REVOKE v11

Name

REVOKE -- remove access privileges.

Synopsis

REVOKE { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE | REFERENCES }
  [,...] | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
  ON tablename
  FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC } [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE { SELECT | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
  ON sequencename
  FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC } [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE { EXECUTE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
  ON FUNCTION progname
    ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype ] [, ...] )
  FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC } [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE { EXECUTE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
  ON PROCEDURE progname
    [ ( [ [ argmode ] [ argname ] argtype ] [, ...] ) ]
  FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC } [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE { EXECUTE | ALL [ PRIVILEGES ] }
  ON PACKAGE packagename
  FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC } [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE role [, ...] FROM { username | groupname | PUBLIC }
  [, ...]
  [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

REVOKE { CONNECT | RESOURCE | DBA } [, ...]
  FROM { username | groupname } [, ...]

REVOKE CREATE [ PUBLIC ] DATABASE LINK
  FROM { username | groupname }

REVOKE DROP PUBLIC DATABASE LINK
  FROM { username | groupname }

REVOKE EXEMPT ACCESS POLICY
  FROM { username | groupname }

Description

The REVOKE command revokes previously granted privileges from one or more roles. The key word PUBLIC refers to the implicitly defined group of all roles.

See the description of the GRANT command for the meaning of the privilege types.

Note that any particular role will have the sum of privileges granted directly to it, privileges granted to any role it is presently a member of, and privileges granted to PUBLIC. Thus, for example, revoking SELECT privilege from PUBLIC does not necessarily mean that all roles have lost SELECT privilege on the object: those who have it granted directly or via another role will still have it.

If the privilege had been granted with the grant option, the grant option for the privilege is revoked as well as the privilege, itself.

If a user holds a privilege with grant option and has granted it to other users then the privileges held by those other users are called dependent privileges. If the privilege or the grant option held by the first user is being revoked and dependent privileges exist, those dependent privileges are also revoked if CASCADE is specified, else the revoke action will fail. This recursive revocation only affects privileges that were granted through a chain of users that is traceable to the user that is the subject of this REVOKE command. Thus, the affected users may effectively keep the privilege if it was also granted through other users.

When revoking membership in a role, GRANT OPTION is instead called ADMIN OPTION, but the behavior is similar.

Notes

A user can only revoke privileges that were granted directly by that user. If, for example, user A has granted a privilege with grant option to user B, and user B has in turned granted it to user C, then user A cannot revoke the privilege directly from C. Instead, user A could revoke the grant option from user B and use the CASCADE option so that the privilege is in turn revoked from user C. For another example, if both A and B have granted the same privilege to C, A can revoke his own grant but not B’s grant, so C will still effectively have the privilege.

When a non-owner of an object attempts to REVOKE privileges on the object, the command will fail outright if the user has no privileges whatsoever on the object. As long as some privilege is available, the command will proceed, but it will revoke only those privileges for which the user has grant options. The REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES forms will issue a warning message if no grant options are held, while the other forms will issue a warning if grant options for any of the privileges specifically named in the command are not held. (In principle these statements apply to the object owner as well, but since the owner is always treated as holding all grant options, the cases can never occur.)

If a superuser chooses to issue a GRANT or REVOKE command, the command is performed as though it were issued by the owner of the affected object. Since all privileges ultimately come from the object owner (possibly indirectly via chains of grant options), it is possible for a superuser to revoke all privileges, but this may require use of CASCADE as stated above.

REVOKE can also be done by a role that is not the owner of the affected object, but is a member of the role that owns the object, or is a member of a role that holds privileges WITH GRANT OPTION on the object. In this case the command is performed as though it were issued by the containing role that actually owns the object or holds the privileges WITH GRANT OPTION. For example, if table t1 is owned by role g1, of which role u1 is a member, then u1 can revoke privileges on t1 that are recorded as being granted by g1. This would include grants made by u1 as well as by other members of role g1.

If the role executing REVOKE holds privileges indirectly via more than one role membership path, it is unspecified which containing role will be used to perform the command. In such cases it is best practice to use SET ROLE to become the specific role you want to do the REVOKE as. Failure to do so may lead to revoking privileges other than the ones you intended, or not revoking anything at all.

Examples

Revoke insert privilege for the public on table emp:

REVOKE INSERT ON emp FROM PUBLIC;

Revoke all privileges from user mary on view salesemp:

REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES ON salesemp FROM mary;

Note that this actually means “revoke all privileges that I granted”.

Revoke membership in role admins from user joe:

REVOKE admins FROM joe;

Revoke CONNECT privilege from user joe:

REVOKE CONNECT FROM joe;

Revoke CREATE DATABASE LINK privilege from user joe:

REVOKE CREATE DATABASE LINK FROM joe;

Revoke the EXEMPT ACCESS POLICY privilege from user joe:

REVOKE EXEMPT ACCESS POLICY FROM joe;

See Also

GRANT, SET ROLE