Model-based tests for access control policies 1

We present a model-based approach to testing access control requirements. By using combinatorial testing, we first automatically generate test cases from and without access control policies - i.e., the model - and assess the effectiveness of the test suites by means of mutation testing. We also compare them to purely random tests. For some of the investigated strategies, non-random tests kill considerably more mutants than the same number of random tests. Since we rely on policies only, no information on the application is required at this stage. As a consequence, our methodology applies to arbitrary implementations of the policy decision points.