Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) & Claims-Based Authorization in ASP.NET Core (In Depth)

Authentication answers who you are.
Authorization answers what you are allowed to do.

In real-world ASP.NET Core applications, authorization is built using Roles, Claims, and Policies. In this article, we’ll explore RBAC and Claims-Based Authorization deeply and show how to design scalable, secure access control systems.

Authorization Models Explained

| Model        | Description                    | Example                |
| ------------ | ------------------------------ | ---------------------- |
| RBAC         | Access based on role           | Admin, Editor, User    |
| Claims-Based | Access based on attributes     | Department, Permission |
| Policy-Based | Rules combining roles & claims | Admin OR Manager       |

ASP.NET Core supports all three, and they can be combined.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)