databricks Platform · Updated Jun 9, 2026

Attribute-based access control (ABAC) in Unity Catalog is in Public Preview

Attribute based access control (ABAC) for Unity Catalog is now in Public Preview.

Public Preview Open docs ↗release note ↗

What it does

Attribute based access control (ABAC) for Unity Catalog is now in Public Preview. ABAC lets you govern access to data using policies that reference attributes — tags on securable objects and properties of the requesting principal — instead of granting permissions object by object. With ABAC you can: Write policies that apply automatically to any table tagged with a classification such as pii or restricted.

Why it matters

ABAC lets you govern access to data using policies that reference attributes — tags on securable objects and properties of the requesting principal — instead of granting permissions object by object.

Key capabilities

Write policies that apply automatically

Write policies that apply automatically to any table tagged with a classification such as pii or restricted.

Enforce column masking and row

Enforce column masking and row filtering based on principal attributes.

Centralize governance so new tables

Centralize governance so new tables inherit the right controls on creation.

Prerequisites

Unity Catalog enabled workspace.

Tag-based governance enabled for the metastore.

Recommended use cases

enforcing regulatory classificationsreducing manual grant management.

Limitations · remember

!Policy evaluation currently supports a subset of SQL predicate functions.

!ABAC policies are not yet enforced for Delta Sharing recipients.

Architecture

Databricks Platform → Platform

In short

Read the full documentation ↗

Key takeaway

Attribute based access control (ABAC) for Unity Catalog is now in Public Preview.

2026-06-09-attribute-based-access-control-abac-in-unity-catalog-is-in-public-preview Generated by the Databricks Updates Agent · browse all updates