ST-2026-221 · Authentication & identity
Snowflake is deprecating CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST and moving Cortex model access to RBAC
Snowflake documented a phased retirement of `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST` in favor of model RBAC, including a one-time existing-account mapping window, later removal of allowlist-based access control, and eventual full retirement.
Previous state
Cortex authorization checked model RBAC first and could fall back to the `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST` account parameter; model RBAC was not enforced for embedding models.
Current state
Snowflake is deprecating `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST` and converging Cortex authorization on model RBAC. The documented phases restrict new allowlist values from 5 August, map existing-account configuration to model roles during 17 August–4 September, schedule removal of allowlist-based access control for 8 September, and schedule full retirement for 18 November 2026.
Affected users
Who needs to care
Snowflake accounts and workloads that use `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST`, Cortex model application roles, AI_EMBED, Cortex Search, or execution contexts where PUBLIC grants may not be active.
Required response
What to do
Inventory Cortex workloads that still depend on the allowlist, validate model-role grants and the one-time mapping in each account, explicitly grant required model roles in execution contexts where PUBLIC is not active, and test before setting the allowlist to `None` or before the scheduled enforcement phases.
Evidence boundary
What the source does not prove
Snowflake labels the overall behavior change pending and says all dates are subject to change. The documentation describes a 17 August–4 September one-time migration window, but it does not prove that every account has already migrated on 26 August or that the 8 September and 18 November phases have already occurred.
Lifecycle history
Dated event sequence
- Allowlist mutation restricted
Snowflake documents that `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST` can no longer be changed to a new model-list value and may only be set to `None`.
- Existing-account mapping window begins
Snowflake's documented one-time mapping window for existing accounts begins and runs through 4 September 2026.
- Model-RBAC-only access control scheduled
Snowflake schedules removal of allowlist-based access control and model RBAC enforcement through the 2026_07 behavior change bundle.
- Allowlist retirement scheduled complete
Snowflake schedules completion of the rollout and full retirement of `CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST`.
Evidence ledger
First-party sources
- 01Snowflake — CORTEX_MODELS_ALLOWLIST deprecation and embedding model RBAC enforcement (Pending)
Official Snowflake documentation · 2026-08-05
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