Overview

One outcome of a recent investigation into misleading permission set configuration (https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/FOLIO-2565) is a set of new guidelines for permission sets.  This document was reviewed and approved by the Tech Leads Group on 2020-05-13 / 2020-05-20. 

Naming Conventions

1. Name the permission sets appropriately, e.g. avoid inclusion of POST/PUT/DELETE permissions in "*.view" permission sets.
   
   

   • Clear: 

     { "permissionName": "ui-erm-usage.view-create-edit", "displayName": "eUsage: Can view, create and edit usage data providers and COUNTER reports", "id": "ade748af-66b5-4584-a319-3cac20899241", "description": "Can view, create and edit usage data providers and COUNTER reports", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "module.erm-usage.enabled", "usagedataproviders.collection.get", "usagedataproviders.item.get", "usagedataproviders.item.post", "usagedataproviders.item.put", "counterreports.collection.get", "counterreports.item.get", "counterreports.item.post", "counterreports.item.put", "aggregatorsettings.collection.get", "aggregatorsettings.item.get" ], "childOf": [], "grantedTo": [ "fba0106d-e2ad-494e-8958-ce5b447ab2aa" ], "mutable": false, "visible": true, "dummy": false }

   • Misleading: 

     { "permissionName": "ui-receiving.basic.view", "displayName": "Receiving: Basic view", "id": "5542bb26-9eff-4699-a7c5-6e6a049979d7", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "module.receiving.enabled", "orders.item.get", "orders.pieces.item.post", "orders.pieces.item.put", "orders.po-lines.collection.get", "orders.titles.collection.get", "orders.titles.item.get", "ui-receiving.third-party-services" ], "childOf": [ "ui-receiving.view" ], "grantedTo": [], "mutable": false, "visible": false, "dummy": false }

2. Permission sets for modulePermissions should use the "modperms" prefix.  These also should not be visible as they aren't intended to be assigned to users.

   • Example: 

     "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.loans.anonymize", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.override-renewal-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.renew-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.move.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.renew-by-id.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.override-check-out-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.item.put", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.requests.instances.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.circulation.check-out-by-barcode.post", "permissionName": "modperms.orders.item.post", "permissionName": "modperms.orders.item.put",

Backend Modules

• Avoid inclusion of other modules permissions in your permission sets.  For example, mod-foo's permission set foo.all shouldn't include mod-bar's bar.item.get permission.  Here it's the module that needs the permission, not the user.

  • Do:  include the other module's permission(s) in your modulePermissions (or non-visible modulePermission sets - see above)

  • Don't:  include other modules permissions in your visible permission sets that will be assigned to users.

Visible Permission Sets

• Be careful about making a permission set visible.  Permissions should only have visible=true if/when they're intended to be granted to a user.  Permission sets for modulePermissions should not be visible.

UI Modules

• Define separate permission sets for settings if other other module permissions are needed (e.g. configuration.entries.collection.get). 

  • Example: "ui-users.settings.customfields.edit" probably needs configuration.entries.collection.get, but "ui-users.view" probably doesn't.  If needed, additional permission sets should be created with appropriate names.

  • Example:  Should we really be granting users, source-storage, circulation, configuration, etc. permissions from a ui-inventory permission set?  

    { "permissionName" : "ui-inventory.instance.view", "displayName" : "Inventory: View instances, holdings, and items", "id" : "885b608a-2423-44bb-bcc2-68daaa7383b6", "tags" : [ ], "subPermissions" : [ "module.inventory.enabled", "users.collection.get", "source-storage.records.get", "circulation.loans.collection.get", "circulation.loans.collection.get", "circulation.requests.collection.get", "configuration.entries.collection.get", "inventory.config.instances.blocked-fields.get", "inventory.instances.collection.get", "inventory.instances.item.get", "inventory.items.collection.get", "inventory.items.item.get", "inventory-storage.items.item.get", "inventory-storage.items.collection.get", "inventory-storage.identifier-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.contributor-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.contributor-name-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.call-number-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.item-note-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.item-damaged-statuses.collection.get", "inventory-storage.nature-of-content-terms.collection.get", "inventory-storage.classification-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.alternative-title-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.locations.collection.get", "inventory-storage.locations.item.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.institutions.collection.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.institutions.item.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.campuses.collection.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.campuses.item.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.libraries.collection.get", "inventory-storage.location-units.libraries.item.get", "inventory-storage.modes-of-issuance.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instance-formats.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instance-statuses.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instance-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instance-relationship-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instance-note-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.instances.item.get", "inventory-storage.electronic-access-relationships.collection.get", "inventory-storage.statistical-code-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.statistical-codes.collection.get", "inventory-storage.ill-policies.collection.get", "inventory-storage.holdings-note-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.holdings-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.holdings.collection.get", "inventory-storage.holdings.item.get", "inventory-storage.material-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.loan-types.collection.get", "inventory-storage.service-points.get", "inventory-storage.service-points.collection.get", "inventory-storage.hrid-settings.item.get", "inventory-storage.instance-bulk.ids.get" ], "childOf" : [ "ui-inventory.instance.create", "ui-inventory.item.create", "ui-inventory.holdings.create", "ui-inventory.instance.view-staff-suppressed-records", "ui-inventory.all-permissions.TEMPORARY" ], "grantedTo" : [ ], "mutable" : false, "visible" : true, "dummy" : false }

Using *.all Permissions

• Only include *.all permissions when absolutely sure it's necessary/appropriate.  Instead use just the permissions actually needed.

  • Example of a permission set that probably abuses *.all permissions 

    { "permissionName": "ui-checkin.all", "displayName": "Check in: All permissions", "id": "094310c8-cd71-4b76-a10d-2921ccd10654", "description": "Entire set of permissions needed to use Checkin", "tags": [], "subPermissions": [ "circulation.all", "circulation-storage.all", "configuration.all", "users.collection.get", "usergroups.collection.get", "module.checkin.enabled", "inventory.items.collection.get", "inventory-storage.service-points.collection.get" ], "childOf": [], "grantedTo": [ "fba0106d-e2ad-494e-8958-ce5b447ab2aa" ], "mutable": false, "visible": true, "dummy": false }

Other Considerations

• Sensitive information should NEVER be stored in mod-configuration. SMTP credentials, RMAPI credentials, etc. should be stored behind their own endpoints which are protected with distinct permissions.

• We might want to take a look at ways to make the permissions of this module more granular, perhaps something could be done using desiredPermissions / X-Okapi-Permissions? Though I'm not sure this is really doable or even worth it. I think I'm in favor of just moving away from mod-configuration altogether (see below)

• We should consider moving away from using mod-configuration in general. The cross-app nature of this module makes it difficult to deal with other things like sample/reference data... what if you want some reference data loaded into mod-configuration, but not all of it?

  • See https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/FOLIO-2583

  • One use case where it probably makes sense to continue to have centralized configuration is for things that are truly shared across multiple apps, e.g. the tenant settings

• How do we handle "migration" of permission sets as teams clean things up?

  • One idea is to do something like add a field to the module descriptor that allows you to specify that this permission set "replaces" one named XYZ.  This would result the swapping and cleanup of permissions.

  • See https://folio-org.atlassian.net/browse/FOLIO-2607

Appendix

Examples of Permission Sets with Misleading Names