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Administrators

An administrator is a user that has sufficient rights to read, write to, create, alter or delete any object in a database to which that user’s administrator status applies.The table summarises how “superuser” privileges are enabled in the various Firebird security contexts.

Table 1. Administrator (“Superuser”) Characteristics
User RDB$ADMIN Role Comments

SYSDBA

Auto

Exists automatically at server level.Has full privileges to all objects in all databases.Can create, alter and drop users, but has no direct remote access to the security database

root user on POSIX

Auto

Exactly like SYSDBA.Firebird Embedded only.

Superuser on POSIX

Auto

Exactly like SYSDBA.Firebird Embedded only.

Windows Administrator

Set as CURRENT_ROLE if login succeeds

Exactly like SYSDBA if the following are all true:

  • In firebird.conf file, AuthServer includes Win_Sspi, and Win_Sspi is present in the client-side plugins (AuthClient) configuration

  • In databases where AUTO ADMIN MAPPING is enabled, or an equivalent mapping of the predefined group DOMAIN_ANY_RID_ADMINS for the role RDB$ADMIN exists

  • No role is specified at login

Database owner

Auto

Like SYSDBA, but only in the databases they own

Regular user

Must be previously granted;must be supplied at login or have been granted as a default role

Like SYSDBA, but only in the databases where the role is granted

POSIX OS user

Must be previously granted;must be supplied at login or have been granted as a default role

Like SYSDBA, but only in the databases where the role is granted.Firebird Embedded only.

Windows user

Must be previously granted;must be supplied at login

Like SYSDBA, but only in the databases where the role is granted.Only available if in firebird.conf file, AuthServer includes Win_Sspi, and Win_Sspi is present in the client-side plugins (AuthClient) configuration

Fine-grained System Privileges

In addition to granting users full administrative privileges, system privileges make it possible to grant regular users a subset of administrative privileges that have historically been limited to SYSDBA and administrators only.For example:

  • Run utilities such as gbak, gfix, nbackup and so on

  • Shut down a database and bring it online

  • Trace other users' attachments

  • Access the monitoring tables

  • Run management statements

The implementation defines a set of system privileges, analogous to object privileges, from which lists of privileged tasks can be assigned to roles.

It is also possible to grant normal privileges to a system privilege, making the system privilege act like a special role type.

The system privileges are assigned through CREATE ROLE and ALTER ROLE.

Warning

Be aware that each system privilege provides a very thin level of control.For some tasks it may be necessary to give the user more than one privilege to perform some task.For example, add IGNORE_DB_TRIGGERS to USE_GSTAT_UTILITY because gstat needs to ignore database triggers.

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List of Valid System Privileges

The following table lists the names of the valid system privileges that can be granted to and revoked from roles.

USER_MANAGEMENT

Manage users (given in the security database)

READ_RAW_PAGES

Read pages in raw format using Attachment::getInfo()

CREATE_USER_TYPES

Add/change/delete non-system records in RDB$TYPES

USE_NBACKUP_UTILITY

Use nbackup to create database copies

CHANGE_SHUTDOWN_MODE

Shut down database and bring online

TRACE_ANY_ATTACHMENT

Trace other users' attachments

MONITOR_ANY_ATTACHMENT

Monitor (tables MON$) other users' attachments

ACCESS_SHUTDOWN_DATABASE

Access database when it is shut down

CREATE_DATABASE

Create new databases (given in the security database)

DROP_DATABASE

Drop this database

USE_GBAK_UTILITY

Use gbak utility

USE_GSTAT_UTILITY

Use gstat utility

USE_GFIX_UTILITY

Use gfix utility

IGNORE_DB_TRIGGERS

Instruct engine not to run DB-level triggers

CHANGE_HEADER_SETTINGS

Modify parameters in DB header page

SELECT_ANY_OBJECT_IN_DATABASE

Use SELECT for any selectable object

ACCESS_ANY_OBJECT_IN_DATABASE

Access (in any possible way) any object

MODIFY_ANY_OBJECT_IN_DATABASE

Modify (up to drop) any object

CHANGE_MAPPING_RULES

Change authentication mappings

USE_GRANTED_BY_CLAUSE

Use GRANTED BY in GRANT and REVOKE statements

GRANT_REVOKE_ON_ANY_OBJECT

GRANT and REVOKE rights on any object in database

GRANT_REVOKE_ANY_DDL_RIGHT

GRANT and REVOKE any DDL rights

CREATE_PRIVILEGED_ROLES

Use SET SYSTEM PRIVILEGES in roles

GET_DBCRYPT_INFO

Get database encryption information

MODIFY_EXT_CONN_POOL

Use command ALTER EXTERNAL CONNECTIONS POOL

REPLICATE_INTO_DATABASE

Use replication API to load change sets into database

PROFILE_ANY_ATTACHMENT

Profile attachments of other users