Blog 5: Handling User Privilege Errors in Dataverse Plug-ins

When developing Dataverse plug-ins, user privilege errors can be a common issue. These errors occur when a plug-in tries to perform an action that the executing user does not have permissions for.

If not handled properly, permission issues can cause unexpected failures, disrupt business processes, and generate hard-to-debug errors. This blog will guide you through understanding, diagnosing, and resolving user privilege issues in Dataverse plug-ins.

🚨 Understanding User Privilege Errors

User privilege errors usually indicate that the executing user lacks the necessary permissions to perform an operation. In Dataverse, security is enforced through security roles, team memberships, and impersonation settings.

⚠️ Common User Privilege Errors

🔍 Why Do These Errors Occur?

User privilege errors in plug-ins typically happen due to one of the following reasons:

1️⃣ Plug-in Runs in the Context of a User Without the Necessary Permissions

• By default, a plug-in runs under the security context of the user who triggered it.
• If the user lacks Read, Write, Create, or Delete permissions, the operation fails.

🔹 Example Scenario:

• A sales representative tries to update an Opportunity record, but their security role doesn’t allow them to modify the estimated revenue field.
• The plug-in fails because the user lacks update privileges on the Opportunity entity.

✅ Solution:

• Use impersonation to execute the plug-in under a different user with the required permissions.
• Alternatively, ensure the triggering user has the necessary security roles.

2️⃣ Plug-in Executes as a Disabled User

If a plug-in is configured to run under a disabled user’s context, the execution fails immediately.

🔹 Error Message:

The user with SystemUserId=<User-ID> in OrganizationContext=<Context> is disabled. 
Disabled users cannot access the system.

✅ Solution:

• Check which user the plug-in is executing as.
• Run the following API query to find plug-in steps registered to a disabled user:

https://<env-url>/api/data/v9.2/sdkmessageprocessingsteps
?$filter=_impersonatinguserid_value eq '<disabled-userId>'

• Enable the user or change the plug-in’s execution context.

3️⃣ Insufficient Security Role Privileges

• Even if a user can access a record, they may not have enough privileges for all required actions.
• Security roles control table-level and field-level access.

🔹 Example Scenario:

• A customer service agent has permissions to view cases but lacks Delete privileges.
• A plug-in attempting to delete an old case fails.

✅ Solution:

• Update security roles in Power Platform Admin Center to grant the necessary privileges.
• Assign higher-level roles or create a custom role with appropriate permissions.

4️⃣ Plug-in Tries to Modify Records in a Different Business Unit

• Dataverse security restricts users from modifying records in other business units unless specific permissions are granted.

🔹 Example Scenario:

• A plug-in tries to assign an Account record from one business unit to a user in another unit.
• If the executing user lacks organization-wide write privileges, the operation fails.

✅ Solution:

• Ensure the user has the required organization-level privileges.
• Consider using global security roles for cross-business unit operations.

🛠️ How to Fix User Privilege Errors in Plug-ins

Now that we’ve identified the common causes, let’s look at how to fix these errors.

✅ 1. Use Impersonation to Execute as a System User

If a plug-in must perform privileged actions, execute it under a system user’s context instead of the triggering user.

🔹 How to Impersonate a User in Plug-ins:

IServiceProvider serviceProvider = // your service provider
IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

Guid systemUserId = new Guid("00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"); // Replace with the system user's ID

IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(systemUserId);

Result: The plug-in now runs with elevated permissions, preventing privilege-related errors.

✅ 2. Assign the Correct Security Roles

• Go to Power Platform Admin Center → Environments → Users & Security Roles.
• Ensure the user has the required Create, Read, Update, Delete privileges on the entity.

🔹 Best Practices: ✔ Use least privilege access – only grant necessary permissions.
✔ Regularly review security roles to ensure proper access.

✅ 3. Track and Debug Errors Using Application Insights

🔹 Enable Plug-in Telemetry Logging for Error Tracking
Instead of manually troubleshooting privilege errors, you can log plug-in failures in Application Insights.

If you’re new to setting up Application Insights for plug-in error tracking, check out this discussion between Max and Zoe, where they walk through creating and deleting export packages for Application Insights:
📖 Read their full discussion here.

Once configured, Application Insights automatically tracks errors and logs execution failures for troubleshooting.

📌 To disable Application Insights logging, simply delete the Data Export configuration.

🎯 Final Thoughts

User privilege errors are among the most common plug-in failures in Dataverse, but they are also easy to fix with proper security management. By implementing impersonation, assigning correct roles, and using Application Insights, you can ensure your plug-ins execute without security-related failures.

🔜 Coming Up Next…

In the next blog, we will explore “Error when executing in the context of a disabled user”.