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Permission mode

Permission mode decides whose permissions the picker searches with. It is set per field context, alongside the JQL scope, and it is the setting with the largest consequence in the application.

There are two modes.

Mode The picker searches as Effect
RESPECT_USER the person using it They see only work items they could already browse. The default, and the recommendation.
IGNORE_USER the application They can select work items they cannot normally browse.

A field context you have created but not configured uses RESPECT_USER. The permissive mode is never reached by leaving a setting alone: widening what the picker can see is something an administrator chooses deliberately, in a context they opened on purpose. This page said which mode was recommended but never said which one you get by default, which is the question a security reviewer asks first.

RESPECT_USER

The picker runs the JQL scope as the viewer. Jira’s own permissions apply first, so the candidate list is the intersection of the scope and what that person can already see.

This is the right choice unless you have a specific reason to need the other one.

IGNORE_USER, and exactly what it exposes

This lets people select work items they cannot browse

Under IGNORE_USER the search runs with the application’s permissions. A person can therefore select a work item they have no permission to open.

What they see of it is exactly the columns the administrator configured, and nothing else. They cannot open it, they cannot read its comments, and no field outside the configured columns is transmitted to their browser.

This mode exists because the alternative is often worse. A support agent often needs to mark a request as blocked by an engineering work item in a project they have no access to. Without IGNORE_USER they cannot record the dependency at all, and the usual workaround is granting them browse access to the whole engineering project, which exposes far more.

The JQL scope is the control here. Under IGNORE_USER the scope is the only thing bounding what can be selected, so write it narrowly and choose the columns deliberately.

Both modes apply on the portal

Jira Service Management portal customers get whichever mode the administrator configured, including IGNORE_USER, on the portal request and portal view surfaces. Portal customers hold no Jira application access, which is why the application declares read:servicedesk-request: it is the one surface a customer can call as themselves.

Anonymous visitors are always restricted, whatever the mode says, because those requests carry no account at all.

Choosing

Ask what happens if the answer is wrong in each direction.

  • If a person selecting a work item they cannot open would be a problem, use RESPECT_USER.
  • If a person being unable to record a real dependency would be a problem, use IGNORE_USER, narrow the scope, and configure only the columns the decision needs.

A problem or a question? Write to support@oktul.com or open a request in the Help Center. Both reach the same service desk, so either way the request gets a reference and an SLA measuring the response.