GRANT Database Principal Permissions (Transact-SQL)

Article
05/23/2023

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

Grants permissions on a database user, database role, or application role in SQL Server.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

GRANT permission [ ,...n ]    
    ON   
    {  [ USER :: database_user ]  
     | [ ROLE :: database_role ]  
     | [ APPLICATION ROLE :: application_role ]  
    }  
    TO <database_principal> [ ,...n ]  
       [ WITH GRANT OPTION ]  
       [ AS <database_principal> ]  
  
<database_principal> ::=  
    Database_user   
  | Database_role   
  | Application_role   
  | Database_user_mapped_to_Windows_User   
  | Database_user_mapped_to_Windows_Group   
  | Database_user_mapped_to_certificate   
  | Database_user_mapped_to_asymmetric_key   
  | Database_user_with_no_login

Arguments

permission
Specifies a permission that can be granted on the database principal. For a list of the permissions, see the Remarks section later in this topic.

USER ::database_user
Specifies the class and name of the user on which the permission is being granted. The scope qualifier (::) is required.

ROLE ::database_role
Specifies the class and name of the role on which the permission is being granted. The scope qualifier (::) is required.

APPLICATION ROLE ::application_role

Specifies the class and name of the application role on which the permission is being granted. The scope qualifier (::) is required.

WITH GRANT OPTION
Indicates that the principal will also be given the ability to grant the specified permission to other principals.

AS <database_principal>
Specifies a principal from which the principal executing this query derives its right to grant the permission.

Database_user
Specifies a database user.

Database_role
Specifies a database role.

Application_role
Applies to: SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) and later, SQL Database.

Specifies an application role.

Database_user_mapped_to_Windows_User
Specifies a database user mapped to a Windows user.

Database_user_mapped_to_Windows_Group

Specifies a database user mapped to a Windows group.

Database_user_mapped_to_certificate

Specifies a database user mapped to a certificate.

Database_user_mapped_to_asymmetric_key

Specifies a database user mapped to an asymmetric key.

Database_user_with_no_login
Specifies a database user with no corresponding server-level principal.

Remarks

Information about database principals is visible in the sys.database_principals catalog view. Information about database-level permissions is visible in the sys.database_permissions catalog view.

Database User Permissions

A database user is a database-level securable contained by the database that is its parent in the permissions hierarchy. The most specific and limited permissions that can be granted on a database user are listed in the following table, together with the more general permissions that include them by implication.

Database user permission	Implied by database user permission	Implied by database permission
CONTROL	CONTROL	CONTROL
IMPERSONATE	CONTROL	CONTROL
ALTER	CONTROL	ALTER ANY USER
VIEW DEFINITION	CONTROL	VIEW DEFINITION

Database Role Permissions

A database role is a database-level securable contained by the database that is its parent in the permissions hierarchy. The most specific and limited permissions that can be granted on a database role are listed in the following table, together with the more general permissions that include them by implication.

Database role permission	Implied by database role permission	Implied by database permission
CONTROL	CONTROL	CONTROL
TAKE OWNERSHIP	CONTROL	CONTROL
ALTER	CONTROL	ALTER ANY ROLE
VIEW DEFINITION	CONTROL	VIEW DEFINITION

Application Role Permissions

An application role is a database-level securable contained by the database that is its parent in the permissions hierarchy. The most specific and limited permissions that can be granted on an application role are listed in the following, together with the more general permissions that include them by implication.

Application role permission	Implied by application role permission	Implied by database permission
CONTROL	CONTROL	CONTROL
ALTER	CONTROL	ALTER ANY APPLICATION ROLE
VIEW DEFINITION	CONTROL	VIEW DEFINITION

Permissions

The grantor (or the principal specified with the AS option) must have either the permission itself with GRANT OPTION, or a higher permission that implies the permission being granted.

If you are using the AS option, the following additional requirements apply.

AS granting_principal	Additional permission required
Database user	IMPERSONATE permission on the user, membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database user mapped to a Windows User	IMPERSONATE permission on the user, membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database user mapped to a Windows Group	Membership in the Windows group, membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database user mapped to a certificate	Membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database user mapped to an asymmetric key	Membership in the db_securityadminfixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database user not mapped to any server principal	IMPERSONATE permission on the user, membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Database role	ALTER permission on the role, membership in the db_securityadminfixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.
Application role	ALTER permission on the role, membership in the db_securityadmin fixed database role, membership in the db_owner fixed database role, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.

Principals that have CONTROL permission on a securable can grant permission on that securable.

Grantees of CONTROL permission on a database, such as members of the db_owner fixed database role, can grant any permission on any securable in the database.

Examples

A. Granting CONTROL permission on a user to another user

The following example grants CONTROL permission on AdventureWorks2022 user Wanida to user RolandX.

GRANT CONTROL ON USER::Wanida TO RolandX;  
GO

B. Granting VIEW DEFINITION permission on a role to a user with GRANT OPTION

The following example grants VIEW DEFINITION permission on AdventureWorks2022 role SammamishParking together with GRANT OPTION to database user JinghaoLiu.

GRANT VIEW DEFINITION ON ROLE::SammamishParking   
    TO JinghaoLiu WITH GRANT OPTION;  
GO

C. Granting IMPERSONATE permission on a user to an application role

The following example grants IMPERSONATE permission on user HamithaL to AdventureWorks2022 application role AccountsPayable17.

Applies to: SQL Server 2008 (10.0.x) and later, SQL Database.

GRANT IMPERSONATE ON USER::HamithaL TO AccountsPayable17;  
GO

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