Issue Summary

Unable to add user as watcher or assignee when the user is Jira-administrator and application access is removed

Environmment:

Jira Data Center / Server, on any version from 8.19.1.

Watcher issue

Steps to Reproduce

1. By default, Jira has jira-administrators group which grants Jira Admin global permission. Create User1 (with no application access) and add it to this group
2. Create another user User2 (without application access) and don't add it to the jira-administrators group
3. Make sure that both users are granted the browse project permission in project A
4. Attempt to add a User2 as watcher to any issue in project A. This user will be added successfully
5. Attempt to add user1 as a watcher to the same issue

Expected Result

The user who is in the jira-administrator group should get added as watcher.

Actual Results

The user fails to be added as a watcher and the error below is shown:

There was an error adding watcher The user "user 1" does not have permission to view this issue. This user will not be added to the watch list.  

Assignee issue

Steps to replicate

1. By default, Jira has jira-administrators group which grants Jira Admin global permission. Create User1 (with no application access) and add it to this group
2. Create another user User2 (without application access) and don't add it to the jira-administrators group
3. Make sure that both users are granted the Assignable User permission in project A
4. Attempt to add a User2 as the assignee to any issue in project A. This user will be added successfully
5. Attempt to add User1 as the assignee to the same issue

Expected results

The user who is in the jira-administrator group should get added as the assignee.

Actual Results

The user fails to be added as the assignee and the error below is shown:

User User1 cannot be assigned issues.

Workaround for both symptoms (Watcher and assignee)

Currently there's no fix for this issue we need to grant the impacted user with Jira application access or remove the Jira administrator global permission for the impacted user.

Please refer to the KB: Some Jira users cannot be assigned tickets or be added as watchers even though they have the right permissions for more details. The Cause section provides the explanation.