ORA-01031: Insufficient privileges

What does it mean?

The user does not have the privilege (system or object privilege) required for the operation being attempted.

Why does it happen?

The required system or object privilege has not been granted, the privilege comes only through a role (roles are not effective inside definer-rights PL/SQL blocks), an administrative operation was attempted without SYSDBA/SYSOPER, or a direct grant is missing for definer-rights procedures.

How to fix it

Grant the missing privilege, for example: GRANT CREATE TABLE TO app_user or GRANT SELECT ON app_schema.my_table TO app_user. Remember that for named PL/SQL objects privileges must be granted directly, not through a role. For operations requiring SYSDBA, connect with the correct credentials. Check current privileges: SELECT * FROM session_privs / user_sys_privs.