<FONT face=Verdana>Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) can address the issues of the fine-granularity of resource protection and the user scalability of network systems

and it can provide appropriate strategies for the access control in the open network environment in the future. This paper in detail analyzes and summarizes the existing domestic and international research achievements in the area of Attribute-Based Access Control from two aspects of the theoretical researches and application researches of ABAC

also analyzes the problems waiting to be solved and some research trends in the area of the ABAC research in the future. It may provide some new insights and literature references for the research of the access control of complex information systems in the open network environment in the future.