Knowledge Discovery 25.3
Document Security Administration Guide

# Example - NT Security

This example explains the format of an NT-style ACL, describes the security checks performed against the ACL, and then shows how NT security would be configured using the Generic security type.

The ACL is a string of text that specifies who is allowed to view a document. An NT ACL looks like this:

`0:U:<users>:G:<groups>:NU:<nousers>:NG:<nogroups>`

The ACL begins with a 0 or a 1 (the Everyone flag) and is followed by four sections:

U | Allowed users
G | Allowed groups
NU | Disallowed users
NG | Disallowed groups

The `<users>`, `<groups>`, `<nousers>`, and `<nogroups>` sections each hold comma separated lists of encrypted strings. Each encrypted string holds a username or the name of a group.

When the ACL is processed by the Content component, the disallowed users and groups are always given priority. A user is not allowed to view a document if they are in the list of disallowed users (NU) or if they belong to a group in the list of disallowed groups (NG).

If the user has not been explicitly denied access, the rest of the ACL determines whether they are granted access to a document. If the Everyone flag is 0 they are granted access only if their user name appears in the list of allowed users (U), or if they are in a group that appears in the list of allowed groups (G). If the Everyone flag is 1 the user is granted access, regardless of whether they appear in those lists (U or G).

This process is represented by the following diagram:

In the following example ACL, `user1` and `user2` are permitted to view the document; `user3` is not permitted to view the document. No access rights for any groups are specified:

         0:U:user1,user2:G::NU:user3:NG:

The ACL string must be complete and well-formed. For example, even when no allowed groups are specified the string element `G::` must appear in the correct place.

In the Content component configuration file, to configure NT security through the Generic Security Module, the content security section would contain:

         Type=AUTONOMY_SECURITY_V4_GENERIC_MAPPED

         SecurityACLFormat=<E=B!>:U:<U=SLE+>:G:<G=SLE+>:NU:<NU=SLE->:NG:<NG=SLE->

         SecurityACLCheck=NU=[DU]?F:-,NG=[DG]?F:-,E=1?P:-,U=[DU]?P:-,G=[DG]?P:F

NOTE: `SLE+` in the example indicates that ACL field `U` is an Encrypted String List of Positive terms.

The comma-separated values in the `SecurityACLCheck` parameter are explained in the following table:

`NU=[DU]?F:-` | Compare ACL field disallowed users (`NU`) to the user (`DU`). Deny access (`F`) if there is a match, otherwise continue (`-`).
`NG=[DG]?F:-` | Compare ACL field disallowed groups (`NG`) to each of the users group memberships (`DG`). Deny access (`F`) if there is a match, otherwise continue (`-`).
`E=1?P:-` | Compare ACL field everyone (`E`) to `1`. Allow access (`P`) if matched, otherwise continue (`-`).
`U=[DU]?P:-` | Compare ACL field allowed users (`U`) to the user (`DU`). Allow access (`P`) if matched, otherwise continue (`-`).
`G=[DG]?P:F` | Compare ACL field allowed groups (`G`) to each of the users group memberships (`DG`). Allow access (`P`) if matched, otherwise deny access (`F`).

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Version 25.3 | Last updated July 2025

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Product: Knowledge Discovery 25.3

Topic Title: Example - NT Security