Permission error when trying to link work item as parent to a task in same project area
One answer
The question lacks a lot of details, which is a shame.
I wonder why there is the emphasis on "the same project area". Just because one has access to some data in a project area does not necessarily mean that they have access to everything.
The error mentions the "permission to read item". This could indicate that there is an access permission enforced in the project area. This can either be based on work item categories and team areas, or this can be done manually by making the Access Context accessible as attribute.
I would suggest to ask the user to try to open the work item in question. If they can not you probably have read access limitations enabled and this is the desired behavior. The user would have to ask someone with access to the parent to do the change.
You can see that this is enabled in the process configuration, either the categories, or in the editor presentation making the access context attribute available for editing.
IF not, I would suggest to open a case with support, to find out what is going on.
Comments
User has the highest role at the project area level with that role, creating a link is possible as per access permission.
There is nothing like a high, higher or highest role in EWM. I can have 200 roles or 2 that has all permissions, if I have no READ ACCESS to a work item I can not link it, regardless of my role.
The only limitation might be if the user is member of the Repository Group JazzAdmin, in which case the user could see the read access hidden item and they could at least make themselves member of the read access limiting team area or change the access context.