ACE Strings

The security descriptor definition language (SDDL) uses ACE strings in the DACL and SACL components of a security descriptor string.

As shown in the Security Descriptor String Format examples, each ACE in a security descriptor string is enclosed in parentheses. The fields of the ACE are in the following order and are separated by semicolons ( ; ).

ace_type;ace_flags;rights;object_guid;inherit_object_guid;account_sid

Fields

ace_type

A string that indicates the value of the AceType member of the ACE_HEADER structure. The ACE type string can be one of the following strings defined in sddl.h.

ACE type string	Constant in sddl.h	AceType value
"A"	SDDL_ACCESS_ALLOWED	ACCESS_ALLOWED_ACE_TYPE
"D"	SDDL_ACCESS_DENIED	ACCESS_DENIED_ACE_TYPE
"OA"	SDDL_OBJECT_ACCESS_ALLOWED	ACCESS_ALLOWED_OBJECT_ACE_TYPE
"OD"	SDDL_OBJECT_ACCESS_DENIED	ACCESS_DENIED_OBJECT_ACE_TYPE
"AU"	SDDL_AUDIT	SYSTEM_AUDIT_ACE_TYPE
"AL"	SDDL_ALARM	SYSTEM_ALARM_ACE_TYPE
"OU"	SDDL_OBJECT_AUDIT	SYSTEM_AUDIT_OBJECT_ACE_TYPE
"OL"	SDDL_OBJECT_ALARM	SYSTEM_ALARM_OBJECT_ACE_TYPE

ace_flags

A string that indicates the value of the AceFlags member of the ACE_HEADER structure. The ACE flags string can be a concatenation of the following strings defined in sddl.h.

ACE flags string	Constant in sddl.h	AceFlag value
"CI"	SDDL_CONTAINER_INHERIT	CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE
"OI"	SDDL_OBJECT_INHERIT	OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE
"NP"	SDDL_OBJECT_ACCESS_ALLOWED	NO_PROPAGATE_INHERIT_ACE
"IO"	SDDL_INHERIT_ONLY	INHERIT_ONLY_ACE
"ID"	SDDL_INHERITED	INHERITED_ACE
"SA"	SDDL_AUDIT_SUCCESS	SUCCESSFUL_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG
"FA"	SDDL_AUDIT_FAILURE	FAILED_ACCESS_ACE_FLAG

rights

A string that indicates the access rights controlled by the ACE. This string can be a hexadecimal string representation of the access rights, such as "0x7800003F", or it can be a concatenation of the following strings.

Access rights string	Constant in sddl.h	Access right value
Generic access rights
"GA"	SDDL_GENERIC_ALL	GENERIC_ALL
"GR"	SDDL_GENERIC_READ	GENERIC_READ
"GW"	SDDL_GENERIC_WRITE	GENERIC_WRITE
"GX"	SDDL_GENERIC_EXECUTE	GENERIC_EXECUTE
Standard access rights
"RC"	SDDL_READ_CONTROL	READ_CONTROL
"SD"	SDDL_STANDARD_DELETE	DELETE
"WD"	SDDL_WRITE_DAC	WRITE_DAC
"WO"	SDDL_WRITE_OWNER	WRITE_OWNER
Directory service object access rights
"RP"	SDDL_READ_PROPERTY	ADS_RIGHT_DS_READ_PROP
"WP"	SDDL_WRITE_PROPERTY	ADS_RIGHT_DS_WRITE_PROP
"CC"	SDDL_CREATE_CHILD	ADS_RIGHT_DS_CREATE_CHILD
"DC"	SDDL_DELETE_CHILD	ADS_RIGHT_DS_DELETE_CHILD
"LC"	SDDL_LIST_CHILDREN	ADS_RIGHT_DS_LIST
"SW"	SDDL_SELF_WRITE	ADS_RIGHT_DS_SELF
"LO"	SDDL_LIST_OBJECT	ADS_RIGHT_DS_LIST_OBJECT
"DT"	SDDL_DELETE_TREE	ADS_RIGHT_DS_DELETE_TREE
"CR"	SDDL_CONTROL_ACCESS	ADS_RIGHT_DS_CONTROL_ACCESS
File access rights
"FA"	SDDL_FILE_ALL	FILE_ALL_ACCESS
"FR"	SDDL_FILE_READ	FILE_GENERIC_READ
"FW"	SDDL_FILE_WRITE	FILE_GENERIC_WRITE
"FX"	SDDL_FILE_EXECUTE	FILE_GENERIC_EXECUTE
Registry key access rights
"KA"	SDDL_KEYL_ALL	KEY_ALL_ACCESS
"KR"	SDDL_KEY_READ	KEY_READ
"KW"	SDDL_KEY_WRITE	KEY_WRITE
"KX"	SDDL_KEY_EXECUTE	KEY_EXECUTE

object_guid

A string representation of a GUID that indicates the value of the ObjectType member of an object-specific ACE structure, such as ACCESS_ALLOWED_OBJECT_ACE. The GUID string uses the format returned by the UuidToString function.

inherit_object_guid

A string representation of a GUID that indicates the value of the InheritedObjectType member of an object-specific ACE structure. The GUID string uses the UuidToString format.

account_sid

A SID string that identifies the trustee of the ACE.

Example

The following example shows an ACE string for an access-allowed ACE. It is not an object-specific ACE, so it has no information in the object_guid and inherit_object_guid fields. The ace_flags field is also empty, indicating that none of the ACE flags are set.

(A;;RPWPCCDCLCSWRCWDWOGA;;;S-1-0-0)

This string describes the following ACE information.

AceType:       0x00 (ACCESS_ALLOWED_ACE_TYPE)
AceFlags:      0x00
Access Mask:   0x100e003f
                    READ_CONTROL
                    WRITE_DAC
                    WRITE_OWNER
                    GENERIC_ALL
                    Other access rights(0x0000003f)
Ace Sid      : (S-1-0-0)

See Also

Security Descriptor String Format, SID Strings