Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) at Database Level

This guide outlines how to secure SingleStore Helios database users in a reduced-privileges, role-separated environment.

Role-based Operations

Users can access a database and execute their functions and responsibilities through the creation of users, roles and groups, and granting of correct permissions (privileges).

Here is a sample of standard roles.

Role

Description

Compliance Officer

Management for roles and schema authorizations.

Security Officer

Full authority to view, modify, and create users and groups. Manages user passwords.

Database Administrator

This role cannot execute backups, nor can it read any of the data within the database. Responsible for creating and removing databases. Ability to restore backups.

Workspace Administrator

Minimal set of privileges required to run a SingleStore workspace.

Backup Operator

Authorization to perform workspace backups.

Application Schema Owner

Dedicated, per-application role, authorized to execute create, alter, and delete DDL statements. Cannot view application data.

Application Service Account

Dedicated, per-application role, authorized to execute select, update, insert, delete DML.

Relation Between Users, Roles and Groups

  1. A role can have multiple privileges.

  2. A group can have multiple roles.

  3. A group can have multiple users.

  4. A user can have multiple roles.

  5. A user can be assigned to multiple groups.

Users inherit the permissions, and roles of the groups they are assigned to.

Role Creation

SingleStore recommends that the following roles be used as a starting point for all use of the RBAC functionality. It is strongly suggested that these commands be kept in a separate, version-controlled, file and loaded into SingleStore. These scripts should be executed against the workspace endpoint.

Compliance Officer

CREATE ROLE 'compliance_role';
GRANT USAGE on *.* to ROLE 'compliance_role' WITH GRANT OPTION;
CREATE GROUP 'compliance';
GRANT ROLE 'compliance_role' to 'compliance';

Security Officer

CREATE ROLE 'security_role';
GRANT CREATE USER on *.* to ROLE 'security_role';
CREATE GROUP 'security';
GRANT ROLE 'security_role' to 'security';

Database Administrator

CREATE ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT CREATE DATABASE, DROP DATABASE on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT RELOAD on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT SUPER on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT SHOW METADATA on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
CREATE GROUP 'dba';
GRANT ROLE 'dba_role' to 'dba';

Workspace Administrator

CREATE ROLE 'workspace_role';
GRANT CLUSTER on *.* to ROLE 'workspace_role';
GRANT SHOW METADATA on *.* to ROLE 'workspace_role';
CREATE GROUP 'workspace';
GRANT ROLE 'workspace_role' to 'workspace';

Backup Operator

CREATE ROLE 'backup_operator_role';
GRANT BACKUP, RELOAD on *.* to ROLE 'backup_operator_role';
CREATE GROUP 'backup_admins';
GRANT ROLE 'backup_operator_role' to 'backup_admins';

Application Schema Owner Create one for each distinct application:

CREATE ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE, ALTER, DROP on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE VIEW, ALTER VIEW, DROP VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT SHOW VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
CREATE GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema';
GRANT ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role' to 'app_<NAME>_schema';

Application Service Account Create one for each distinct application:

CREATE ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT SHOW VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT LOCK TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
CREATE GROUP 'app_<NAME>';
GRANT ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role' to 'app_<NAME>';

Account Creation

SingleStore recommends the following roles be used as a starting point for all use of the RBAC functionality. It is strongly suggested that these commands be kept in a separate, version-controlled, file and loaded into SingleStore. Depending on requirements, these scripts should be executed on all nodes where users will connect, typically all aggregators and optionally leaves.

Compliance Officer

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'compliance_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'compliance' TO 'compliance_user';

Security Officer

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'security_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'security' TO 'security_user';

Database Administrator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'dba_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'dba' TO 'dba_user';

Workspace Administrator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'workspace_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'workspace' TO 'workspace_user';

Backup Operator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'backup_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'backup_admins' TO 'backup_user';

Application Schema Owner Create one for each distinct application.

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'app_<NAME>_schema_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema' TO 'app_<NAME>_schema_user';

Application Service Accounts Create one for each distinct application. For additional release validation, one may consider creating a number of accounts for the same application and rotating them during code releases. They should all have unique names and unique passwords.

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'app_<NAME>_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema' TO 'app_<NAME>_user';

Appendix: Role-Based Access Control Command Reference

The following commands are available to query the status of the different users, groups, and roles in SingleStore running in RBAC mode.

SHOW USERS;
SHOW USERS FOR ROLE 'role';
SHOW USERS FOR GROUP 'group';
SHOW GROUPS;
SHOW GROUPS FOR ROLE 'role';
SHOW GROUPS FOR USER 'user'@'%';
SHOW ROLES;
SHOW ROLES FOR USER 'user'@'%';
SHOW ROLES FOR GROUP 'group';

Last modified: February 23, 2024

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