Embodiments regard security descriptors for record access queries. An embodiment of a method includes: receiving a record access query, the query regarding records for a certain one or more users, groups, or both at a certain access level; searching one or more sharing tables of entities in a computing environment for security descriptors, each security descriptor being associated with a set of one or more users, groups, or both having access to one or more records of a set of records at an access level; identifying any security descriptors in the one or more sharing tables that relate to the certain one or more users, groups, or both with at least the certain access level; and searching the one or more records associated with each of the identified security descriptors according to the record access query.