Cloned Issues Show 'You don't have permission to transition this issue.'

Question

Hello,

We have had reports where duplicated issues cannot be transitioned due to no permissions. I have also noticed not even a Jira Admin can do this.

The project in question has a restricted workflow, I.e can move to certain statuses. The status these issues are in is the one it goes to when a Jira issue is created.

What I have found is if you create the issue and try to transition this, it is fine - works as expected.

They have cloned a number of issues into the same status but they cannot transition this despite the workflow being the same.

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Of course it makes sense. The thing is I can't see your issues, nor access your environment. That they cloned the issues in itself is not explanation as to why they can't be transitioned.

I had assumed it was data center, since you tagged your question like this. So what I mentioned as possible causes were already based on that assumption - I intended them as pointers for where you could possibly start looking.

If the standard permission helper does not mention any plausible reason as to why they can't be transitioned, check the workflow that is attached to these cloned issues and make sure it does not have any permission conditions set. Also see if the limitation applies to specific users only or to all.

Daniel Block_cd4z3o · Answer

Hi @Walter Buggenhout this is a very nice tool I didn't realise was a thing! I have used it and the main output shows '{user} has the 'Transition Issues' permission'. This is expected.

For reference, this is Jira Data Center v9.11.3 - We don't use Jira Service Management.

The problem we are facing only happens to a number of issues where the user states these were duplicated issues. My guess is they cloned them. I have done some testing by finding a ticket in the same status that wasn't 'duplicated' and the workflow drop down successfully shows  2 statuses it can transition to.

The user can do this. What the user can't do and what I can't do as Jira Admin in our instance is transition the 'duplicated' ones.

Hopefully this makes sense!

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @Daniel Block,

The permission to transition an issue is potentially controlled by several things:

* the transition issues permission defined in the project your issue is in;
* issue level permissions in the issue's project that are restricting the permission;
* conditions on transitions in your workflow;
* service desk agent access if your project is a Jira Service Management project

The easiest way to find out what's wrong, is by running the permission helper. Press 'gg' on your keyboard and in the dialog that appears type 'permission helper'. A little tool should pop up where you can enter the issue key, the user you want to test permissions for and the 'transition issues' permission.

Run the test and it should tell you what is wrong. Most likely, it will be project or issue level permissions.

Hope this helps!