RBAC vs. FGA: What's the difference and how do they work together?

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Fine-Grained Authorization (FGA) are two access control models that manage data access in complex environments. RBAC groups permissions into roles, simplifying permission management but may lead to role explosion in dynamic environments. FGA provides a flexible approach by evaluating access decisions based on various attributes such as user identity, resource properties, and contextual data. While RBAC is ideal for environments with well-defined static roles, FGA is suitable for systems requiring granular, attribute-based policies that evolve over time. Combining RBAC and FGA allows leveraging their strengths: RBAC provides a baseline for broad access control through predefined roles, while FGA refines those permissions with granular, context-aware policies. This hybrid approach balances simplicity and precision, ensuring scalable and manageable access control.