What is the difference between privilege and permission in computer security?

A permission is a property of an object, such as a file. It says which agents are permitted to use the object, and what they are permitted to do (read it, modify it, etc.).

A privilege is a property of an agent, such as a user. It lets the agent do things that are not ordinarily allowed. For example, there are privileges which allow an agent to access an object that it does not have permission to access, and privileges which allow an agent to perform maintenance functions such as restart the computer.

A system administrator has special rights (Privilage) and can only give you the read or write Permission on a file or folder.

In other words

Built-in Administrators have privilages to give read, write or modify permission to a limited user account

In simple words,

When rights conflict, a privilege overrides a permission.

Hi,

     I don't know if you have heard of AAA terminology,

A- Authentication

A- Authorization

A- Accounting

So the first two A's is what your question is about. Permission defines who all can access and Privilege defnes what all things the Person who has been given permission can execute.

permission implies consent given to any individual or group to perform an action. Privilege is a permission given to an individual or group. Privileges are used to distinguish between different granted permissions (including no permission.)

A privilege is a permission to perform an action.