Unable to access certain Jira stories

Question

New to Jira, kindly excuse if terms used are not accurate

I am part of a team/space in Jira and have verified with the admin that my access levels/permissions are the same as every other member in my team. But, I have an issue in accessing certain Jira stories, but I am able to access other Jira stories within the same space/project. One fix that seemed to work was to remove the security level from the stories that I cannot access, but this is not an acceptable fix for the team.

John Funk · Answer

Hi Adithya,

Work item security is composed of different levels of security which allow certain users to see the work items that are attached to that level. If you cannot see certain work items/stories, then you either need to be added to the security level by your Jira Administrator or the Jira Administrator (or whomever has permissions) needs to change the security level attached to that work item.

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

Hello @Adithya Baburaj

if removing the Security Level makes the story visible, then the root cause is clear: this is Issue Security, not normal project access.

Jira has two layers:

Project permissions → lets you browse the project in general

Issue Security level → can hide specific issues, even inside the same project, even if your permissions “look the same” as others

That’s why you can open some stories but get blocked on others.

What to do (admin-side):

Pick one story you can’t access and have an admin open it.

Check the field Security Level on that issue (what level name is set).

Go to Project settings → Issue security scheme and find that level.

Confirm that level grants visibility to the right target:

your user, or

your group, or

your project role

Most common reason: a teammate who can see it is in a different group or project role, even if your overall permissions are similar.

So: don’t remove the security level, update the scheme (or your role/group membership) so the security level includes you.

Florian Bonniec · Answer

Hi @Adithya Baburaj

You project admin or jira admin have to check the Security level configuration and make sure you are in the level the issue has been set with.

It's in the project settings > Work Items > Security

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/what-are-work-item-security-schemes/

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/lesson/define-work-item-security-for-company-managed-projects-with-schemes

Regards