Identify why a user can drop a database

I have a sql server user that has the ability to drop any database. I've been running the code below to check the rights that the user has in SQL Server but have not been able to identify how the user has the ability to drop databases. Is there a sql script that can help me identify how this user can drop dbs? Is there a command to deny them dropping any databases? (SSMS is not showing the user as part of the dbcreator role)

select USER_NAME(p.grantee_principal_id) AS principal_name,
    dp.type_desc AS principal_type_desc,
    p.class_desc,
    OBJECT_NAME(p.major_id) AS object_name,
    p.permission_name,
    p.state_desc AS permission_state_desc 
from    sys.database_permissions p
inner   JOIN sys.database_principals dp
on     p.grantee_principal_id = dp.principal_id
order by principal_name

The output of the query above provides the following three records for the user if it is helpful


class_desc object_name permission_name permission_state_desc
OBJECT_OR_COLUMN xp_cmdshell EXECUTE GRANT
DATABASE NULL CONNECT GRANT

DATABASE NULL CREATE DATABASE GRANT

I would suggest running this query on the master

SELECT  
    [UserName] = CASE princ.[type] 
                    WHEN 'S' THEN princ.[name]
                    WHEN 'U' THEN ulogin.[name] COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AI
                 END,
    [UserType] = CASE princ.[type]
                    WHEN 'S' THEN 'SQL User'
                    WHEN 'U' THEN 'Windows User'
                 END,  
    [DatabaseUserName] = princ.[name],       
    [Role] = null,      
    [PermissionType] = perm.[permission_name],       
    [PermissionState] = perm.[state_desc],       
    [ObjectType] = obj.type_desc,--perm.[class_desc],       
    [ObjectName] = OBJECT_NAME(perm.major_id),
    [ColumnName] = col.[name]
FROM    
    --database user
    sys.database_principals princ  
LEFT JOIN
    --Login accounts
    sys.login_token ulogin on princ.[sid] = ulogin.[sid]
LEFT JOIN        
    --Permissions
    sys.database_permissions perm ON perm.[grantee_principal_id] = princ.[principal_id]
LEFT JOIN
    --Table columns
    sys.columns col ON col.[object_id] = perm.major_id 
                    AND col.[column_id] = perm.[minor_id]
LEFT JOIN
    sys.objects obj ON perm.[major_id] = obj.[object_id]
WHERE 
    princ.[type] in ('S','U')
UNION
--List all access provisioned to a sql user or windows user/group through a database or application role
SELECT  
    [UserName] = CASE memberprinc.[type] 
                    WHEN 'S' THEN memberprinc.[name]
                    WHEN 'U' THEN ulogin.[name] COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AI
                 END,
    [UserType] = CASE memberprinc.[type]
                    WHEN 'S' THEN 'SQL User'
                    WHEN 'U' THEN 'Windows User'
                 END, 
    [DatabaseUserName] = memberprinc.[name],   
    [Role] = roleprinc.[name],      
    [PermissionType] = perm.[permission_name],       
    [PermissionState] = perm.[state_desc],       
    [ObjectType] = obj.type_desc,--perm.[class_desc],   
    [ObjectName] = OBJECT_NAME(perm.major_id),
    [ColumnName] = col.[name]
FROM    
    --Role/member associations
    sys.database_role_members members
JOIN
    --Roles
    sys.database_principals roleprinc ON roleprinc.[principal_id] = members.[role_principal_id]
JOIN
    --Role members (database users)
    sys.database_principals memberprinc ON memberprinc.[principal_id] = members.[member_principal_id]
LEFT JOIN
    --Login accounts
    sys.login_token ulogin on memberprinc.[sid] = ulogin.[sid]
LEFT JOIN        
    --Permissions
    sys.database_permissions perm ON perm.[grantee_principal_id] = roleprinc.[principal_id]
LEFT JOIN
    --Table columns
    sys.columns col on col.[object_id] = perm.major_id 
                    AND col.[column_id] = perm.[minor_id]
LEFT JOIN
    sys.objects obj ON perm.[major_id] = obj.[object_id]
UNION
--List all access provisioned to the public role, which everyone gets by default
SELECT  
    [UserName] = '{All Users}',
    [UserType] = '{All Users}', 
    [DatabaseUserName] = '{All Users}',       
    [Role] = roleprinc.[name],      
    [PermissionType] = perm.[permission_name],       
    [PermissionState] = perm.[state_desc],       
    [ObjectType] = obj.type_desc,--perm.[class_desc],  
    [ObjectName] = OBJECT_NAME(perm.major_id),
    [ColumnName] = col.[name]
FROM    
    --Roles
    sys.database_principals roleprinc
LEFT JOIN        
    --Role permissions
    sys.database_permissions perm ON perm.[grantee_principal_id] = roleprinc.[principal_id]
LEFT JOIN
    --Table columns
    sys.columns col on col.[object_id] = perm.major_id 
                    AND col.[column_id] = perm.[minor_id]                   
JOIN 
    --All objects   
    sys.objects obj ON obj.[object_id] = perm.[major_id]
WHERE
    --Only roles
    roleprinc.[type] = 'R' AND
    --Only public role
    roleprinc.[name] = 'public' AND
    --Only objects of ours, not the MS objects
    obj.is_ms_shipped = 0
ORDER BY
    princ.[Name],
    OBJECT_NAME(perm.major_id),
    col.[name],
    perm.[permission_name],
    perm.[state_desc],
    obj.type_desc--perm.[class_desc]

This should give you a pretty good idea of the roles that have access to your master database and see weather or not the user has any of those roles. You can also run this against any of your other databases to check the user's permissions on a database by database level. This should be an important tool to help track this down.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#29723, answer score: 6