Elevated privilege roles

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Elevated privilege roles

    Elevated privilege roles in ServiceNow require users to manually accept the responsibility of using the role before accessing its features. These roles are not granted automatically upon login; users must actively elevate to the role during their session. The elevation lasts only for the session duration and is removed upon logout or session timeout. This mechanism enhances security by restricting immediate access to sensitive privileges.

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    Key Features

    • Manual Elevation: Users must manually elevate to an assigned elevated privilege role to access its rights.
    • Session-limited: Elevated roles are valid only for the current user session.
    • Role Designation: Any role can be designated as an elevated privilege role via the Role form, allowing administrators to control access precisely.
    • Role Hierarchy: Even if one elevated role contains another, users must elevate to each role individually to gain all privileges.
    • Admin role restrictions: Only users with the admin role can grant it to others or add users to groups containing the admin role.
    • Securityadmin role: This is the primary elevated privilege role in the base system, assigned to the default System Administrator user. It enables access to Access Control Lists (ACLs) and High Security Settings.
    • Visibility: Users must elevate to the securityadmin role to see it in the role list.
    • Force manual elevation: There is a property setting that can require all users with the administrator role to manually select which elevated role they want to use, enhancing security controls for admin users.

    Key Outcomes

    • Improved security by ensuring sensitive roles are only active when explicitly elevated by the user.
    • Prevention of unauthorized or accidental use of high privilege roles immediately after login.
    • Clear administrative control over which users have access to elevated roles and when they can use them.
    • Specific safeguards around granting and usage of the admin and securityadmin roles to maintain system integrity.
    • Ability to configure and enforce manual elevation policies for administrators, aligning with best security practices.

    Elevated privilege roles require you to manually accept the responsibility of using the role before you can access the features of the role.

    By default, you do not have elevated privilege roles upon login. You must manually elevate to the privilege of the role. An elevated privilege role lasts only for the duration of your user session. Session timeout or logout removes the role.

    You can designate any role as an elevated privilege role, and then assign that role to one or more users. Do this when you want to restrict users from having access to the rights that the role provides immediately after login. You can designate the privilege role on the Role form. See Create a role for instructions.

    To use an elevated role, you must meet these conditions:
    • The elevated role must be assigned to you.
    • You must manually elevate to a specific elevated role to get its privileges, even if you are already elevated to a second elevated role that contains the first elevated role.

      For example, if elevated role A contains elevated role B, even if you elevate to role A, you must still elevate to role B to get its privileges.

    The admin role

    To grant the admin role to a user, the granting user must also have the admin role. For example, a user with only the user_admin role cannot grant the admin role to other users.
    • Non-admin users cannot add a user to a group that contains the admin role.
    • To grant the security_admin role to a user, the granting user must also have the admin role and must elevate to the security_admin role before granting the security_admin role to other users. A user with only the admin role cannot grant the security_admin role to other users.
    • A user without the security_admin role cannot add a user to a group that contains the security_admin role.
    Warning:
    The use of elevated privilege on an admin role is not supported. Instead, require admins to manually elevate, see Force administrators to manually elevate

    The security_admin role

    In the base system, the security_admin role is the only role that has elevated privileges. This role is automatically assigned to the user who is the default System Administrator (admin) user. It provides access to ACLs and High Security Settings.

    Figure 1. Roles assigned to the System Administrator (admin) user
    The list of roles assigned to the System Administrator user
    Note:
    To see this role, you must actually elevate to the security_admin role first. If you are logged in as the System Administrator (admin) user only, you cannot see the security_admin record in the list of roles.