Here’s how to resolve cases where users are flagged with admin access when they shouldn’t be
🔍 Why This Happens
The monitor Change Management | User Access List checks for user access levels in Jira.
Sometimes, users are flagged as having admin permissions, even if they weren’t intentionally set as admins. This is typically due to the Jira plan type or how permissions are configured at the project level.
✅ What You Need to Do
🔹 If You're on the Free Plan:
On Jira’s Free tier, Atlassian automatically treats every user who has access to the product as a Project Admin.
"Everyone who can access that product is a project admin. It isn't possible to change the permission scheme, edit roles, or add an issue security scheme."
— Atlassian Support
This means the monitor will correctly flag these users as admins—even though you didn’t manually assign them.
Solution:
There is no workaround on the Free plan. To gain control over roles and permissions, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid Jira tier.
🔹 If You're on a Paid Plan:
In this case, a user may be flagged as a Project Admin due to one of the following:
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They have these project-level permissions:
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BROWSE_PROJECTS -
ADMINISTER_PROJECTS -
ASSIGN_ISSUES
-
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Or, they have the global
ADMINISTERpermission, making them an admin across all projects
Solution:
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Check the user’s permission scheme at both the project and global levels
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If they should not have admin access, update their roles and permissions accordingly