship With Other Security Controls

Authorization is one component of the broader CeloHT security architecture.

Related controls include:

• Authentication

• Encryption

• Smart-contract security

• Data privacy

• Infrastructure security

• Secure development

• Incident response

• Monitoring

• Governance

---

41. Related Documentation

• AUTHENTICATION_ARCHITECTURE.md

• SMART_CONTRACT_SECURITY.md

• DATA_PRIVACY.md

• SECURITY.md

• GOVERNANCE.md

• API_ARCHITECTURE.md

• BLOCKCHAIN_INTEGRATION.md

• ENVIRONMENT_CONFIGURATION.md

---

Status

Document: Authorization Model
Project: CeloHT
Classification: Technical / Security Documentation
Status: Architecture Reference