Authorization Propagation in Multi-Agent AI Systems: Identity Governance as Infrastructure

Abstract

The security discussion around agentic AI focuses heavily on prompt injection. This paper argues that multi-agent systems also create a distinct authorization problem: maintaining authorization invariants as non-human principals retrieve data, delegate tasks, and synthesize results across changing boundaries. We call this problem authorization propagation. It is not reducible to prompt injection and is not fully addressed by classical access-control models such as RBAC, ABAC, or ReBAC. The paper

Categories

Framework mappings

Suggested from the entry's categories.

@misc{tallam2026authorization,
  title = {{Authorization Propagation in Multi-Agent AI Systems: Identity Governance as Infrastructure}},
  author = {Krti Tallam},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  eprint = {2605.05440},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05440}
}