question "My Work" throwing a security constrains error. in ITSM forum

"My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

BrianProvencher — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 20:27:42 GMT

Starting this morning, several people are having issues accessing the "My Work" link in ServiceNow. This is in the Self Service application and links to the task table with a dynamic filter to show work items for the logged in user. They're receiving the "Security constraints prevent access to requested page" error. The same behavior occurs when they try to access the Task table. I did some digging and figured out it was an ACL denying access. When I grant the sn_collab_request.basic_read role, it gives them the access they need. Has anyone else run into this issue? The only thing I can think of is that I updated the Collaborative Work Management application this morning, could that have caused the issue?

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Mark Manders — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 06:12:05 GMT

You need to check on what you changed exactly (or what others changed). OOB the 'My work' link shows a list with a filter on the task table. If you get a 'security constraints...' message, that's always an ACL, but the role you mention is not (OOB) necessary to access those records.
Check on any changes/deletions/inserts on ACLs both on 'sys_security_acl' and 'sys_security_acl_role'.

I suspect something changed that is limiting the access and granting roles to go around that, shouldn't be the solution. You should update the change that limited access so it is not preventing it anymore, unless it was a change that was made for a reason but then somebody forgot to test it thoroughly.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

BrianProvencher — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:25:04 GMT

@Mark Manders I checked both those tables and there have been no recent changes. I'm baffled. The only thing that changed was some app updates. I ran security debugging and was able to find that an ACL was denying access to sn_collab_request_dev_collab_task. I don't understand why that would deny access to the parent table. I'm lost.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Mark Manders — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:10:40 GMT

Did you check the sys_update_xml table to see if anything else has been updated (also: check the deleted records for any deletions made).

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

BrianProvencher — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:33:35 GMT

The only updates on that table during that timeframe were application updates.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

BrianProvencher — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:36:59 GMT

@Mark Manders I cloned down to a sub prod instance to troubleshoot this. I removed the sn_collab_request.basic_read role from all users and impersonated them to test their access. The task table and the "My Work" module loaded up as normal. I'm still baffled.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Bob Ascherl — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 21:43:26 GMT

we are seeing this same issue randomly with some users as well. it appears to only be related the 'my work' and after some time it starts working again without any intervention. we are struggling to replicate it to debug the sessions. impersonation doesn't always correlate and since it seems to 'fix' itself we have yet to pinpoint a cause. ACLs on Task have not changed and the users are still able to access the table in other ways.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

BrianProvencher — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:13:17 GMT

I opened a case with ServiceNow and they basically closed it with no action saying it wasn't reproducible. Guess it will remain a mystery!

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Bob Ascherl — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 13:47:57 GMT

support informed us that this may be related to PRB1915184

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Bob Ascherl — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 16:28:07 GMT

support provided us the following workaround...

Issue:
Service Management My Work Giving Users Security Constraints Message

Steps to Reproduce:
1. My Work or My Groups Work under Service Management nav module
2. Users can also attempt to view task table

Most Probable Cause:
You are most probably hitting into this PRB: PRB1915184

Solution Proposed:
The workaround is to create the property

'glide.security.enable_detailed_table_level_acl_check'

.Set property

"glide.security.enable_detailed_table_level_acl_check"

to false to skip the detailed hierarchy checks for the initial table access decision. This will check the direct table for roles and security attributes to determine initial table access. READ operations on the records/fields will remain unaffected.for now. And, our dev team internally create a problem (i.e., PRB1915184) for permanent fix.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

mush — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 08:05:00 GMT

We ran into this the other day - very difficult to troubleshoot.
Two users had 100% identical group membership and roles, they were not members of any other groups or had any additional roles. One had the error and the other didn't...

It was related to PRB1915184 and the system property fix above worked for us.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

Martin Kemp — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:22:21 GMT

had the exact same issue, did a cache.do (flush of the cache) and the problem was gone.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

mush — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:59:10 GMT

Thanks Martin - I'm now wondering whether applying cache.do first might have resolved the issue for us as well.

I raised this with support, and they advised me of the PRB along with a system property fix, which I applied. However, the fix did not work immediately. They then suggested clearing the cache, and once I did that, the problem disappeared.

What was odd is that during the support call, after I had already applied the system property fix, support couldn’t reproduce the issue with the affected users I was testing with - even though I still could, and we were all on the same node. Once I cleared the cache it started working for all users...

If anyone else runs into this, and as Martin has also suggested, it may be worth clearing the cache, as part of the troubleshooting process.

The PRB is scheduled to be fixed in Q2 2026.

Re: "My Work" throwing a security constrains error.

mush — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:32:43 GMT

An update to my post above.
I was waiting to test this in our sub prod and luckily a user reported this problem today.
Clearing the cache did not work in isolation.
Applying the system property and then clearing the cache did work.