capability

capability

[‚kāp·ə′bil·ə·dē]

(computer science)

A permission that is given to a user of a computing system in advance to access a particular object in the system in a particular way, and that the user can later present to a reference monitor as a prevalidated ticket to gain access.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

capability

(operating system, security)

An operating system security or access control model where specific types of access to a specific object are granted by giving a process this data structure or token.

The token may be unforgeable (typically by using encryption or hardware "tagged" memory). Capabilities are used in OSes such as Hydra, KeyKOS, EROS, Chorus/Mix, and the Stanford V system. Similar to Kerberos, but in an OS context.

Compare access control list.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

capability

In information security, an indicator (token, semaphore, etc.) that authorizes an access mode to an object such as a file or a device for a specific user or process. See also privilege.

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