--- title: Authorization overview: A template used to represent an access control query. location: https://istio.io/docs/reference/config/template/authorization.html layout: protoc-gen-docs number_of_entries: 4 ---

The `authorization` template defines parameters for performing policy enforcement within Istio. It is primarily concerned with enabling Mixer

## Action

An action defines “how a resource is accessed”.

Field | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`namespace` | `string` | Namespace the target action is taking place in.
`service` | `string` | The Service the action is being taken on.
`method` | `string` | What action is being taken.
`path` | `string` | HTTP REST path within the service
`properties` | `map<string, istio.mixer.adapter.model.v1beta1.Value>` | Additional data about the action for use in policy.

## Subject

A subject contains a list of attributes that identify the caller identity.

Field | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`user` | `string` | The user name/ID that the subject represents.
`groups` | `string` | Groups the subject belongs to depending on the authentication mechanism, “groups” are normally populated from JWT claim or client certificate. The operator can define how it is populated when creating an instance of the template.
`properties` | `map<string, istio.mixer.adapter.model.v1beta1.Value>` | Additional attributes about the subject.

## Template

The `authorization` template defines parameters for performing policy enforcement within Istio. It is primarily concerned with enabling Mixer adapters to make decisions about who is allowed to do what. In this template, the “who” is defined in a Subject message. The “what” is defined in an Action message. During a Mixer Check call, these values will be populated based on configuration from request attributes and passed to individual authorization adapters to adjudicate.

Example config:

    apiVersion: "config.istio.io/v1alpha2"
    kind: authorization
    metadata:
      name: authinfo
      namespace: istio-system
    spec:
     subject:
       user: source.user | request.auth.token[user] | ""
       groups: request.auth.token[groups]
       properties:
        iss: request.auth.token["iss"]
     action:
       namespace: destination.namespace | "default"
       service: destination.service | ""
       path: request.path | "/"
       method: request.method | "post"
       properties:
         version: destination.labels[version] | ""

Field | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`subject` | `Subject` | A subject contains a list of attributes that identify the caller identity.
`action` | `Action` | An action defines “how a resource is accessed”.

## istio.mixer.adapter.model.v1beta1.Value

Value is used inside templates for fields that have dynamic types. The actual datatype of the field depends on the datatype of the expression used in the operator configuration.