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RBAC Reference
Available with Kong Gateway Enterprise subscription - Contact Sales

Kong Kong Gateway’s RBAC feature is configurable through Kong’s Admin API or via the Kong Manager.

There are 4 basic entities involving RBAC.

User: The entity interacting with the system. Can be associated with zero, one or more roles. Example: user bob has token 1234.
Role: Set of permissions (role_endpoint and role_entity). Has a name and can be associated with zero, one or more permissions. Example: user bob is associated with role developer.
role_endpoint: A set of enabled or disabled (see negative parameter) actions (read, create, update, delete) endpoint. Example: Role developer has 1 role_endpoint: read & write to endpoint /routes
role_entity: A set of enabled or disabled (see negative parameter) actions (read, create, update, delete) entity. Example: Role developer has 1 role_entity: read & write & delete to entity 283fccff-2d4f-49a9-8730-dc8b71ec2245.

Add a User

Endpoint

/rbac/users

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`name`	The RBAC user name.
`user_token`	The authentication token to be presented to the Admin API. The value will be hashed and cannot be fetched in plaintext.
`enabled` optional	A flag to enable or disable the user. By default, users are enabled.
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC user object.

Response

HTTP 201 Created

{
  "comment": null,
  "created_at": 1557522650,
  "enabled": true,
  "id": "fa6881b2-f49f-4007-9475-577cd21d34f4",
  "name": "doc_knight",
  "user_token": "$2b$09$Za30VKAAAmyoB9zF2PNEF.9hgKcN2BdKkptPMCubPK/Ps08lzZjYG",
  "user_token_ident": "4d870"
}

Retrieve a User

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "created_at": 1557522650,
  "enabled": true,
  "id": "fa6881b2-f49f-4007-9475-577cd21d34f4",
  "name": "doc_lord",
  "user_token": "$2b$09$Za30VKAAAmyoB9zF2PNEF.9hgKcN2BdKkptPMCubPK/Ps08lzZjYG",
  "user_token_ident": "4d870"
}

List Users

Endpoint

/rbac/users/

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "data": [
    {
      "comment": null,
      "created_at": 1557512629,
      "enabled": true,
      "id": "f035f120-a95e-4327-b2ae-8fa264601d75",
      "name": "doc_lord",
      "user_token": "$2b$09$TIMneYcTosdG9WbzRsqcweAS2zote8g6I8HqXAtbFHR1pds2ymsh6",
      "user_token_ident": "88ea3"
    },
    {
      "comment": null,
      "created_at": 1557522650,
      "enabled": true,
      "id": "fa6881b2-f49f-4007-9475-577cd21d34f4",
      "name": "doc_knight",
      "user_token": "$2b$09$Za30VKAAAmyoB9zF2PNEF.9hgKcN2BdKkptPMCubPK/Ps08lzZjYG",
      "user_token_ident": "4d870"
    }
  ],
  "next": null
}

⚠️ Note: RBAC Users associated with Admins will not be listed with GET /rbac/users. Instead, use GET /admins to list all Admins.

Update a User

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`user_token` optional	The authentication token to be presented to the Admin API. If this value is not present, the token will automatically be generated.
`enabled` optional	A flag to enable or disable the user. By default, users are enabled.
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC user object.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "comment": "this comment came from a patch request",
  "created_at": 1557522650,
  "enabled": true,
  "id": "fa6881b2-f49f-4007-9475-577cd21d34f4",
  "name": "donut_lord",
  "user_token": "$2b$09$Za30VKAAAmyoB9zF2PNEF.9hgKcN2BdKkptPMCubPK/Ps08lzZjYG",
  "user_token_ident": "4d870"
}

Delete a User

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 204 No Content

Add a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/roles

Attribute	Description
`name`	The RBAC role name.
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC user object.

Response

HTTP 201 Created

{
  "comment": null,
  "created_at": 1557532241,
  "id": "b5c5cfd4-3330-4796-9b7b-6026e91e3ad6",
  "is_default": false,
  "name": "service_reader"
}

Retrieve a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "created_at": 1557532241,
  "id": "b5c5cfd4-3330-4796-9b7b-6026e91e3ad6",
  "is_default": false,
  "name": "service_reader"
}

List Roles

Endpoint

/rbac/roles

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "data": [
    {
      "comment": "Full access to all endpoints, across all workspaces—except RBAC Admin API",
      "created_at": 1557506249,
      "id": "38a03d47-faae-4366-b430-f6c10aee5029",
      "name": "admin"
    },
    {
      "comment": "Read access to all endpoints, across all workspaces",
      "created_at": 1557506249,
      "id": "4141675c-8beb-41a5-aa04-6258ab2d2f7f",
      "name": "read-only"
    },
    {
      "comment": "Full access to all endpoints, across all workspaces",
      "created_at": 1557506249,
      "id": "888117e0-f2b3-404d-823b-dee595423505",
      "name": "super-admin"
    },
    {
      "comment": null,
      "created_at": 1557532241,
      "id": "b5c5cfd4-3330-4796-9b7b-6026e91e3ad6",
      "name": "doc_lord"
    }
  ],
  "next": null
}

Update or Create a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`name`	The RBAC role name.
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC user object.

The behavior of PUT endpoints is the following: if the request payload does contain an entity’s primary key, the payload will “replace” the entity specified by the given primary key. If the primary key is not that of an existing entity, the entity will be created with the given payload.

Response

If creating the entity:

HTTP 201 Created

If replacing the entity:

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "comment": "the best",
  "created_at": 1557532566,
  "id": "b5c5cfd4-3330-4796-9b7b-6026e91e3ad6",
  "is_default": false,
  "name": "doc_lord"
}

Update a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC role object.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "comment": "comment from patch request",
  "created_at": 1557532566,
  "id": "b5c5cfd4-3330-4796-9b7b-6026e91e3ad6",
  "is_default": false,
  "name": "service_reader"
}

Delete a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}

Attribute	Description
`name`	The RBAC role name.

Response

HTTP 204 No Content

Add a Role Endpoint Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/endpoints

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`workspace`	Workspace tied to the endpoint. Defaults to the default permission. Special value of “” means all* workspaces are affected
`endpoint`	Endpoint associated with this permission.
`negative`	If true, explicitly disallow the actions associated with the permissions tied to this endpoint. By default this value is false.
`actions`	One or more actions associated with this permission. This is a comma separated string (read,create,update,delete)
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC permission object.

endpoint must be the path of the associated endpoint. They can be exact matches, or contain wildcards, represented by *.

Exact matches:
- /services/
- /services/foo
Wildcards:
- /services/*
- /services/*/plugins

Where * replaces exactly one segment between slashes (or the end of the path).

Note that wildcards can be nested (/rbac/*, /rbac/*/*, /rbac/*/*/* would refer to all paths under /rbac/)

Response

HTTP 201 Created

{
  "actions": [
    "delete",
    "create",
    "update",
    "read"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557764505,
  "endpoint": "/consumers",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "23df9f20-e7cc-4da4-bc89-d3a08f976e50"
  },
  "workspace": "default"
}

Retrieve a Role Endpoint Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/endpoints/{workspace_name_or_id}/{endpoint}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.
`workspace_name_or_id`	The workspace name or UUID.
`endpoint`	The endpoint associated with this permission.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "actions": [
    "delete",
    "create",
    "update",
    "read"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557764505,
  "endpoint": "/consumers",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "23df9f20-e7cc-4da4-bc89-d3a08f976e50"
  },
  "workspace": "default"
}

List Role Endpoints Permissions

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{role_name_or_id}/endpoints

Attribute	Description
`role_name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "data": [
    {
      "actions": [
        "delete",
        "create",
        "update",
        "read"
      ],
      "created_at": 1557764505,
      "endpoint": "/consumers",
      "negative": false,
      "role": {
        "id": "23df9f20-e7cc-4da4-bc89-d3a08f976e50"
      },
      "workspace": "default"
    },
    {
      "actions": [
        "read"
      ],
      "created_at": 1557764438,
      "endpoint": "/services",
      "negative": false,
      "role": {
        "id": "23df9f20-e7cc-4da4-bc89-d3a08f976e50"
      },
      "workspace": "default"
    }
  ]
}

Update a Role Endpoint Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/endpoints/{workspace_name_or_id}/{endpoint}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.
`workspace_name_or_id`	The workspace name or UUID.
`endpoint`	The endpoint associated with this permission.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`negative`	If true, explicitly disallow the actions associated with the permissions tied to this resource. By default this value is false.
`actions`	One or more actions associated with this permission.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "actions": [
    "delete",
    "create",
    "update",
    "read"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557764438,
  "endpoint": "/services",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "23df9f20-e7cc-4da4-bc89-d3a08f976e50"
  },
  "workspace": "default"
}

Delete a Role Endpoint Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/endpoints/{workspace_name_or_id}/{endpoint}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.
`workspace_name_or_id`	The workspace name or UUID.
`endpoint`	The endpoint associated with this permission.

Response

HTTP 204 No Content

Add a Role Entity Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/entities

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`negative`	If true, explicitly disallow the actions associated with the permissions tied to this resource. By default this value is false.
`entity_id`	id of the entity associated with this permission.
`entity_type`	Type of the entity of a given `entity_id`.
`actions`	One or more actions associated with this permission.
`comment` optional	A string describing the RBAC permission object

entity_id must be the ID of an entity in Kong; if the ID of a workspace is given, the permission will apply to all entities in that workspace. Future entities belonging to that workspace will get the same permissions. A wildcard * will be interpreted as all entities in the system.

Response

HTTP 201 Created

{
  "actions": [
    "delete",
    "create",
    "read"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557771505,
  "entity_id": "*",
  "entity_type": "wildcard",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "bba049fa-bf7e-40ef-8e89-553dda292e99"
  }
}

Retrieve a Role Entity Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/entities/{entity_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC permission name or UUID.
`entity_id`	id of the entity associated with this permission.

Response

HTTP 200 Ok

{
  "actions": [
    "delete",
    "create",
    "read"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557771505,
  "entity_id": "*",
  "entity_type": "wildcard",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "bba049fa-bf7e-40ef-8e89-553dda292e99"
  }
}

List Entity Permissions

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/entities

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC permission name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 Ok

{
  "data": [
    {
      "actions": [
        "delete",
        "create",
        "read"
      ],
      "created_at": 1557771505,
      "entity_id": "*",
      "entity_type": "wildcard",
      "negative": false,
      "role": {
        "id": "bba049fa-bf7e-40ef-8e89-553dda292e99"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Update an Entity Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/entities/{entity_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.
`entity_id`	The entity name or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`negative`	If true, explicitly disallow the actions associated with the permissions tied to this resource. By default this value is false.
`actions`	One or more actions associated with this permission.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "actions": [
    "update"
  ],
  "created_at": 1557771505,
  "entity_id": "*",
  "entity_type": "wildcard",
  "negative": false,
  "role": {
    "id": "bba049fa-bf7e-40ef-8e89-553dda292e99"
  }
}

Delete an Entity Permission

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/entities/{entity_id}

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.
`entity_id`	The entity name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 204 No Content

List Role Permissions

Endpoint

/rbac/roles/{name_or_id}/permissions/

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC role name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "endpoints": {
    "*": {
      "*": {
        "actions": [
          "delete",
          "create",
          "update",
          "read"
        ],
        "negative": false
      },
      "/*/rbac/*": {
        "actions": [
          "delete",
          "create",
          "update",
          "read"
        ],
        "negative": true
      }
    }
  },
  "entities": {}
}

Add a User to a Role

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}/roles

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`roles`	Comma-separated list of role names to assign to the user.

Response

HTTP 201 Created

{
  "roles": [
    {
      "created_at": 1557772263,
      "id": "aae80073-095f-4553-ba9a-bee5ed3b8b91",
      "name": "doc-knight"
    }
  ],
  "user": {
    "comment": null,
    "created_at": 1557772232,
    "enabled": true,
    "id": "b65ca712-7ceb-4114-87f4-5c310492582c",
    "name": "gruce-wayne",
    "user_token": "$2b$09$gZnMKK/mm/d2rAXN7gL63uL43mjdX/62iwMqdyCQwLyC0af3ce/1K",
    "user_token_ident": "88ea3"
  }
}

List a User’s Roles

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}/roles

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "roles": [
    {
      "comment": "Read access to all endpoints, across all workspaces",
      "created_at": 1557765500,
      "id": "a1c810ee-8366-4654-ba0c-963ffb9ccf2e",
      "name": "read-only"
    },
    {
      "created_at": 1557772263,
      "id": "aae80073-095f-4553-ba9a-bee5ed3b8b91",
      "name": "doc-knight"
    }
  ],
  "user": {
    "comment": null,
    "created_at": 1557772232,
    "enabled": true,
    "id": "b65ca712-7ceb-4114-87f4-5c310492582c",
    "name": "gruce-wayne",
    "user_token": "$2b$09$gZnMKK/mm/d2rAXN7gL63uL43mjdX/62iwMqdyCQwLyC0af3ce/1K",
    "user_token_ident": "88ea3"
  }
}

Delete a Role from a User

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}/roles

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Request Body

Attribute	Description
`roles`	Comma-separated list of role names to assign to the user.

Response

HTTP 204 No Content

List a User’s Permissions

Endpoint

/rbac/users/{name_or_id}/permissions

Attribute	Description
`name_or_id`	The RBAC user name or UUID.

Response

HTTP 200 OK

{
  "endpoints": {
    "*": {
      "*": {
        "actions": [
          "read"
        ],
        "negative": false
      }
    }
  },
  "entities": {}
}