Problem Statement / Background

Under the current Confluence Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) model, granting a user or custom role the "Manage access to space" permission exposes the Users tab in Space Settings.

While this enables designated space owners or coordinators to add members and manage page-level access, it also allows them to assign any space role—including high-privilege roles like Space Admin—to other users or elevate their own privileges.

Currently, site administrators face an operational trade-off:

1. Disable "Manage access": Eliminates privilege escalation risk, but forces all routine user adds and space-level permissions management onto central site admins, creating an unsustainable operational bottleneck.

1. Enable "Manage access": Empowers space owners to run their spaces autonomously, but risks unauthorized privilege escalation and policy violations by allowing non-admins to assign full Space Admin rights.

Proposed Solution / Feature Suggestions

Introduce more granular permission toggles and role-assignment boundaries within space permissions:

1. Role Hierarchy / Maximum Assignable Role:

• • Restrict users with access-management permissions to only assigning roles equal to or lower than their own (or roles explicitly whitelisted by site admins).

• • Prevent space-level managers from assigning the Space Admin role unless they are designated full space administrators.

1. Separation of Concerns for "Manage Access":

• • Decouple "Invite/Add Users to Space" (operational member management) from "Manage Space Roles & Admin Privileges" (governance/administrative control).

1. Self-Escalation Prevention:

• • Explicitly disallow users from upgrading their own space-level role or granting themselves additional administrative capabilities.

Customer Use Case

• Enterprise Governance & Least Privilege: Organizations with thousands of active users and distributed space ownership need delegated space administration (e.g., department leads adding team members as Viewers or Collaborators) without giving those leads the ability to grant Space Admin rights or modify overarching space security settings.

• Controlled Onboarding: Project coordinators need the autonomy to assign users to standard collaborator/viewer groups across their spaces without posing a security or compliance risk to space configurations.

Business & Operational Impact

• Security & Compliance: Enforces the principle of least privilege, preventing unintended role elevation and audit non-compliance.

• Reduced IT/Admin Overhead: Enables safe delegation of day-to-day space membership management to space owners without requiring central IT intervention for every user addition.

• Safer Migration to RBAC: Removes a key blocker for enterprise customers transitioning from legacy space permissions to Confluence's role-based access model.

Current Workaround & Limitations

• Workaround: Restricting "Manage access" strictly to a limited group of centralized Space Admins, or relying on manual administrative reviews and user training.

• Limitation: Increases ticket volume and turnaround time for simple user access requests, leading to administrative overhead and friction for distributed teams.