{"slug":"why-oauth-wasn-t-built-for-what-agents-do-to-each-other","citations":[{"url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.19301","committed_hash":"sha256:46527dae39310be013a9fab589cba9dd9d4185a6ec6d574f782a4d4a522fecb4","committed_hash_short":"sha256:46527dae…522fecb4","mime_type":"text/html","committed_at":"2026-09-05T08:00:26.963771+00:00","content_snapshot":"\n\n\n [2505.19301] A Novel Zero-Trust Identity Framework for Agentic AI: Decentralized Authentication and Fine-Grained Access Control\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n
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Computer Science > Cryptography and Security

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\n arXiv:2505.19301 (cs)\n
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\n [Submitted on 25 May 2025 (v1), last revised 28 May 2025 (this version, v2)]
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Title:A Novel Zero-Trust Identity Framework for Agentic AI: Decentralized Authentication and Fine-Grained Access Control

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Authors:Ken Huang, Vineeth Sai Narajala, John Yeoh, Jason Ross, Ramesh Raskar, Youssef Harkati, Jerry Huang, Idan Habler, Chris Hughes
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\n Abstract:Traditional Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems, primarily designed for human users or static machine identities via protocols such as OAuth, OpenID Connect (OIDC), and SAML, prove fundamentally inadequate for the dynamic, interdependent, and often ephemeral nature of AI agents operating at scale within Multi Agent Systems (MAS), a computational system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents that work collectively.\n
This paper posits the imperative for a novel Agentic AI IAM framework: We deconstruct the limitations of existing protocols when applied to MAS, illustrating with concrete examples why their coarse-grained controls, single-entity focus, and lack of context-awareness falter. We then propose a comprehensive framework built upon rich, verifiable Agent Identities (IDs), leveraging Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs), that encapsulate an agents capabilities, provenance, behavioral scope, and security posture.\n
Our framework includes an Agent Naming Service (ANS) for secure and capability-aware discovery, dynamic fine-grained access control mechanisms, and critically, a unified global session management and policy enforcement layer for real-time control and consistent revocation across heterogeneous agent communication protocols. We also explore how Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) enable privacy-preserving attribute disclosure and verifiable policy compliance.\n
We outline the architecture, operational lifecycle, innovative contributions, and security considerations of this new IAM paradigm, aiming to establish the foundational trust, accountability, and security necessary for the burgeoning field of agentic AI and the complex ecosystems they will inhabit.\n
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Comments:24 Pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, edit: added a missed Author
Subjects:\n Cryptography and Security (cs.CR); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Multiagent Systems (cs.MA)
Cite as:arXiv:2505.19301 [cs.CR]
 (or \n arXiv:2505.19301v2 [cs.CR] for this version)\n
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.19301
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Submission history

From: Vineeth Sai Narajala [view email]
[v1]\n Sun, 25 May 2025 20:21:55 UTC (2,732 KB)
\n [v2]\n Wed, 28 May 2025 17:37:25 UTC (2,732 KB)
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