Workload Identity in a Multi System Environment (WIMSE) Architecture

Architecture

Workload Identity Concepts The Workload identity architecture consists of three basic building blocks: trust domain, workload identifier and identity credentials. These components are sufficient for establishing authentication, authorization and accounting processes. More complex workload identity constructs can be created from these basic building blocks.

Trust Domain A trust domain is a logical grouping of systems that share a common set of security controls and policies. Workload certificates and tokens are issued under the authority of a trust domain. Trust domains SHOULD be identified by a fully qualified domain name associated with the organization defining the trust domain. The FQDN format of a trust domain helps to ensure global uniqueness of the trust domain identifier. A trust domain maps to one or more trust anchors for validating X.509 certificates and a mechanism to securely obtain a JWK Set for validating WIMSE WIT tokens. This mapping MUST be obtained through a secure mechanism that ensures the authenticity and integrity of the mapping is fresh and not compromised. This secure mechanism is out of scope for this document. A single organization may define multiple trust domains for different purposes such as different departments or environments. Each trust domain must have a unique domain identifier. Workload identifiers are scoped within a trust domain as specified in . If two identifiers differ only by trust domain they still refer to two different entities.

Workload Identifier A workload identifier uniquely names a workload within a trust domain and is carried in workload identity credentials. The format, syntax, comparison rules, and validation requirements for workload identifiers are defined in . In addition the URI MUST include an authority that identifies the trust domain within which the identifier is scoped. The trust domain SHOULD be a fully qualified domain name belonging to the organization defining the trust domain to help provide uniqueness for the trust domain identifier. The scheme and scheme specific part are not defined by this specification. An example of an identifier format that conforms to this definition is . Two credentials containing the same workload identifier value represent the same workload only when validated under the same trust domain and issuer trust configuration. A workload identifier MAY represent either a logical workload or a specific workload instance depending on deployment policy. Relying parties MUST interpret the identifier according to identity semantics to the trust domain.

Workload Identity Credentials An agent provisions the identity credentials to the workload. These credentials are represented in the form of JWT tokens and/or X.509 certificates. JWT bearer tokens are presented to another party as a proof of identity. They may be signed to prevent forgery, however since these credentials are often not bound to other information it is possible that they could be stolen and reused elsewhere. To mitigate these risks and make the token more generally useful the WIMSE architecture defines a workload identity credential that binds a JWT to a cryptographic key. Both workload identity certificate and workload identity token (WIT) credentials consist of two parts:

a certificate or WIT is a signed data structure that contains a public key and identity information
a corresponding private key

The workload identity certificate or WIT is presented during authentication, however the private key is kept secret and only used in cryptographic computation to prove that the presenter has access to the private key corresponding to the public key.

Workload Identity System Scenarios

Basic Workload Identity Scenario

Basic example workload application system. Workload 1 +-------------------+ | | | G | | | | | | | | a | | +-------^------+ | | | | t | | | | | +------------+ | | e | | | (1) | | | | (2) | | w | (3) | | | | | App Client +----->| | a +-----+ +-------+-------+ | | | | | | y | | | +-------+------+ | +------------+ | | +-----+ | CA/Credential | (1) | | | | | S | (4) | | Service +----------> Workload 3 | | | | e | | | | | | | | | r | | +-------+-------+ +-------+------+ | | | v | | | | | | | i | | | (1) | | | | c | | | | | | | e | | +-------v------+ | | | | | | | | (4) | | | | | +---> Workload 2 +-------------------+ | '-+ | | | | '-+---' +--------------+ | | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ ]]> The above diagram presents a basic workload application system. The large box represents a trust domain within which the workload application is hosted. Within this example there are three workloads, a gateway service, that accepts external clients and a CA/credential service that issues workload identity credentials for the trust domain. External to the workload application system there is an application client that calls APIs on workloads. Here is a brief summary of each component

Trust Domain

The large box represents a trust domain of the application that is composed of several workloads. A trust domain may have a more complex internal structure with more workloads, multiple gateways, internal infrastructure, and other services.

Workload

Three workloads are shown. Each workload is an independently addressable software entity that may consist of one or more running instances executed for a specific purpose. Workloads obtain their identity credentials from a Credentials Service (1) and use them to authenticate to other workloads and systems in the process of sending and receiving requests to and from external systems or other internal workloads.

Gateway Service

A gateway service typically acts as an intermediary between the internal application trust domain and external systems. It typically consists of multiple resilient instances. The gateway is responsible for ensuring appropriate isolation between external and internal domains. It also routes incoming requests to the correct workload. The gateway MAY also implement identity proxy functionality including authentication, token exchange, and token transformation.

CA/Credential Service

In this diagram the token/Credential service is a service responsible for issuing workload identities to workloads in the same trust domain. The credentials are often X.509 certificate-based or JWT-based. High level flows within the diagram

(1) Workload Identity Credential Distribution

Workloads typically retrieve their workload identity credentials early in their lifecycle from a credentials service associated with their trust domain. The protocol interaction for obtaining credentials varies with deployment and is not detailed here.

(2) Application client Requests

Clients send API requests to the application. In the example above, the gateway routes the request to the correct workload. In addition, the gateway may assist in authenticating the incoming request and provide information resulting from the authentication to the target workload. The authentication exchange is not covered in detail in this example. The client request is typically made over HTTPS, but other protocols may be used in some systems. The gateway usually terminates the TLS session so it has visibility into the request in order to route it correctly.

(3) API request to workload 1

The gateway is configured to forward requests to the correct workload. The gateway often modifies the request to include specific authentication information about the application client and to remove any information that should not be forwarded internally. The gateway authenticates the workload before forwarding the request. This authentication usually uses TLS. The target workload may authenticate the gateway using TLS or some other means. As part of servicing the request the workload must make a request to another workload in the system. In this scenario the workload is making a request to workload 3 over HTTPS. Workload 1 may be able to authenticate the identity of workload 3 through the TLS protocol to ensure it is making a request of the right party. Workload 3 will authenticate workload 1 using its workload identity credentials. If the Workload Identity Credentials are workload identity certificates then this can happen through TLS client authentication (mutual TLS). Alternatively, the workloads can use a JWT based authentication mechanism to authenticate one another. Workload 3 can use the authenticated identity of workload 1 to determine which APIs workload 1 is authorized to invoke, and to associated the authenticated identity with logs and other audit information.

(4) API request to workload 2

Similarly to the previous flow, the gateway may determine that for another API call, the application client's request needs to be handled by workload 2. The case behaves the same as the previous flow except that the gateway may need to authenticate workload 2 before forwarding traffic to it. Workload 3 will then authorize and audit the request based on the authenticated identity of workload 2. Workload 2 and workload 1 may be authorized to use different APIs on workload 3. If workload 1 or 2 makes an API request that it is not authorized for, then workload 3 will reject the request.

Context and workload Identity

Context example workload application system. | Context | | | | | (3) | | | | | |<------------------+ Service | | | | | (c) | | | | | G | +----------------+ | | | a | | (1) | | t | | +-------+ | | e | +------------+ +-------------+ | | App | (2) | | w | (4) | | (5) | | | | Client+---->| | a +----->| workload 1 +----->| workload 2 | | +-------+ (a) | | y | (c) | | (c) | | | | | | +------------+ +-------------+ | | | S | | | | e | | | | r | | | | v | | | | i | | | | c | | | | e | | '-+ | | '-+---' | | | | | | | +-----------------------------------------------+ ]]> In many cases the application system uses other security context information about the request during authorization and auditing. The following is a basic scenario that illustrates the propagation of security context in the workload system. Some of the components and interactions have been removed from the previous scenario for simplicity.

Context Service This scenario adds a context service component which is responsible for creating security context based on authentication and other calculations. Context can be represented in many ways; it can be a plaintext data structure, a signed data structure such as a JWT or a pointer used to lookup the context as a data structure stored somewhere else. In one common example, creating the context may involve a token exchange converting an OAuth 2.0 access token into a different token format, such as a transaction token, that is understood by internal services.
(1) Initial Authentication In the initial authentication the gateway service obtains credentials it can use with the gateway service. This authentication may involve several steps and may be performed by an external entity such as an identity provider. The authentication process will result in a credential that the gateway service can evaluate. For example, the credential could be an OAuth Access token. If the client already has an access token that it can use to authenticate to the gateway, such as an X.509 certificate, then it may skip this step.
(2) Application Client Request The application client makes a request to the gateway over HTTPS. The client may be authenticated to the gateway through TLS client authentication (mutual TLS) or through a credential such as an access token obtained in step 1.
(3) Establishing the request context The gateway service requests a security context token (c) from a token service. This process may entail sending an access token (a) along with other information to a token exchange endpoint to obtain the context token, which contains information about the entity accessing the system. This context is typically only relevant to the internal system and is not returned to the client. The gateway may use alternative mechanisms to get the internal security context information (c).
(4) Forwarding Request to Workload The gateway forwards the request along with the context information (c) to the appropriate workload. A bearer token, such as an access token (a), is not usually forwarded as it is only meant for external access. The workload uses information in the context token in applying authorization policy to the application client's request. If the workload does not receive a context token, then it will deny requests that rely on information from the token.
(5) Making Additional Workload Originated Requests The workload may need to make requests of other workloads. When making these requests, the workload includes the context information so Workload 2 can authorize and audit the request. Workload 2 may have a policy requiring Workload 1 to authenticate its service identity and provide valid context information (c) to access certain APIs.

Cross-Domain Communication

External request workload application system. | | a +----->| workload 1 +----->| workload 2 | | +-------+ (a) | | y | (c) | | (c) | | | | | | +-+----------+ +^----^----+--+ | | | S | | | | | | | | e | (3)| (5)(c)|(t) | | | | | r | | | | | | | | v | | +-+--------v+ | | | | | i | | | Token | | | | | | c | | | | | (7)|(a) | | | e | | | Service | | | | '-+ | | +-----------+ | | | '-+---' | | | | | | | | | | | (6)(t)|(a) | | | | | | | +------------+-----------------------+----+-----+ | | | | +-+-------V-+ | | | External | | | | Token | | | | Service | | | +-----------+ | | | +---------v------+ +---------------v-+ | Infrastructure | | External | | | | | | Service | | Service | +----------------+ +-----------------+ ]]> In many applications workloads must make requests of infrastructure or external services that operate as a different trust domain. Steps 5-7 of involve a generic cross domain pattern as described in . This document refers to a token service which performs a similar functions with respect to token issuance as the authorization service in . The scenario shows some new components described below. Components and interactions from previous scenarios are still relevant to this example, but are omitted for simplicity.

Token Service - the token service is responsible for exchanging information that is internal to the system such as service identity and/or security context information for a token that can be presented to an external token service in another trust domain to gain access to infrastructure or an external service.
External Token Service - the external token service is part of another trust domain. Workloads in the originating trust domain contact this service to get an access token to authenticate to external services.
Infrastructure Service - this service is often part of the application, but it is managed by an infrastructure provider and may require different information to access it.
External Service - this service is distinct from the application and hosted in a separate trust domain. This trust domain often has different access requirements that workloads in the internal trust domain.

Some example interactions in this scenario:

(1) The application client is making requests with authentication information as in the other scenarios
(2) The gateway forwards the request to the appropriate workload with the security context information
(3) The workload needs to access an infrastructure service and, because it is managed by the same organization, it authenticates to the service directly using its workload credentials.
(4) Workload 1 contacts Workload 2 to perform an operation. This request is accompanied by a security context as in the other scenarios.
(5) Workload 2 determines it needs to communicate with an external service. In order to gain access to this service it must first obtain a token/credential (t) that it can use externally. It authenticates to the token service using its workload identity credential (c) and provides security context information. The token service determines what type of externally usable token to issue to the workload for use with the external token service.
(6) Workload 2 uses this new token/credential (t) to request an access token (a) for the external service from the token service.
(7) Workload 2 uses the access token (a) to access the external service in the other trust domain.

There can be variations on cross domain workflows. For example, in step 3 the workload was able to use its Workload Identity Credentials to directly access an infrastructure service. It also may be possible for an workload to request an access token for an external service using its Workload Identity Credentials directly with an external token service.

Workload Identity Use Cases

Bootstrapping Workload Identifiers and Credentials Workloads need to obtain credentials before they can fully participate in the WIMSE architecture. The architecture does not specify a particular method for credential provisioning, but this section outlines some concepts involved in this process. WIMSE focuses on credentials that consist of a public token and a private key such as X.509 certificate and Workload Identity Token (WIT). This list is not exhaustive of all the ways provisioning can happen.

Direct Provisioning - A workload may receive its WIMSE credential when it is initially created. This is typically done using a deployment-specific mechanism that configures both the private and public portions of the credential for the workload. In direct provisioning the workload does not need to go through additional processes to obtain credentials and the credentials can be used immediately, whereas in the other cases more interactions are needed to obtain usable credentials.
Bootstrap Credentials - A workload may receive a set of bootstrap credentials specific to its deployment mechanism, which are then used by the workload through another process to obtain WIMSE credentials. The workload may use the bootstrap credentials to obtain the private and public parts of the WIMSE credentials, or the workload may generate a private key pair and use the bootstrap credential to authorize an enrollment process to obtain the public credential (X.509 certificate or WIT). describes some ways workloads can be initially providioned with bootstrap credentials.
Attestation - A workload credential provisioning process may use attestation in addition to or instead of bootstrap credentials. Attestation refers to the process of one peer in a communication (known as an "attester") generating attestation evidence, and providing that to a communication peer -- the "relying party", who may request verification of the supplied evidence from a "verifier". The Remote ATtestation procedureS (RATS) Architecture describes evidence and some of the different communication patterns. Attestation in WIMSE is intentionally defined quite broadly, as it may be implemented in several ways that, while aligned with the definitions and architectures described in , and here, do not rely on any specific implementation, or any specific communication protocol. provides an example outside of the RATS protocol work where attestation processes result in credentials being provisioned both to workloads, and the nodes that host them.
Agent Assisted Provisioning - In some architectures, several workloads run on the same node that hosts an agent that assists in the credential provisioning process. The example below illustrates one way in which an agent can participate in the process, reflecting some concepts in the SPIFFE architecture. There are other ways an agent may participate. For example, the agent may not receive direct access to the workload private key but it may be the conduit for providing an encrypted private key which the workload can decrypt through a process that may involve attestation.

Agent Assisted Provisioning Example illustrates software layering at a host running workloads. During startup, workloads bootstrap their identifiers and credentials with the help of an agent. The agent may be associated with one or more workloads to help ensure that workloads are provisioned with the correct identifiers and credentials. The agent provides attestation evidence and other relevant information to a server. The server validates this information and provides the agent with identifiers and credentials for the workloads it is associated with. The server can use a variety of internal and external means to validate the request against policy. After obtaining credentials from the server, the agent passes them to the workload.

Host Software Layering in a Workload Identity Architecture. | | | | | ^ | Identity | ^ +-+ | | +------------+--+ Credentials +--+-------------+ | | | | | | | | Identity | | Attestation | | Credentials | | v v | +------------------------------------------------------+ | Host Operating System and Hardware | +------------------------------------------------------+ ]]> How the workload obtains its identity credentials and interacts with the agent is subject to different implementations. Some common mechanisms for obtaining this initial identity include:

File System - In this mechanism, the identity credential is provisioned to the workload via the filesystem.
Local API - The identity credential is provided through an API, such as a local domain socket (for example, SPIFFE or QEMU guest agent) or network API (for example, Cloud Provider Metadata Server).
Environment Variables - Identity credentials may also be injected into workloads using operating system environment variables.

Service Authentication One of the most basic use cases for workload identity is authentication of one workload to another, such as in the case where one service is making a request to another service as part of a larger, more complex application. Following authentication, the identity of the peer can be used to enforce fine-grained authorization policies as described in and generate audit trails as described in . Authentication mechanisms are used to establish the identity of the peer workload before secure communication can proceed. Workloads often obtain their credentials without relying on pre-provisioned long-lived secrets. Instead, short-lived credentials are established through mechanisms provided by the infrastructure that allow a workload to prove it is running in a given environment. Common delivery patterns are described in . Once credentials are issued, they are conveyed to peers using common security protocols. Typical mechanisms include:

Mutual TLS authentication using X.509 certificate for both client and server as described in .
Application level authentication using cryptographic credentials passed within HTTP message as described in .

These authentication mechanisms establish a cryptographically verifiable identity for the communicating party, which can then be used for further policy enforcement. illustrates the communication between different workloads. Two aspects are important to highlight: First, there is a need to consider the interaction with workloads that are external to the trust domain (sometimes called cross-domain). Second, the interaction does not only occur between workloads that directly interact with each other but instead may also take place across intermediate workloads (in an end-to-end style).

Workload-to-Workload Communication. <+----------+> | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O<-----+----------+-----------+----------+---->O | | | +-----------+ E2E +-----------+ E2E +-----------+ | | | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ ]]>

Service Authorization Once authentication has successfully established the identity of a peer workload, authorization mechanisms determine whether the authenticated identity is permitted to perform the requested action on the target workload. Authorization specified by WIMSE is context-aware. It relies on attributes carried in the security context, which may originate from upstream systems such as gateways or identity proxies. This context may be derived from end-user attributes, trust domain policies, or deployment-specific metadata (e.g., environment, service role, workload instance). Authorization decisions typically include:

Validating the integrity and provenance of the security context.
Ensuring the authenticated identity has the correct role and attributes to access the requested API or resource.
Applying fine-grained policy rules, which may include path, method, action type, and contextual constraints (e.g., geographic location, time of day).

Authorization checks may also incorporate delegation and impersonation semantics, as described in , where upstream workloads are authorized to act on behalf of end-users or other services, within the scope of their issued credentials and policy. A key architectural consideration is where authorization is evaluated. For most workload-to-workload interactions (e.g., REST APIs, gRPC, or pub/sub flows), authorization is performed by the callee, ensuring that the target workload enforces its own access policies. But in some scenarios, such as database access or operations on complex back-end systems, authorization decisions may be too fine-grained or application-specific to be enforced by the subject of the operation. In these cases, authorization MAY be performed by the caller, provided that the caller has sufficient context and policy information to make a correct decision.

Audit Trails Auditability is a critical requirement in systems that rely on workload identities and security context. Each authenticated request MUST leave a verifiable and inspectable trace regardless of authentication and authorization decision. Audit trails are typically generated at multiple points:

Gateway Services: Log incoming client requests, their authenticated identities and relevant context.
Workloads: Log authenticated peer identities, security context attributes, requested resources, and authorization outcomes.
Identity and Token Services: Log issuance and validation events for workload identity credentials and context tokens.

Audit records may include:

Timestamp of the request
Source workload identifier
Target workload identifier
Authentication method used
Decision outcome (authorized/denied)
Security context claims
Delegation/impersonation metadata (if present)

To avoid inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information, workloads and services generating audit logs MUST NOT log secrets such as bearer tokens, private keys, or passwords. If logging of credential-related data is necessary for diagnostic or policy purposes, these values MUST be redacted, hashed, or otherwise sanitised to prevent misuse. WIMSE systems SHOULD ensure audit logs are tamper-evident and securely stored. Logs may be forwarded to centralized security information and event management (SIEM) systems to enable compliance, threat detection, and incident response.

Security Context Establishment and Propagation In a typical system of workloads additional information is needed in order for the workload to perform its function. For example, it is common for a workload to require information about a user or other entity that originated the request. Other types of information may include information about the hardware or software that the workload is running or information about what processing and validation has already been done to the request. This type of information is part of the security context that the workload uses during authorization, accounting and auditing. This context is propagated and possibly augmented from workload to workload using tokens. The context may be associated with a specific source or target workload by binding it to a specific workload identifier. This may indicate that the context originated from a specific workload, or that only a specific workload may make use of the context. A workload may also use a workload identity credential to bind a context to one or more transaction so the receiver can verify which workload initiated the transaction and the context that was intended for the transaction.

Delegation and Impersonation When source workloads send authenticated requests to destination workloads, those destination workloads may rely on upstream dependencies to fulfill such requests. Such access patterns are increasingly common in a microservices architecture. While X.509 certificates can be used for point-to-point authentication, such services relying on upstream microservices for answers, may use delegation and/or impersonation semantics as described in RFC 8693 OAuth 2.0 Access Token Exchange. WIMSE credentials constrain the subjects and actors identified in delegation and impersonation tokens to be bound by a trust domain, and to follow their issuing authorities' trust configurations. Upstream workloads should consider the security context of delegation and/or impersonation tokens within and across trust domains, when arriving at authorization decisions.

Asynchronous and Batch Requests Source workloads may send authenticated asynchronous and batch requests to destination workloads. A destination workload may need to fulfill such requests with requests to authorized upstream protected resources and workloads, after the source workload credentials have expired. Credentials identifying the original source workload as subject may need to be obtained from the credential issuing authority with appropriately-downscoped context needed access to upstream workloads. These credentials should identify the workload as the actor in the actor chain, but may also identify other principals that the action is taken on behalf. To mitigate risks associated with long-duration credentials, these credentials should be bound to the Workload Identity Credential such as a workload identity certificate or Workload Identity Token (WIT) of the acting service performing asynchronous computation on the source workload's behalf.

Cross-boundary Workload Identity As workloads often need to communicate across trust boundaries, extra care needs to be taken when it comes to identity communication to ensure scalability and privacy. (TODO: align with OAuth cross domain identity and authorization)

Egress Identity Generalization A workload communicating with a service or another workload located outside the trust boundary may need to provide modified identity information. The detailed identity of an internal workload originating the communication is relevant inside the trust boundary but could be excessive for the outside world and expose potentially sensitive internal topology information. For example, in a microservices architecture, an internal service may use workload-specific identities that include fine-grained details such as instance names or deployment-specific attributes. When interacting with external systems, exposing such details may inadvertently provide attackers with insights into the internal deployment structure, scaling strategies, security policies, technologies in use, or failover mechanisms, potentially giving them a tactical advantage. In such cases, an identity proxy at the trust boundary can generalize the Workload Identity by replacing the specific microservice instance name with the name of the overall service. This allows external parties to recognize the service while abstracting internal deployment details. A security gateway implementing Identity Proxy functionality at the edge of a trust boundary can validate identity information of the workload, perform context-specific authorization of the transaction, and replace workload-specific identity with a generalized one for a given trust domain. This approach ensures that external communications adhere to security and privacy requirements while maintaining interoperability across trust boundaries.

Inbound Gateway Identity Validation Inbound security gateway is a common design pattern for service protection. This functionality is often found in CDN services, API gateways, load balancers, Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) and other security solutions. Workload identity verification of inbound requests should be performed as a part of these security services. After validation of workload identity, the gateway may either leave it unmodified or replace it with its own identity to be validated by the destination.

AI and ML-Based Intermediaries Emerging agentic AI systems and other ML-based intermediaries introduce new considerations for workload identity and security context propagation. These systems often act as autonomous agents that perform tasks on behalf of an upstream principal (such as a user or service) and then invoke downstream workloads as part of multi-step workflows. From WIMSE perspective, AI intermediaries are a special case of delegated workloads (see ). They inherit the upstream principal's security context and are expected to operate strictly within the constraints of that delegation. When invoking downstream workloads, the agent SHOULD propagate the upstream security context, unless it has been explicitly authorized to translate or reduce its scope. In some cases, AI systems may generate requests that are not attributable to a specific upstream principal. Such autonomous actions MUST be clearly distinguished from delegated ones, for example by using separate workload identities or token scopes. Because AI intermediaries may chain requests across multiple services, there is an elevated risk of privilege escalation if security context is propagated beyond the intended trust domain. Mechanisms such as cryptographic binding of delegation tokens or attestation of intermediary behavior can help mitigate these risks. A further consideration arises when AI agents interact with other AI agents. In these cases, each agent may act both as a delegated workload and as a delegator, creating multi-hop delegation chains. To avoid ambiguity, each hop in the chain MUST explicitly scope and re-bind the security context so that downstream services can reliably evaluate provenance and authorization boundaries. Without such controls, there is a risk that a chain of AI-to-AI interactions could unintentionally extend authority far beyond what was originally granted.