Just-In-Time Privilege Elevation with Kerberos
Just-In-Time Privilege Elevation with Kerberos makes this possible without breaking trust or compliance. It merges the strict access controls of Kerberos with time-bound privilege grants, allowing high-risk operations without giving attackers a long window to exploit.
Kerberos handles authentication through tickets. When combined with Just-In-Time Privilege Elevation, the service issues short-lived tickets tied to specific roles, commands, or systems. The ticket is valid for minutes, not hours or days. After expiry, the elevated access disappears automatically, closing the door on lateral movement and privilege abuse.
This approach eliminates the need for standing admin accounts. Credentials with permanent elevation are replaced by real-time, auditable privilege requests. Each request is backed by Kerberos authentication, enforced by policy, and logged for forensic trails. The workflow becomes clear:
- The user requests elevation.
- Kerberos verifies identity and policy.
- A time-limited ticket is issued.
- Access ends exactly when it should.
Security teams gain granular control. Attackers lose their favorite targets. Compliance audits become cleaner because every elevation event has a clear start and end, bound to a specific activity. This reduces exposure during patching, configuration changes, code deployments, or emergency fixes.
Deploying Just-In-Time Privilege Elevation with Kerberos is straightforward when your infrastructure already supports Kerberos protocols. Integration means defining privilege policies, issuing ephemeral tickets, and ensuring every elevated session enforces short expiration windows. Logging and monitoring close the loop, making the process traceable and defensible.
Stand up this workflow, and privilege management stops being a blunt instrument. It becomes precise, fast, and invisible to attackers. The best time to kill standing privileges was years ago. The second-best time is now.
See live Just-In-Time Privilege Elevation with Kerberos at hoop.dev and get it running in minutes.