10 Snowflake RBAC Best Practices
Snowflake's Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a great way to manage user permissions. Here are 10 best practices to follow.
In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for Snowflake RBAC. Snowflake is a cloud-based data warehouse that uses a role-based access control (RBAC) model to grant users access to the data they need.
RBAC is a type of access control that restricts user access to only the resources that they need. This makes it an important tool for security and data governance.
When implemented correctly, RBAC can help to improve security and data governance. However, there are some best practices that should be followed in order to get the most out of Snowflake RBAC.
1. Use roles instead of users
When you create a user in snowflake, that user is given full access to all data and objects in the account. This means that if that user’s credentials are compromised, an attacker could gain access to sensitive data.
Roles, on the other hand, allow you to granularly control what a user can do within snowflake. For example, you could create a role that only allows a user to query data, but not modify it. This way, even if a user’s credentials are compromised, an attacker would not be able to make any changes to data.
Creating roles also allows you to more easily manage permissions for large numbers of users. For example, if you have a group of users who all need to be able to query data, you can simply add them all to the same role, rather than having to individually grant each user the necessary permissions.
2. Create a role for each type of user
When you have different types of users accessing your data, it’s important to give them each their own role. That way, you can control what each type of user can see and do. For example, you might want to give your sales team access to certain data, but not allow them to make changes to it. Or you might want to give your marketing team access to all of your data, but not allow them to export it.
Creating a role for each type of user ensures that everyone has the appropriate level of access, and helps to keep your data secure.
3. Grant privileges to roles, not users
When you grant privileges to a user, those privileges are valid only for that user. If the user leaves the company or their role changes, they will no longer have access to the data they need.
On the other hand, when you grant privileges to a role, any user who is assigned to that role will have the same privileges. This means that if a user leaves the company or their role changes, their successor will still have access to the data.
It’s also important to note that roles can be nested. This means that you can create a role that has all the privileges of another role, plus additional privileges. This is a powerful way to manage privileges in Snowflake, and it’s one of the reasons why roles are such a flexible and powerful tool.
4. Avoid granting the CREATE USER privilege
The CREATE USER privilege gives users the ability to create new Snowflake user accounts. This means that if a user with this privilege is compromised, an attacker could create new user accounts and use them to gain access to sensitive data.
To avoid this, make sure that only trusted users have the CREATE USER privilege. You can do this by using Snowflake’s built-in roles or by creating custom roles with the appropriate privileges.
5. Avoid granting the ALTER ANY ROLE privilege
The ALTER ANY ROLE privilege gives users the ability to modify role membership and permissions, which can lead to security issues if not used carefully. For example, a user with this privilege could add themselves to a role that has sensitive data access, or they could grant other users excessive privileges that they should not have.
To avoid these problems, it’s best to only grant the ALTER ANY ROLE privilege to trusted users who understand the risks and know how to use it safely.
6. Avoid granting the GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE privilege
The GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE privilege gives users the ability to grant any privileges they have been granted to other users. This means that if a user has been granted the GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE privilege and they also have the CREATE DATABASE privilege, they can grant the CREATE DATABASE privilege to other users.
While this might not seem like a big deal, it can lead to security issues because it allows users to easily escalate their privileges. For example, a user with the GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE privilege and the CREATE DATABASE privilege could create a database and grant the CREATE TABLE privilege to another user. This would give the second user the ability to create tables in the database, which could potentially lead to data loss or corruption.
To avoid these sorts of issues, it’s best to avoid granting the GRANT ANY PRIVILEGE privilege to users unless absolutely necessary.
7. Avoid granting the SET ROLE privilege
The SET ROLE privilege gives users the ability to change their role, which in turn gives them access to different data and permissions. This can be a security risk, as it allows users to easily bypass restrictions and access sensitive data.
It’s best to avoid granting this privilege unless absolutely necessary, and if you do need to grant it, make sure you understand the implications and have proper controls in place.
8. Avoid granting the IMPERSONATE privilege
The IMPERSONATE privilege allows a user to assume the identity of another user. This means that if User A has the IMPERSONATE privilege on User B, then User A can do anything that User B can do.
This is a major security risk because it effectively bypasses all of the controls that are in place to prevent unauthorized access. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that only users who absolutely need the IMPERSONATE privilege have it.
9. Avoid granting the MODIFY SECURITY INTEGRATION privilege
The MODIFY SECURITY INTEGRATION privilege gives users the ability to modify security integrations, which includes the ability to change the configuration of existing integrations as well as create new ones. This is a very powerful privilege that should only be granted to a small number of users, if any.
The reason this privilege is so dangerous is because it can be used to bypass security controls and gain access to sensitive data. For example, a user with this privilege could create a new security integration that allows them to bypass authentication and access data that they otherwise would not have access to.
Therefore, it is important to carefully consider who you grant this privilege to and to make sure that only those who absolutely need it have it.
10. Avoid granting the MANAGE ALL WAREHOUSES privilege
The MANAGE ALL WAREHOUSES privilege gives users the ability to create, alter, and drop warehouses. This is a very powerful privilege that should only be granted to a select few users, such as database administrators.
If this privilege is granted to too many users, it can lead to chaos, as users will be able to create and delete warehouses at will. This can cause problems with data consistency and availability, and can even lead to data loss.
Therefore, it’s important to carefully consider who you grant this privilege to, and to make sure that only those who absolutely need it have access to it.
