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William Kwabena Akoto
William Kwabena Akoto

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Implementing Identity and Access Management (IAM) on Jenkins Using the Role-Based Strategy Plugin

#cicd #devops #security #tutorial

Introduction

In modern DevOps environments, security and governance are just as important as speed and automation. As organizations increasingly rely on Jenkins to manage continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, ensuring that users have the right level of access becomes crucial.

Unrestricted or poorly managed access can lead to serious issues, from accidental job deletions and credential leaks to unauthorized configuration changes that impact production systems. To prevent this, Jenkins offers a powerful mechanism for implementing Identity and Access Management (IAM) using the Role-Based Strategy Plugin.

This article explains how to design and implement a robust IAM model in Jenkins using the Role-Based Strategy Plugin, ensuring secure, efficient, and auditable control over who can view, build, or manage various Jenkins resources.

Understanding Identity and Access Management in Jenkins

Identity and Access Management (IAM) in Jenkins revolves around defining who the users are and what actions they are allowed to perform. In practice, this means:

  • Identity management — creating and managing user accounts (locally or through external systems like LDAP or SSO).
  • Access management — granting specific permissions that define what each user can see or do within Jenkins.

By combining these two concepts, administrators can enforce the principle of least privilege — giving users only the permissions they need to perform their roles.

Why Use the Role-Based Strategy Plugin?

Out of the box, Jenkins provides basic authorization modes such as “Matrix-based security” or “Logged-in users can do anything.” However, these options lack flexibility and scalability for organizations with multiple teams, roles, and environments.

The Role-Based Strategy Plugin enhances Jenkins’ native capabilities by allowing administrators to:

  • Define custom roles (e.g., Administrator, Developer, DevOps).
  • Assign granular permissions at global, project, or agent levels.
  • Manage access dynamically as teams grow or responsibilities shift.

In essence, the plugin provides a structured IAM framework that simplifies user management and strengthens Jenkins’ security posture.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that:

  • Jenkins is installed and accessible.
  • You have Administrator privileges on the Jenkins instance.
  • Jenkins uses the “Jenkins’ own user database” for managing local users (default setup).

Enable Local User Management

To set up local identity management:

  1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins, Click on Configure Global Security.
  2. Under Security Realm, select Jenkins’ own user database.
  3. Enable Allow users to sign up if you want self-registration(Optional)
  4. Click Save.

You can also create users manually via Manage Jenkins ,Click on Manage Users and then Create User.

This ensures that each identity is stored locally within Jenkins, forming the foundation for IAM.

Install the Role-Based Strategy Plugin

To enable fine-grained access control:

  1. Go to Manage Jenkins, Click on Plugins and Choose Available Plugins.
  2. Search for Role-based Strategy.
  3. Select it and click Install without restart.
  4. Restart Jenkins if prompted.

Once installed, this plugin allows you to define roles and assign permissions across the Jenkins environment.

Enable Role-Based Authorization

After installation:

  1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins, Click on Configure Global Security.
  2. Under Authorization, select Role-Based Strategy.
  3. Click Save.

Your Jenkins instance will now use a role-based authorization model, allowing you to define and control permissions systematically.

Define Roles

Go to Manage Jenkins, Click on Manage and Assign Roles then choose Manage Roles.

Here, you can define three types of roles:

  • Global roles – apply across the entire Jenkins instance.
  • Project roles – apply to specific jobs or folders.
  • Agent roles – apply to particular build agents (nodes).

In this article, we’ll focus on global roles to define access boundaries for all users because they easy are to understand and use. Below are examples of roles to define and use:

Administrator Role

The Administrator role represents users with complete control over the Jenkins environment.
These users can manage all aspects of the system, including global configuration, plugin management, nodes, credentials, and user permissions.

Typical permissions include:

  • Overall/Administer — grants unrestricted access across Jenkins.
  • Ability to install or remove plugins.
  • Configuration of security, nodes, and system settings.
  • Management of users, credentials, and roles.

Administrators are responsible for maintaining system stability, enforcing security policies, and overseeing the overall Jenkins infrastructure.

Developer Role

The Developer role is designed for users who actively build and test software projects but should not have access to system-level configurations.
This role focuses on enabling developers to work efficiently within their pipelines while maintaining system security and consistency.

Common permissions include:

  • Overall/Read — allows visibility into Jenkins and its resources.
  • Job/Build, Job/Read, Job/Discover — enables users to trigger and monitor builds.
  • SCM/Read, SCM/Tag — provides access to integrated source control systems.
  • Run/Delete, Run/Replay — allows management of build executions.
  • View/Read — grants access to dashboards and views.

Developers can create, view, and execute jobs as part of their CI/CD process, but cannot alter Jenkins configurations or credentials.

DevOps Engineer Role

The DevOps Engineer role is intended for users who manage and optimize CI/CD workflows, pipelines, and build environments.
This role strikes a balance between operational control and security, granting permissions to configure pipelines and credentials without granting full administrative rights.

Typical permissions include:

  • Overall/Read — provides general visibility across Jenkins.
  • Credentials/Create, Update, Delete — allows secure management of tokens, keys, and secrets.
  • Job/Build, Job/Create, Job/Configure, Job/Delete, Job/Read — enables users to manage and maintain build jobs and pipelines.
  • SCM/Read, SCM/Tag — supports source control operations.
  • Metrics/View — provides access to monitoring and performance insights.

DevOps engineers are responsible for maintaining build automation, pipeline reliability, and integration with external tools,thus, ensuring continuous delivery processes run smoothly while adhering to security boundaries.

Assign Roles to Users

Once roles are defined, assign them to specific users:

  1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins, Click on Manage and Assign Roles then Assign Roles.
  2. Choose the Global Roles tab.
  3. Enter each username (exactly as created under “Manage Users”).
  4. Check the boxes corresponding to the roles you want to assign.
  5. Click Save.

Users now have access strictly within the limits of their assigned roles — enforcing identity-based access control.

Benefits of Role-Based IAM in Jenkins

Implementing IAM using the Role-Based Strategy Plugin offers multiple benefits:

  • Enhanced Security — Limits exposure by granting the least privileges necessary.
  • Operational Governance — Ensures every action is traceable to an authorized role.
  • Scalability — New users can be onboarded simply by assigning predefined roles.
  • Accountability — Clear role definitions make auditing and troubleshooting easier.
  • Simplified Administration — Reduces the complexity of managing large user bases.

Conclusion

By integrating the Role-Based Strategy Plugin with Jenkins’ built-in user management, administrators can achieve a strong, flexible, and scalable Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework.

This approach not only protects critical CI/CD operations but also promotes a culture of secure collaboration. Each user operates within defined boundaries,thus,administrators maintain full control, developers focus on delivery, and DevOps engineers manage automation securely.

In essence, implementing IAM on Jenkins using role-based authorization transforms a simple CI/CD tool into a secure, compliant, and enterprise-ready automation platform. It enforces security best practices such as least privilege, transparency, and centralized control — key pillars of modern DevSecOps.

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