Metadata visibility configuration

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW)

The visibility of metadata is limited to securables that a user either owns or on which the user has been granted some permission.

For example, the following query returns a row if the user grants a permission such as SELECT or INSERT on the table myTable.

SELECT name, object_id
FROM sys.tables
WHERE name = N'myTable';
GO

However, if the user has no permission on myTable, the query returns an empty result set.

Scope and impact of metadata visibility configuration

Metadata visibility configuration only applies to the following securables:

• Catalog views
• Metadata exposing built-in functions
• Compatibility views
• Database Engine sp_help stored procedures
• Information schema views
• Extended properties

Metadata visibility configuration doesn't apply to the following securables:

• Log shipping system tables
• Database maintenance plan system tables
• Replication system tables
• SQL Server Agent system tables
• Backup system tables
• Replication and SQL Server Agent sp_help stored procedures

Limited metadata accessibility means the following:

• Queries on system views might only return a subset of rows, or sometimes an empty result set.
• Metadata-emitting, built-in functions such as OBJECTPROPERTYEX might return NULL.
• The Database Engine sp_help stored procedures might return only a subset of rows, or NULL.
• As a result, applications that assume public metadata access breaks.

SQL modules, such as stored procedures and triggers, run under the security context of the caller and, therefore, have limited metadata accessibility. For example, in the following code, when the stored procedure tries to access metadata for the table myTable on which the caller has no rights, an empty result set is returned. In earlier releases of SQL Server, a row is returned.

CREATE PROCEDURE assumes_caller_can_access_metadata
BEGIN
SELECT name, object_id
FROM sys.objects
WHERE name = N'myTable';
END;
GO

To allow callers to view metadata, you can grant the callers VIEW DEFINITION permission, or in SQL Server 2022 (16.x) and later versions, either VIEW SECURITY DEFINITION or VIEW PERFORMANCE DEFINITION at an appropriate scope: object level, database level, or server level. Therefore, in the previous example, if the caller has VIEW DEFINITION permission on myTable, the stored procedure returns a row. For more information, see GRANT and GRANT Database Permissions.

You can also modify the stored procedure so that it executes under the credentials of the owner. When the procedure owner and the table owner are the same owner, ownership chaining applies, and the security context of the procedure owner enables access to the metadata for myTable. Under this scenario, the following code returns a row of metadata to the caller.

CREATE PROCEDURE does_not_assume_caller_can_access_metadata
WITH EXECUTE AS OWNER
AS
BEGIN
    SELECT name, object_id
    FROM sys.objects
    WHERE name = N'myTable';
END
GO

Benefits and limits of metadata visibility configuration

Metadata visibility configuration can play an important role in your overall security plan. However, there are cases in which a skilled and determined user can force the disclosure of some metadata. We recommend that you deploy metadata permissions as one of many defenses-in-depth.

It's theoretically possible to force the emission of metadata in error messages by manipulating the order of predicate evaluation in queries. The possibility of such trial-and-error attacks isn't specific to SQL Server. It's implied by the associative and commutative transformations permitted in relational algebra. You can mitigate this risk by limiting the information returned in error messages. To further restrict the visibility of metadata in this way, you can start the server with trace flag 3625. This trace flag limits the amount of information shown in error messages. In turn, this helps to prevent forced disclosures. The tradeoff is that error messages are terse and might be difficult to use for debugging purposes. For more information, see Database Engine Service startup options and Trace Flags.

The following metadata isn't subject to forced disclosure:

• The value stored in the provider_string column of sys.servers. A user that doesn't have ALTER ANY LINKED SERVER permission sees a NULL value in this column.

• Source definition of a user-defined object such as a stored procedure or trigger. The source code is visible only when one of the following conditions is true:

  • The user has VIEW DEFINITION permission on the object.

  • The user hasn't been denied VIEW DEFINITION permission on the object and has CONTROL, ALTER, or TAKE OWNERSHIP permission on the object. All other users see NULL.

• The definition columns found in the following catalog views:

  • sys.all_sql_modules
  • sys.server_sql_modules
  • sys.default_constraints
  • sys.numbered_procedures
  • sys.sql_modules
  • sys.check_constraints
  • sys.computed_columns

• The ctext column in the syscomments compatibility view.

• The output of the sp_helptext procedure.

• The following columns in the information schema views:

  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CHECK_CONSTRAINTS.CHECK_CLAUSE
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.DOMAINS.DOMAIN_DEFAULT
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES.ROUTINE_DEFINITION
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS.COLUMN_DEFAULT
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINE_COLUMNS.COLUMN_DEFAULT
  • INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEWS.VIEW_DEFINITION

• OBJECT_DEFINITION() function

• The value stored in the password_hash column of sys.sql_logins. A user that doesn't have CONTROL SERVER, or in SQL Server 2022 (16.x) and later versions, the VIEW ANY CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY SECURED DEFINITION permission sees a NULL value in this column.

The SQL definitions of built-in system procedures and functions are publicly visible through the sys.system_sql_modules catalog view, the sp_helptext stored procedure, and the OBJECT_DEFINITION() function.

General principles of metadata visibility

The following are some general principles to consider regarding metadata visibility:

• Fixed roles implicit permissions
• Scope of permissions
• Precedence of DENY
• Visibility of subcomponent metadata

Fixed roles and implicit permissions

Metadata that can be accessed by fixed roles depends upon their corresponding implicit permissions.

Scope of permissions

Permissions at one scope imply the ability to see metadata at that scope and at all enclosed scopes. For example, SELECT permission on a schema implies that the grantee has SELECT permission on all securables that are contained by that schema. The granting of SELECT permission on a schema therefore enables a user to see the metadata of the schema and also all tables, views, functions, procedures, queues, synonyms, types, and XML schema collections within it. For more information about scopes, see Permissions Hierarchy (Database Engine).

Precedence of DENY

DENY typically takes precedence over other permissions. For example, if a database user is granted EXECUTE permission on a schema but has been denied EXECUTE permission on a stored procedure in that schema, the user can't view the metadata for that stored procedure.

Additionally, if a user is denied EXECUTE permission on a schema but has been granted EXECUTE permission on a stored procedure in that schema, the user can't view the metadata for that stored procedure.

For another example, if a user has been granted and denied EXECUTE permission on a stored procedure, which is possible through your various role memberships, DENY takes precedence and the user can't view the metadata of the stored procedure.

Visibility of subcomponent metadata

The visibility of subcomponents, such as indexes, check constraints, and triggers are determined by permissions on the parent. These subcomponents don't have grantable permissions. For example, if a user has been granted some permission on a table, the user can view the metadata for the tables, columns, indexes, check constraints, triggers, and other such subcomponents. Another example is granting SELECT on only an individual column of a given table: this allows the grantee to view the metadata of the whole table, including all columns. One way to think of it, is that the VIEW DEFINITION permission only works on entity-level (the table in this case) and isn't available for Subentity lists (such as column or security expressions).

The following code demonstrates this behavior:

CREATE TABLE t1
(
    c1 INT,
    c2 VARCHAR
);
GO

CREATE USER testUser WITHOUT LOGIN;
GO

EXECUTE AS USER = 'testUser';

SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(object_id),
       OBJECT_NAME(object_id),
       name
FROM sys.columns;

SELECT * FROM sys.tables;
-- this returns no data, as the user has no permissions

REVERT;
GO

-- granting SELECT on only 1 column of the table:
GRANT SELECT ON t1 (c1) TO testUser;
GO

EXECUTE AS USER = 'testUser';

SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(object_id),
       OBJECT_NAME(object_id),
       name
FROM sys.columns;

SELECT * FROM sys.tables;
-- this returns metadata for all columns of the table and the table itself
;

REVERT;
GO

DROP TABLE t1;
DROP USER testUser;

Metadata that is accessible to all database users

Some metadata must be accessible to all users in a specific database. For example, filegroups don't have conferrable permissions; therefore, a user can't be granted permission to view the metadata of a filegroup. However, any user that can create a table must be able to access filegroup metadata to use the ON <filegroup> or TEXTIMAGE_ON <filegroup> clauses of the CREATE TABLE statement.

The metadata that is returned by the DB_ID() and DB_NAME() functions is visible to all users.

This is a list of the catalog views that are visible to the public role.

• sys.allocation_units
• sys.column_type_usages
• sys.configurations
• sys.data_spaces
• sys.database_files
• sys.destination_data_spaces
• sys.filegroups
• sys.messages
• sys.parameter_type_usages
• sys.partition_functions
• sys.partition_range_values
• sys.partition_schemes
• sys.partitions
• sys.schemas
• sys.sql_dependencies
• sys.type_assembly_usages

Related content

• GRANT (Transact-SQL)
• DENY (Transact-SQL)
• REVOKE (Transact-SQL)
• EXECUTE AS Clause (Transact-SQL)
• System catalog views (Transact-SQL)
• System Compatibility Views (Transact-SQL)