Chapter 2. Authorization Model


In Kafka, clients perform operations on resources in Kafka.

The following tables list the resource types and the operations that apply to them.

2.1. Resource types and operations

This table lists the resource types and operations enforced by the authorization filter:

Expand
Resource typeOperationsTypical use-case

Topic

READ

Required for a consuming client to fetch records.

WRITE

Required for a producing client to produce records.

CREATE

Required for an admin client to create, delete or alter topics.

DELETE

ALTER

DESCRIBE

Required for an admin client to perform the describe operations that refer to topic resources.

DESCRIBE_CONFIGS

Required for an admin client to perform describe config operations that refer to topic configuration.

ALTER_CONFIGS

Required for an admin client to perform alter config operations that relate to topic configuration.

NOTE: Other Kafka resource types will be included in a future release.

2.2. Implied operation permissions

In the authorization model, some operations imply permission to perform other operations. This table lists the higher-level operations and the implied lower-level operations they include.

Expand
Resource typeOperationImplied Operation

Topic

READ

DESCRIBE

WRITE

DELETE

ALTER

ALTER_CONFIGS

DESCRIBE_CONFIG

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