Users connected to postgres schema - postgresql

With the sql
select * from pg_stat_activity
I can see all users connected to my database, I need something like that to show which schema is using each user connected

You can't connect to a schema, so it isn't clear what you are looking for. A schema is just a logical namespace for groups within the system. Now:
Determining which schemas a user has access to requires connecting to the relevant db and checking. You can't do this globally since schemas are not global objects.
It should be possible to show the search_path since this only attaches to global objects (databases and roles), but I could not figure out how to do this by glancing through the system catalog docs. That's probably where you'd have to start if that's what you wanted to look for.

Related

very confused about permissions in postgres

I have multiple databases and each of them have multiple schemas.
I have a set of apps that connect to these databases. Each app has it own user and, depending on their function, the apps can:
read / write all schemas and tables of a specific db, set functions/notifications
read only all schemas and tables of a specific db
The schemas and tables can be created at any time, so the permissions need to be set with ALTER DEFAULT.
My understanding is that the ALTER DEFAULT has to be done by the user that will create the future tables. Is that correct?
Since I can have scenarios where User 1 can RO db A, but RW db B, while User 2 can only RO db B, etc.. using roles doesn't seem to be of any help here.
So I'm a bit confused how to set that up.
Then comes the next complication:
I can assign permissions as either SELECT (RO), or SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE (RW), but:
what about sequences? I don't want a RW user to be able to alter the sequences, but they need to be able to use them
then how does it work with functions? the RW users need to be able to set/update their own functions
Any example of this setup would be greatly appreciated because going through the doc didn't help me much and most of the questions / answers on SO seems to be very similar yet never exactly the same, so it's quite confusing :)
Edit, following 'a_horse_with_no_name''s suggestion in the comments, I did this:
here is my init.sql:
CREATE DATABASE accounts;
CREATE DATABASE analysis;
CREATE DATABASE exchange;
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE exchange TO capture, analyzer, sunny, viewer;
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE analysis TO analyzer, sunny, viewer;
GRANT CONNECT ON DATABASE accounts TO sunny;
then I log in as admin to db exchange and do:
GRANT pg_write_all_data TO capture;
GRANT pg_read_all_data TO analyzer, sunny, viewer;
and I create a table called instruments there
then I log in as capture to to db exchange and do an insert, and I get:
42501: permission denied for table instruments
so using the capture user on the exchange db, I should have the pg_write_all_data property; why do I get the error?
It looks like I have to grant usage of instruments to capture.. which defeats the purpose of the pg_write_all_data. If I do the grant, then it works. So it looks like adding the role doesn't work.
Since your users shall have different permissions in different databases, define read-only and read-write roles for each database.
For example, db1_ro has read-only permissions in db1, and db2_rw has read-write permissions in db2. Then you can grant them both to a user, and the user will have different permissions in different databases.
Using a sequence typically means to call nextval(). So you should give that user the USAGE privilege. To use setval(), the user would need UPDATE. Nobody except the owner can ALTER an object anyway.
Functions cannot be set or updated, only executed, for which there is the EXECUTE privilege, which is granted to PUBLIC by default.

Prevent users from seeing objects to which they have no access

WHAT
I have users that share a database, but have their own schemas. Each user is only able to access objects on their schema - they have been explicitly revoked usage on the schemas that are not theirs.
I am not concerned about a user inappropriately accessing others' schema; however, I would very much like for them not to be able to see the contents or even the existence of the other schema to which they have no access.
WHY
I am aware that this is mostly "cosmetic", but the primary reason for this would be that my users do not have to shift through objects that they cannot access in certain tools (Tableau, DB IDEs, etc) - so I think it does add some practical value.
ATTEMPTS
I've been searching for a solution, but haven't found one that works. For instance, I revoked users' access on information_schema and pg_catalog (I know this is not recommended); however, it had no effect.
Is this at all possible?
It is not possible to limit access to pg_class, pg_attribute, or pg_proc. Therefore what you want can only be achieved by separating each user in their own databases rather than individual schemas.

security settings for graph databases

Relational Databases are able to set permissions for users to insert, update, delete, etc by schema or table (e.g. I can allow bob CRUD access to table someschema.XYZ but only allow read access to someschema.FooBar and no access to schema ABC)
Graph databases do not have predefined schemas but have an arbitrary set of node types. Is it possible to set restrictions on a graph database for what a user can access like you do for relational databases or does this granularity not exist in graph databases due to it's nature?
I am specifically looking at Neo4j but if this exists in other examples, then I would like to know.
Neo4j allows you to implement your own SecurityRules. A SecurityRule acts similar to a servlet filter, every request is evaluated with the SecurityRule.
However you have to implement the logic on your own which gives great flexibility but might also cause a serious amount of work.

Decentralizing Database Structure

Although this question fancies PostgreSQL, it is still a general DB question.
I have always been curious about the term schema as it relates to databases. Recently, we switched over to using PostgreSQL, where that term has actual significance to the underlying database structure.
In PostgreSQL-land, the decentralized structure is as follows:
DB Server (`some-server.com:5432`)
>> Database (`fizz`)
>> Schema (`buzz`)
>> Table (`foo`)
Thus, the FQDN for table [foo] is fizz.buzz.foo.
I understand that a "database" is a logical grouping of tables. For instance, an organization might have a "domain" database where all POJOs/VOs are persisted, an "orders" database where all sales-related info is stored, and a "logging" databases where all log messages get sent for future analysis, etc.
The introduction of this "schema" construct in between the database and its tables has me very confused, and the PostgreSQL documentation is a little too heavy-handed (and lacking good examples) for a newbie such as myself to understand.
I'm wondering if anyone can give me a laymen's description of not only what this "schema" construct is within the realm of PostgreSQL (and how it relates databases to tables), but I'm wondering what it means to database structures in general.
Thanks in advance!
Think of schemas as namespaces. We can use them to logically group tables (such as a People schema). Additionally, we can assign security to that schema so we can allow certain folks to look at a Customer schema, but not an Employee schema. This allows us to have a granularity of control of security just above an object level but below the database level.
Security is probably the most important reason to use schemas, but I've seen them used for logical groupings as well. It just depends on what you need them for.
Late to the party, but ..
I use schemas to split tables in to groups that are used by different applications that share a few tables, for example.
users
application1
application2
Here, if we log in with app1, we see users + application1; if we log in to app2, we see users and application2. So our user data can be shared between both, without exposing app1 users to app2 data. It also means that a superuser can do queries across both sets of data.

How to prevent a user from being able to see other databases and the tables from other databases?

I want to create a postgres user that can access only one database on the postgres server at all.
Currently my flow is:
create database database1;
create user user1 with password 'pass';
grant all privileges on database database1 to user1;
but user1 can still see a list of dbs, users, tables etc. Is there a way to prevent that user from seeing that info? The user needs to be able to write to and read from that db.
Thanks a lot.
Each user can see other databases and roles listed, but should not be able to see tables in other databases, ever.
If you revoke CONNECT privilege on all databases except the allotted one, the user will not be able to access the contents of other databases.
Roles and database names are global, and not readily blockable. You can try Frank Heikens suggestion of selective revocations on the system tables, but you take risks to do that. PostgreSQL developers on the usenet mailing lists have discouraged tampering with access to the system catalogs.
Psql, among other tools, assumes they will be available and functions poorly without them.
Why is knowing the names of other databases and roles so bad?
REVOKE the SELECT permissions on the information_schema and some sections in the system catalog.
By default any objects you create are created in the public schema. Also, any users that you create have CREATE and USAGE privileges on the public schema. You should revoke CREATE and USAGE to the public schema for this user, or you should change the default access level. You'll also need to move the database to which this user has access into the user's schema, or a schema accessible to the user. See DDL Schemas in the Postgres manual.