ACL SETUSER username [rule [rule ...]]

Create an ACL user with the specified rules or modify the rules of an existing user. This is the main interface in order to manipulate Redis ACL users interactively: if the username does not exist, the command creates the username without any privilege, then reads from left to right all the rules provided as successive arguments, setting the user ACL rules as specified.

If the user already exists, the provided ACL rules are simply applied in addition to the rules already set. For example:

ACL SETUSER virginia on allkeys +set

The above command will create a user called virginia that is active (the on rule), can access any key (allkeys rule), and can call the set command (+set rule). Then another SETUSER call can modify the user rules:

ACL SETUSER virginia +get

The above rule will not apply the new rule to the user virginia, so other than SET, the user virginia will now be able to also use the GET command.

Starting from Redis 7.0, ACL rules can also be grouped into multiple distinct sets of rules, called selectors. Selectors are added by wrapping the rules in parentheses and providing them just like any other rule. In order to execute a command, either the root permissions (rules defined outside of parenthesis) or any of the selectors (rules defined inside parenthesis) must match the given command. For example:

ACL SETUSER virginia on +GET allkeys (+SET ~app1*)

This sets a user with two sets of permission, one defined on the user and one defined with a selector. The root user permissions only allows executing the get command, but can be executed on any keys. The selector then grants a secondary set of permissions: access to the SET command to be executed on any key that starts with “app1”. Using multiple selectors allows you to grant permissions that are different depending on what keys are being accessed.

When we want to be sure to define an user from scratch, without caring if it had previously defined rules associated, we can use the special rule reset as first rule, in order to flush all the other existing rules:

ACL SETUSER antirez reset [... other rules ...]

After resetting an user, it returns back to the status it has when it was just created: non active (off rule), can’t execute any command, can’t access any key:

> ACL SETUSER antirez reset
+OK
> ACL LIST
1) "user antirez off -@all"

ACL rules are either words like “on”, “off”, “reset”, “allkeys”, or are special rules that start with a special character, and are followed by another string (without any space in between), like “+SET”.

The following documentation is a reference manual about the capabilities of this command, however our ACL tutorial may be a more gentle introduction to how the ACL system works in general.

List of rules

Redis ACL rules are split into two categories: rules that define command permissions, “Command rules”, and rules that define user state, “User management rules”. This is a list of all the supported Redis ACL rules:

Command rules

  • ~<pattern>: add the specified key pattern (glob style pattern, like in the KEYS command), to the list of key patterns accessible by the user. This grants both read and write permissions to keys that match the pattern. You can add multiple key patterns to the same user. Example: ~objects:*
  • %R~<pattern>: (Available in Redis 7.0 and later) Add the specified read key pattern. This behaves similar to the regular key pattern but only grants permission to read from keys that match the given pattern. See key permissions for more information.
  • %W~<pattern>: (Available in Redis 7.0 and later) Add the specified write key pattern. This behaves similar to the regular key pattern but only grants permission to write to keys that match the given pattern. See key permissions for more information.
  • %RW~<pattern>: (Available in Redis 7.0 and later) Alias for ~<pattern>.
  • allkeys: alias for ~*, it allows the user to access all the keys.
  • resetkeys: removes all the key patterns from the list of key patterns the user can access.
  • &<pattern>: (Available in Redis 6.2 and later) add the specified glob style pattern to the list of Pub/Sub channel patterns accessible by the user. You can add multiple channel patterns to the same user. Example: &chatroom:*
  • allchannels: alias for &*, it allows the user to access all Pub/Sub channels.
  • resetchannels: removes all channel patterns from the list of Pub/Sub channel patterns the user can access.
  • +<command>: Add the command to the list of commands the user can call. Can be used with | for allowing subcommands (e.g “+config|get”).
  • +@<category>: add all the commands in the specified category to the list of commands the user is able to execute. Example: +@string (adds all the string commands). For a list of categories check the ACL CAT command.
  • +<command>|first-arg: Allow a specific first argument of an otherwise disabled command. It is only supported on commands with no sub-commands, and is not allowed as negative form like -SELECT|1, only additive starting with “+”. This feature is deprecated and may be removed in the future.
  • allcommands: alias of +@all. Adds all the commands there are in the server, including future commands loaded via module, to be executed by this user.
  • -<command>: Remove the command to the list of commands the user can call. Starting Redis 7.0, it can be used with | for blocking subcommands (e.g “-config|set”).
  • -@<category>: Like +@<category> but removes all the commands in the category instead of adding them.
  • nocommands: alias for -@all. Removes all the commands, the user will no longer be able to execute anything.

User management rules

  • on: set the user as active, it will be possible to authenticate as this user using AUTH <username> <password>.
  • off: set user as not active, it will be impossible to log as this user. Please note that if a user gets disabled (set to off) after there are connections already authenticated with such a user, the connections will continue to work as expected. To also kill the old connections you can use CLIENT KILL with the user option. An alternative is to delete the user with ACL DELUSER, that will result in all the connections authenticated as the deleted user to be disconnected.
  • nopass: the user is set as a “no password” user. It means that it will be possible to authenticate as such user with any password. By default, the default special user is set as “nopass”. The nopass rule will also reset all the configured passwords for the user.
  • >password: Add the specified clear text password as an hashed password in the list of the users passwords. Every user can have many active passwords, so that password rotation will be simpler. The specified password is not stored as clear text inside the server. Example: >mypassword.
  • #<hashedpassword>: Add the specified hashed password to the list of user passwords. A Redis hashed password is hashed with SHA256 and translated into a hexadecimal string. Example: #c3ab8ff13720e8ad9047dd39466b3c8974e592c2fa383d4a3960714caef0c4f2.
  • <password: Like >password but removes the password instead of adding it.
  • !<hashedpassword>: Like #<hashedpassword> but removes the password instead of adding it.
  • (<rule list>): (Available in Redis 7.0 and later) Create a new selector to match rules against. Selectors are evaluated after the user permissions, and are evaluated according to the order they are defined. If a command matches either the user permissions or any selector, it is allowed. See selectors for more information.
  • clearselectors: (Available in Redis 7.0 and later) Delete all of the selectors attached to the user.
  • reset: Remove any capability from the user. It is set to off, without passwords, unable to execute any command, unable to access any key.

@return

@simple-string-reply: OK on success.

If the rules contain errors, the error is returned.

@examples

> ACL SETUSER alan allkeys +@string +@set -SADD >alanpassword
+OK

> ACL SETUSER antirez heeyyyy
(error) ERR Error in ACL SETUSER modifier 'heeyyyy': Syntax error

History

  • Starting with Redis version 6.2.0: Added Pub/Sub channel patterns.
  • Starting with Redis version 7.0.0: Added selectors and key based permissions.