Fine-grained access control privileges

This page describes the privileges that you can grant to a database role for fine-grained access control.

To learn about database roles and fine-grained access control, see About fine-grained access control.

The following table shows the fine-grained access control privileges and the database objects that they can be granted on.

SELECT INSERT UPDATE DELETE EXECUTE USAGE
Schema ✓
Table ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Column ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
View ✓
Change stream ✓
Change stream read function ✓
Sequence ✓ ✓
Model ✓

The following sections provide details about each privilege.

SELECT

Allows the role to read or query from a table, view, change stream, sequence or model.

  • If a column list is specified for a table, the privilege is valid on only those columns. If no column list is specified, then the privilege is valid on all columns in the table, including columns added afterward. A column list is not allowed for a view.

  • Spanner supports both invoker's rights views and definer's rights views. For more information, see About views.

    If you create a view with invoker's rights, to query the view, the database role or user needs the SELECT privilege on the view, and also the SELECT privilege on the underlying objects referenced in the view. For example, suppose the view SingerNames is created on the Singers table.

    CREATE VIEW SingerNames SQL SECURITY INVOKER AS
  SELECT Singers.SingerId, Singers.FirstName, Singers.LastName FROM Singers;

    Suppose that the database role myRole performs the query SELECT * FROM SingerNames. The role must have SELECT privilege on the view and must have SELECT privilege on the three referenced columns or on the entire Singers table.

    If you create a view with definer's rights, to query the view, the database role or user only needs the SELECT privilege on the view. For example, suppose the view AlbumsBudget is created on the Albums table.

    CREATE VIEW AlbumsBudget SQL SECURITY DEFINER AS
  SELECT Albums.Id, Albums.AlbumTitle, MarketingBudget FROM Albums;

    Suppose that the database role Analyst performs the query SELECT * FROM AlbumsBudget. The role only needs SELECT privilege on the view. It doesn't need the SELECT privilege on the three referenced columns or on the Albums table.

  • After granting SELECT on a subset of columns for a table, the FGAC user can no longer use SELECT * on that table. Queries on that table must name all columns to be included.

  • SELECT granted on a generated column doesn't grant SELECT on the underlying base columns.

  • For interleaved tables, SELECT granted on the parent table doesn't propagate to the child table.

  • When you grant SELECT on a change stream, you must also grant EXECUTE on the table-valued function for the change stream. For more information, see EXECUTE.

  • When SELECT is used with an aggregate function on specific columns, for example SUM(col_a), the role must have the SELECT privilege on those columns. If the aggregate function doesn't specify any columns, for example COUNT(*), the role must have the SELECT privilege on at least one column in the table.

  • When you use SELECT with a sequence, you can only view sequences that you have privileges to view.

Examples

GoogleSQL 

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE employees TO ROLE hr_director;

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE customers, orders, items TO ROLE account_mgr;

GRANT SELECT(name, level, cost_center, location, manager) ON TABLE employees TO ROLE hr_manager;

GRANT SELECT(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees, contractors TO ROLE hr_rep;

GRANT SELECT ON VIEW orders_view TO ROLE hr_manager;

GRANT SELECT ON CHANGE STREAM ordersChangeStream TO ROLE hr_analyst;

GRANT SELECT ON SEQUENCE sequence_name TO ROLE role_name;

PostgreSQL 

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE employees TO hr_director;

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE customers, orders, items TO account_mgr;

GRANT SELECT(name, level, cost_center, location, manager) ON TABLE employees TO hr_manager;

GRANT SELECT(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees, contractors TO hr_rep;

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE orders_view TO hr_manager; // orders_view is an invoker rights view

GRANT SELECT ON CHANGE STREAM orders_change_stream TO hr_analyst;

GRANT SELECT ON SEQUENCE sequence_name TO hr_package;

INSERT

Allows the role to insert rows into the specified tables. If a column list is specified, the permission is valid on only those columns. If no column list is specified, then the privilege is valid on all columns in the table.

  • If column names are specified, any column not included gets its default value upon insert.

  • INSERT can't be granted on generated columns.

Examples

GoogleSQL 

GRANT INSERT ON TABLE employees, contractors TO ROLE hr_manager;

GRANT INSERT(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees TO ROLE hr_rep;

PostgreSQL 

GRANT INSERT ON TABLE employees, contractors TO hr_manager;

GRANT INSERT(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees TO hr_rep;

UPDATE

Allows the role to update rows in the specified tables. Updates can be restricted to a subset of table columns. When you use this with sequences, it allows the role to call the get-next-sequence-value function on the sequence.

In addition to the UPDATE privilege, the role needs the SELECT privilege on all queried columns. Queried columns include columns in the WHERE clause.

UPDATE can't be granted on generated columns.

Examples

GoogleSQL 

GRANT UPDATE ON TABLE employees, contractors TO ROLE hr_manager;

GRANT UPDATE(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees TO ROLE hr_rep;

PostgreSQL 

GRANT UPDATE ON TABLE employees, contractors TO hr_manager;

GRANT UPDATE(name, address, phone) ON TABLE employees TO hr_rep;

DELETE

Allows the role to delete rows from the specified tables.

  • DELETE can't be granted at the column level.

  • The role also needs SELECT on any columns that might be included in the query's WHERE clauses.

  • For interleaved tables in GoogleSQL-dialect databases, the DELETE privilege is required only on the parent table. If a child table specifies ON DELETE CASCADE, rows from the child table are deleted even without the DELETE privilege on the child table.

Example

GoogleSQL 

GRANT DELETE ON TABLE employees, contractors TO ROLE hr_admin;

PostgreSQL 

GRANT DELETE ON TABLE employees, contractors TO hr_admin;

EXECUTE

When you grant SELECT on a change stream, you must also grant EXECUTE on the read function for the change stream. For more information, see Change stream read functions and query syntax.

When you use this with models, it allows the role to use the model in machine learning functions.

Example

The following example shows how to grant EXECUTE on the read function for the change stream named my_change_stream.

GoogleSQL 

GRANT EXECUTE ON TABLE FUNCTION READ_my_change_stream TO ROLE hr_analyst;

PostgreSQL 

GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION spanner.read_json_my_change_stream TO hr_analyst;

USAGE

When you grant USAGE to a named schema, it provides privileges to access objects contained in the named schema. The USAGE privilege is granted, by default, to the default schema.

What's next

For more information, see: