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Workflow access control

This is an experimental feature and is not recommended for use in a production environment. For updates on the progress of the feature or if you want to leave feedback, join the discussion on the OpenSearch forum.

Flow Framework integrates with the Security plugin’s resource sharing and access control framework to provide document-level authorization for workflow records. This replaces the legacy plugins.flow_framework.filter_by_backend_roles setting with a more flexible sharing system that allows resource owners to grant specific access levels to users, roles, or backend roles.

For the end-to-end framework concepts and APIs, see Resource sharing and access control.

Resource configuration

The following table describes the workflow resource configuration.

Field Value
Resource type workflow
System index .plugins-flow-framework-templates
Onboarded version OpenSearch 3.4

When resource-level authorization is enabled for workflows, each workflow’s visibility is governed by a central sharing record. Resource owners and users with sharing capabilities can grant or revoke access permissions for specific users, roles, or backend roles.

Enable workflow resource sharing

To enable resource sharing for workflows, you must add the workflow resource type to the protected types list and enable resource sharing cluster-wide.

Admin-only: These settings can be configured only by cluster administrators with superadmin privileges.

Configuration using opensearch.yml

Add the following settings to your opensearch.yml configuration file to enable resource sharing for workflows:

plugins.security.experimental.resource_sharing.enabled: true
plugins.security.system_indices.enabled: true
plugins.security.experimental.resource_sharing.protected_types:
  - "workflow"

Configuration using the Cluster Settings API

Alternatively, you can enable resource sharing dynamically using the Cluster Settings API:

PUT _cluster/settings
{
  "transient": {
    "plugins.security.experimental.resource_sharing.enabled": true,
    "plugins.security.experimental.resource_sharing.protected_types": ["workflow"]
  }
}

When adding the workflow resource type to an existing configuration, include all previously configured resource types in the protected_types array.

Workflow access levels

Flow Framework provides the following predefined access levels for workflow documents. These access levels determine the specific permissions granted to users who have been granted access to a workflow resource.

workflow_read_only

The workflow_read_only read-only access level grants users the ability to view and search shared workflows but not modify them. This access level includes the following permissions:

- "cluster:admin/opensearch/flow_framework/workflow/get"
- "cluster:admin/opensearch/flow_framework/workflow/search"

workflow_read_write

The workflow_read_write read-write access level grants users full access to workflow operations except for sharing capabilities. This access level includes all read permissions plus write operations:

- "cluster:admin/opensearch/flow_framework/workflow/*"
- "cluster:monitor/*"

workflow_full_access

The workflow_full_access full access level grants users complete control over a workflow, including owner-like permissions such as sharing the resource with other users. This access level includes all workflow operations plus resource sharing permissions:

- "cluster:admin/opensearch/flow_framework/workflow/*"
- "cluster:monitor/*"
- "cluster:admin/security/resource/share"

These access levels are predefined and cannot be modified. To request additional access levels, create an issue in the Flow Framework GitHub repository.

Migrating from the legacy framework

After enabling resource sharing and marking workflows as a protected resource type, cluster administrators must run the migration API to transfer existing workflow sharing information from the legacy framework to the new resource sharing system.

Admin-only: The Migrate API can only be executed by cluster administrators with superadmin or REST admin privileges.

Use the following API call to migrate legacy workflow sharing data to the resource sharing framework:

POST _plugins/_security/api/resources/migrate
{
  "source_index": ".plugins-flow-framework-templates",
  "username_path": "/user/name",
  "backend_roles_path": "/user/backend_roles",
  "default_owner": "<replace-with-existing-user>",
  "default_access_level": {
    "workflow": "<select-appropriate-access-level>"
  }
}

Replace <replace-with-existing-user> with the username of an existing user who should own workflows without explicit ownership information. Replace <select-appropriate-access-level> with one of the available workflow access levels: workflow_read_only, workflow_read_write, or workflow_full_access.

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