Spotlight permission issue with multiple users - user A can search files from user B

Did you migrate these users?

Log in as User A and run this command in Terminal and see if you have any ACLs set with _spotlight as the user.

ls -le ~/

That will list the home folder contents and show the ACLs. ACLs show up below the entry prefixed with a number and : like this:

drwx------   9 user  staff   306 Dec 16 21:24 Applications
drwx------@ 23 user  staff   782 Jan  5 20:16 Desktop
 0: group:everyone deny delete

The 0: line is a standard ACL.

I noticed when I migrated accounts on a test install, the users had these _spotlight ACLs which gave spotlight read access to everything. That is what I think may be the problem.

That's normal. So, what I thought was happening wasn't.

Does User A get search results from User B?

If no, I doubt this will help, but open Disk Utility, select your hard drive and Repair Disk Permissions.

I reppair the Disk Permissions periodical - this isn't the solution.

It rarely is.

Do you have a backup that is attached? If so, can you eject that disk and try again?

I'm really out of ideas, but I would like to confirm the location of the found files (although I'm pretty sure it will be your folder).

If using the Spotlight Menu, hover over one of the found files and hold down cmd+option(alt). You should see the path at the bottom of the preview window.

If using Finder, Show the Path Bar from the View menu of Finder. Select a found file and look at the path.

Are they pointing into your home folder, or somewhere else?

I've seen one other similar situation, having to do with Tags appearing from another user, but they had the _spotlight ACLs, and it wasn't resolved.

Your permissions are all such that it shouldn't be visible, so it must be something that the spotlight process has incorrect permissions. However, if that was the case, I woudl think it would work the other direction.

If you make a third account; does it also see the data in Spotlight from the A user? This may help narrow down the issue to either User A or User B depending on if it happens in another account as well.

Rebuild the Spotlight index. If you try to search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, there will be an indication that indexing is in progress.