path: root/doc/rfc/rfc2086.txt

Network Working Group                                           J. Myers
Request for Comments: 2086                               Carnegie Mellon
Category: Standards Track                                   January 1997


                          IMAP4 ACL extension

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

1.   Abstract

   The ACL extension of the Internet Message Access Protocol [IMAP4]
   permits access control lists to be manipulated through the IMAP
   protocol.

Table of Contents

   1.   Abstract............................................... 1
   2.   Conventions Used in this Document...................... 1
   3.   Introduction and Overview.............................. 2
   4.   Commands............................................... 3
   4.1. SETACL................................................. 3
   4.2. DELETEACL.............................................. 4
   4.3. GETACL................................................. 4
   4.4. LISTRIGHTS............................................. 4
   4.5. MYRIGHTS............................................... 5
   5.   Responses.............................................. 5
   5.1. ACL.................................................... 5
   5.2. LISTRIGHTS............................................. 6
   5.3. MYRIGHTS............................................... 6
   6.   Formal Syntax.......................................... 6
   7.   References............................................. 7
   8.   Security Considerations................................ 7
   9.   Author's Address....................................... 8

2.   Conventions Used in this Document

   In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
   server respectively.






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3.   Introduction and Overview

   The ACL extension is present in any IMAP4 implementation which
   returns "ACL" as one of the supported capabilities to the CAPABILITY
   command.

   An access control list is a set of <identifier,rights> pairs.

   Identifier is a US-ASCII string.  The identifier anyone is reserved
   to refer to the universal identity (all authentications, including
   anonymous). All user name strings accepted by the LOGIN or
   AUTHENTICATE commands to authenticate to the IMAP server are reserved
   as identifiers for the corresponding user.  Identifiers starting with
   a dash ("-") are reserved for "negative rights", described below.
   All other identifier strings are interpreted in an implementation-
   defined manner.

   Rights is a string listing a (possibly empty) set of alphanumeric
   characters, each character listing a set of operations which is being
   controlled. Letters are reserved for ``standard'' rights, listed
   below.  The set of standard rights may only be extended by a
   standards-track document.  Digits are reserved for implementation or
   site defined rights.  The currently defined standard rights are:

   l - lookup (mailbox is visible to LIST/LSUB commands)
   r - read (SELECT the mailbox, perform CHECK, FETCH, PARTIAL,
       SEARCH, COPY from mailbox)
   s - keep seen/unseen information across sessions (STORE SEEN flag)
   w - write (STORE flags other than SEEN and DELETED)
   i - insert (perform APPEND, COPY into mailbox)
   p - post (send mail to submission address for mailbox,
       not enforced by IMAP4 itself)
   c - create (CREATE new sub-mailboxes in any implementation-defined
       hierarchy)
   d - delete (STORE DELETED flag, perform EXPUNGE)
   a - administer (perform SETACL)

   An implementation may tie rights together or may force rights to
   always or never be granted to particular identifiers.  For example,
   in an implementation that uses unix mode bits, the rights "wisd" are
   tied, the "a" right is always granted to the owner of a mailbox and
   is never granted to another user.  If rights are tied in an
   implementation, the implementation must be conservative in granting
   rights in response to SETACL commands--unless all rights in a tied
   set are specified, none of that set should be included in the ACL
   entry for that identifier.  A client may discover the set of rights
   which may be granted to a given identifier in the ACL for a given
   mailbox by using the LISTRIGHTS command.



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   It is possible for multiple identifiers in an access control list to
   apply to a given user (or other authentication identity).  For
   example, an ACL may include rights to be granted to the identifier
   matching the user, one or more implementation-defined identifiers
   matching groups which include the user, and/or the identifier
   "anyone".  How these rights are combined to determine the user's
   access is implementation-defined.  An implementation may choose, for
   example, to use the union of the rights granted to the applicable
   identifiers.  An implementation may instead choose, for example, to
   only use those rights granted to the most specific identifier present
   in the ACL. A client may determine the set of rights granted to the
   logged-in user for a given mailbox by using the MYRIGHTS command.

   When an identifier in an ACL starts with a dash ("-"), that indicates
   that associated rights are to be removed from the identifier that is
   prefixed by the dash.  For example, if the identifier "-fred" is
   granted the "w" right, that indicates that the "w" right is to be
   removed from users matching the identifier "fred".  Implementations
   need not support having identifiers which start with a dash in ACLs.

4.   Commands

4.1. SETACL

   Arguments:  mailbox name
               authentication identifier
               access right modification

   Data:       no specific data for this command

   Result:     OK - setacl completed
               NO - setacl failure: can't set acl
              BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

      The SETACL command changes the access control list on the
      specified mailbox so that the specified identifier is granted
      permissions as specified in the third argument.

      The third argument is a string containing an optional plus ("+")
      or minus ("-") prefix, followed by zero or more rights characters.
      If the string starts with a plus, the following rights are added
      to any existing rights for the identifier.  If the string starts
      with a minus, the following rights are removed from any existing
      rights for the identifier.  If the string does not start with a
      plus or minus, the rights replace any existing rights for the
      identifier.





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4.2. DELETEACL

   Arguments:  mailbox name
               authentication identifier

   Data:       no specific data for this command

   Result:     OK - deleteacl completed
               NO - deleteacl failure: can't delete acl
              BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

      The DELETEACL command removes any <identifier,rights> pair for the
      specified identifier from the access control list for the specified
      mailbox.

4.3. GETACL

   Arguments:  mailbox name

   Data:       untagged responses: ACL

   Result:     OK - getacl completed
               NO - getacl failure: can't get acl
              BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

      The GETACL command returns the access control list for mailbox in
      an untagged ACL reply.

   Example:    C: A002 GETACL INBOX
               S: * ACL INBOX Fred rwipslda
               S: A002 OK Getacl complete

4.4. LISTRIGHTS

   Arguments:  mailbox name
               authentication identifier

   Data:       untagged responses: LISTRIGHTS

   Result:     OK - listrights completed
               NO - listrights failure: can't get rights list
              BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

      The LISTRIGHTS command takes a mailbox name and an identifier and
      returns information about what rights may be granted to the identifier
      in the ACL for the mailbox.





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   Example:    C: a001 LISTRIGHTS ~/Mail/saved smith
               S: * LISTRIGHTS ~/Mail/saved smith la r swicd
               S: a001 OK Listrights completed


               C: a005 LISTRIGHTS archive.imap anyone
               S: * LISTRIGHTS archive.imap anyone "" l r s w i p c d a
               0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4.5. MYRIGHTS

   Arguments:  mailbox name

   Data:       untagged responses: MYRIGHTS

   Result:     OK - myrights completed
               NO - myrights failure: can't get rights
              BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid

      The MYRIGHTS command returns the set of rights that the user has
      to mailbox in an untagged MYRIGHTS reply.

   Example:    C: A003 MYRIGHTS INBOX
               S: * MYRIGHTS INBOX rwipslda
               S: A003 OK Myrights complete

5.   Responses

5.1. ACL

   Data:       mailbox name
               zero or more identifier rights pairs

      The ACL response occurs as a result of a GETACL command. The first
      string is the mailbox name for which this ACL applies.  This is
      followed by zero or more pairs of strings, each pair contains the
      identifier for which the entry applies followed by the set of
      rights that the identifier has.













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5.2. LISTRIGHTS

   Data:       mailbox name
               identifier
               required rights
               list of optional rights

      The LISTRIGHTS response occurs as a result of a LISTRIGHTS
      command. The first two strings are the mailbox name and identifier
      for which this rights list applies.  Following the identifier is a
      string containing the (possibly empty) set of rights the
      identifier will always be granted in the mailbox.

      Following this are zero or more strings each containing a set of
      rights the identifier may be granted in the mailbox.  Rights
      mentioned in the same string are tied together--either all must be
      granted to the identifier in the mailbox or none may be granted.

      The same right may not be listed more than once in the LISTRIGHTS
      command.

5.3. MYRIGHTS

   Data:       mailbox name
               rights

      The MYRIGHTS response occurs as a result of a MYRIGHTS command.
      The first string is the mailbox name for which these rights apply.
      The second string is the set of rights that the client has.

6.   Formal Syntax

   The following syntax specification uses the augmented Backus-Naur
   Form (BNF) notation as specified in [RFC-822] as modified by [IMAP4].
   Non-terminals referenced but not defined below are as defined by
   [IMAP4].

   Except as noted otherwise, all alphabetic characters are case-
   insensitive.  The use of upper or lower case characters to define
   token strings is for editorial clarity only. Implementations MUST
   accept these strings in a case-insensitive fashion.










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   acl_data        ::= "ACL" SPACE mailbox *(SPACE identifier SPACE
                        rights)

   deleteacl       ::= "DELETEACL" SPACE mailbox SPACE identifier

   getacl          ::= "GETACL" SPACE mailbox

   identifier      ::= astring

   listrights      ::= "LISTRIGHTS" SPACE mailbox SPACE identifier

   listrights_data ::= "LISTRIGHTS" SPACE mailbox SPACE identifier
                           SPACE rights *(SPACE rights)

   mod_rights      ::= astring
                           ;; +rights to add, -rights to remove
                           ;; rights to replace

   myrights        ::= "MYRIGHTS" SPACE mailbox

   myrights_data   ::= "MYRIGHTS" SPACE mailbox SPACE rights

   rights          ::= astring

   setacl          ::= "SETACL" SPACE mailbox SPACE identifier
                       SPACE mod_rights

7.   References

   [IMAP4] Crispin, M., "Internet Message Access Protocol - Version 4",
   RFC 1730, University of Washington, December 1994.

   [RFC-822] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text
   Messages", STD 11, RFC 822.

8.   Security Considerations

   An implementation must make sure the ACL commands themselves do not
   give information about mailboxes with appropriately restricted ACL's.
   For example, a GETACL command on a mailbox for which the user has
   insufficient rights should not admit the mailbox exists, much less
   return the mailbox's ACL.









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9.   Author's Address

   John G. Myers
   Carnegie-Mellon University
   5000 Forbes Ave.
   Pittsburgh PA, 15213-3890

   Email: jgm+@cmu.edu











































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