hardMultiple Choice
ISC2 CC Practice Question: Implements a role-based access control (RBAC)…
An organization implements a role-based access control (RBAC) system. To maintain the principle of least privilege, what should the administrator do when a user changes roles?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Remove the previous role's access and assign the new role's access.
RBAC grants permissions through roles, and the principle of least privilege requires that a user hold only the roles needed for their current responsibilities. When someone changes roles, the correct action is to revoke the old role assignments and grant the new ones, because accumulated permissions create privilege creep: a user who moved from finance to engineering retains access to financial records, widening the blast radius if their account is compromised and violating separation-of-duties controls. Role explosion and orphaned entitlements are common audit findings precisely because administrators add new access without removing old. Periodic access reviews and automated deprovisioning workflows help enforce this, but the immediate action at role change is to replace, not augment, the user's role set.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Remove the previous role's access and assign the new role's access.
Why this is correct
This ensures the user has only the permissions needed for their new role, following least privilege.
- ✗
Keep all access and let the manager manually remove as needed.
Why it's wrong here
This is inefficient and may lead to excessive permissions persisting.
- ✗
Use a single role for all users to simplify management.
Why it's wrong here
This abandons role-based access and likely grants too much or too little permission.
- ✗
Add the new role's access while keeping the previous role's access.
Why it's wrong here
This violates least privilege by retaining unnecessary permissions from the old role.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Access Control Fundamentals
Key term
RBAC
RBAC is a method of restricting network access based on the roles of individual users within an organization, where permissions are assigned to roles rather than to individuals directly.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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