1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving an Interest packet by a network node, wherein the Interest packet includes a name or a name prefix associated with one or more target entities for the Interest, and includes access control information; determining that the Interest packet includes a payload, wherein the payload includes instructions or data for configuring a network node; determining an operation to perform for processing the payload; processing the payload by performing the determined operation, wherein processing the Interest's payload involves: determining whether the access control information grants the Interest packet permission to reconfigure the network node; and responsive to determining that the access control information grants permission to the Interest packet, executing the instructions to reconfigure the network node.