What causes "Cannot drop view %s%s" in prestodb/presto?

Run DROP VIEW as the view owner or an admin

prestodb/presto · error · AccessDeniedException

Cannot drop view %s%s

Error message

Cannot drop view %s%s

What it means

Thrown when the identity lacks the DROP_VIEW privilege on a view. denyDropView is invoked from AccessControlManager.checkCanDropView when the connector authorizer rejects the operation. View drops are typically restricted to owners/admins.

Source

Thrown at presto-spi/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/spi/security/AccessDeniedException.java:302

    public static void denyRenameView(String viewName, String newViewName)
    {
        denyRenameView(viewName, newViewName, null);
    }

    public static void denyRenameView(String viewName, String newViewName, String extraInfo)
    {
        throw new AccessDeniedException(format("Cannot rename view from %s to %s%s", viewName, newViewName, formatExtraInfo(extraInfo)));
    }

    public static void denyDropView(String viewName)
    {
        denyDropView(viewName, null);
    }

    public static void denyDropView(String viewName, String extraInfo)
    {
        throw new AccessDeniedException(format("Cannot drop view %s%s", viewName, formatExtraInfo(extraInfo)));
    }

    public static void denySelectView(String viewName)
    {
        denySelectView(viewName, null);
    }

    public static void denySelectView(String viewName, String extraInfo)
    {
        throw new AccessDeniedException(format("Cannot select from view %s%s", viewName, formatExtraInfo(extraInfo)));
    }

    public static void denyGrantTablePrivilege(String privilege, String tableName)
    {
        denyGrantTablePrivilege(privilege, tableName, null);
    }

    public static void denyGrantTablePrivilege(String privilege, String tableName, String extraInfo)

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

Run DROP VIEW as the view owner or an admin
Change view ownership to the requesting principal (SET AUTHORIZATION)
Grant DROP_VIEW privilege in the access control configuration

Example fix

// before
DROP VIEW analytics.daily; -- AccessDeniedException
// after (as admin)
ALTER VIEW analytics.daily SET AUTHORIZATION cleanup_svc;
-- run DROP VIEW as cleanup_svc

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

boolean canDrop = viewOwner.equals(requestingUser) || catalogAdmin.userHasPrivilege(requestingUser, view, "DROP");

Try / catch

try {
    execute("DROP VIEW " + viewName);
} catch (AccessDeniedException e) {
    log.error("DROP VIEW denied for {}: {}", currentUser, e.getMessage());
    throw new SecurityException("Request DROP VIEW via the view owner or an admin", e);
}

Prevention

Track view ownership in metadata and route drops through owners
Give cleanup pipelines a dedicated principal that owns the views it drops
Document ownership transfer (SET AUTHORIZATION) in runbooks

When it happens

Trigger: DROP VIEW <name> where checkCanDropView dispatches to the authorizer and denies the current identity.

Common situations: Cleanup scripts run by a service account without ownership; views created by departed employees; strict access-control configs requiring explicit DROP grants.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5471e815e7e9a02d. Report an issue: GitHub.