Security settings in {es}

Security settings

By default, {security} is disabled when you have a basic or trial license. To enable {security}, use the xpack.security.enabled setting.

You configure xpack.security settings to enable anonymous access and perform message authentication, set up document and field level security, configure realms, encrypt communications with SSL, and audit security events.

All of these settings can be added to the elasticsearch.yml configuration file, with the exception of the secure settings, which you add to the {es} keystore. For more information about creating and updating the {es} keystore, see [secure-settings].

General security settings

xpack.security.enabled: Set to true to enable {security} on the node.

If set to false, which is the default value for basic and trial licenses, {security} is disabled. It also affects all {kib} instances that connect to this {es} instance; you do not need to disable {security} in those kibana.yml files. For more information about disabling {security} in specific {kib} instances, see {kibana-ref}/security-settings-kb.html[{kib} security settings].
xpack.security.hide_settings: A comma-separated list of settings that are omitted from the results of the cluster nodes info API. You can use wildcards to include multiple settings in the list. For example, the following value hides all the settings for the ad1 realm: xpack.security.authc.realms.ad1.*. The API already omits all ssl settings, bind_dn, and bind_password due to the sensitive nature of the information.

Default password security settings

xpack.security.authc.accept_default_password: In elasticsearch.yml, set this to false to disable support for the default "changeme" password.

Anonymous access settings

You can configure the following anonymous access settings in elasticsearch.yml. For more information, see {xpack-ref}/anonymous-access.html[ Enabling anonymous access].

xpack.security.authc.anonymous.username: The username (principal) of the anonymous user. Defaults to _es_anonymous_user.
xpack.security.authc.anonymous.roles: The roles to associate with the anonymous user. Required.
xpack.security.authc.anonymous.authz_exception: When true, an HTTP 403 response is returned if the anonymous user does not have the appropriate permissions for the requested action. The user is not prompted to provide credentials to access the requested resource. When set to false, a HTTP 401 is returned and the user can provide credentials with the appropriate permissions to gain access. Defaults to true.

Document and field level security settings

You can set the following document and field level security settings in elasticsearch.yml. For more information, see {xpack-ref}/field-and-document-access-control.html[Setting up document and field level security].

xpack.security.dls_fls.enabled: Set to false to prevent document and field level security from being configured. Defaults to true.

Token service settings

You can set the following token service settings in elasticsearch.yml.

xpack.security.authc.token.enabled: Set to false to disable the built-in token service. Defaults to true unless xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled is false. This prevents sniffing the token from a connection over plain http.
xpack.security.authc.token.timeout: The length of time that a token is valid for. By default this value is 20m or 20 minutes. The maximum value is 1 hour.

Realm settings

You configure realm settings in the xpack.security.authc.realms namespace in elasticsearch.yml. For example:

xpack.security.authc.realms:

    realm1:
        type: native
        order: 0
        ...

    realm2:
        type: ldap
        order: 1
        ...

    realm3:
        type: active_directory
        order: 2
        ...
    ...

The valid settings vary depending on the realm type. For more information, see {xpack-ref}/setting-up-authentication.html[Setting up authentication].

Settings valid for all realms

type: The type of the realm: native, `ldap, active_directory, pki, or file. Required.
order: The priority of the realm within the realm chain. Realms with a lower order are consulted first. Although not required, use of this setting is strongly recommended when you configure multiple realms. Defaults to Integer.MAX_VALUE.
enabled: Indicates whether a realm is enabled. You can use this setting to disable a realm without removing its configuration information. Defaults to true.

Native realm settings

For a native realm, the type must be set to native. In addition to the settings that are valid for all realms, you can specify the following optional settings:

cache.ttl: The time-to-live for cached user entries. A user and a hash of its credentials are cached for this period of time. Specify the time period using the standard {es} time units. Defaults to 20m.
cache.max_users: The maximum number of user entries that can live in the cache at any given time. Defaults to 100,000.
cache.hash_algo: (Expert Setting) The hashing algorithm that is used for the in-memory cached user credentials. For possible values, see {xpack-ref}/controlling-user-cache.html[Cache hash algorithms]. Defaults to ssha256.

File realm settings

The type setting must be set to file. In addition to the settings that are valid for all realms, you can specify the following settings:

cache.ttl: The time-to-live for cached user entries. A user and a hash of its credentials are cached for this configured period of time. Defaults to 20m. Specify values using the standard {es} {ref}/common-options.html#time-units[time units]. Defaults to 20m.
cache.max_users: The maximum number of user entries that can live in the cache at a given time. Defaults to 100,000.
cache.hash_algo: (Expert Setting) The hashing algorithm that is used for the in-memory cached user credentials. See the {xpack-ref}/controlling-user-cache.html#controlling-user-cache[Cache hash algorithms] table for all possible values. Defaults to ssha256.

LDAP realm settings

The type setting must be set to ldap. In addition to the Settings valid for all realms, you can specify the following settings:

url

Specifies one or more LDAP URLs in the format ldap[s]://<server>:<port>. Multiple URLs can be defined using a comma separated value or array syntax: [ "ldaps://server1:636", "ldaps://server2:636" ]. ldaps and ldap URL protocols cannot be mixed in the same realm. Required.

load_balance.type

The behavior to use when there are multiple LDAP URLs defined. For supported values see load balancing and failover types. Defaults to failover.

load_balance.cache_ttl

When using dns_failover or dns_round_robin as the load balancing type, this setting controls the amount of time to cache DNS lookups. Defaults to 1h.

bind_dn

The DN of the user that is used to bind to the LDAP and perform searches. Only applicable in user search mode. If not specified, an anonymous bind is attempted. Defaults to Empty. Due to its potential security impact, bind_dn is not exposed via the nodes info API.

bind_password

deprecated[6.3] Use secure_bind_password instead. The password for the user that is used to bind to the LDAP directory. Defaults to Empty. Due to its potential security impact, bind_password is not exposed via the nodes info API.

secure_bind_password (Secure)

The password for the user that is used to bind to the LDAP directory. Defaults to Empty.

user_dn_templates

The DN template that replaces the user name with the string {0}. This setting is multivalued; you can specify multiple user contexts. Required to operate in user template mode. If user_search.base_dn is specified, this setting is not valid. For more information on the different modes, see {xpack-ref}/ldap-realm.html[LDAP realms].

Note	If any settings starting with `user_search` are specified, the `user_dn_templates` settings are ignored.

user_group_attribute

Specifies the attribute to examine on the user for group membership. If any group_search settings are specified, this setting is ignored. Defaults to memberOf.

user_search.base_dn

Specifies a container DN to search for users. Required to operated in user search mode. If user_dn_templates is specified, this setting is not valid. For more information on the different modes, see {xpack-ref}/ldap-realm.html[LDAP realms].

user_search.scope

The scope of the user search. Valid values are sub_tree, one_level or base. one_level only searches objects directly contained within the base_dn. sub_tree searches all objects contained under base_dn. base specifies that the base_dn is the user object, and that it is the only user considered. Defaults to sub_tree.

user_search.filter

Specifies the filter used to search the directory in attempts to match an entry with the username provided by the user. Defaults to (uid={0}). {0} is substituted with the username provided when searching.

user_search.attribute

deprecated[5.6] Use user_search.filter instead. The attribute to match with the username sent with the request. Defaults to uid.

user_search.pool.enabled

Enables or disables connection pooling for user search. If set to false, a new connection is created for every search. The default is true when bind_dn is set.

user_search.pool.size

The maximum number of connections to the LDAP server to allow in the connection pool. Defaults to 20.

user_search.pool.initial_size

The initial number of connections to create to the LDAP server on startup. Defaults to 0. If the LDAP server is down, values greater than 0 could cause startup failures.

user_search.pool.health_check.enabled

Enables or disables a health check on LDAP connections in the connection pool. Connections are checked in the background at the specified interval. Defaults to true.

user_search.pool.health_check.dn

The distinguished name that is retrieved as part of the health check. Defaults to the value of bind_dn if present; if not, falls back to user_search.base_dn.

user_search.pool.health_check.interval

The interval to perform background checks of connections in the pool. Defaults to 60s.

group_search.base_dn

The container DN to search for groups in which the user has membership. When this element is absent, {security} searches for the attribute specified by user_group_attribute set on the user in order to determine group membership.

group_search.scope

Specifies whether the group search should be sub_tree, one_level or base. one_level only searches objects directly contained within the base_dn. sub_tree searches all objects contained under base_dn. base specifies that the base_dn is a group object, and that it is the only group considered. Defaults to sub_tree.

group_search.filter

Specifies a filter to use to look up a group. When not set, the realm searches for group, groupOfNames, groupOfUniqueNames, or posixGroup with the attributes member, memberOf, or memberUid. Any instance of {0} in the filter is replaced by the user attribute defined in group_search.user_attribute.

group_search.user_attribute

Specifies the user attribute that is fetched and provided as a parameter to the filter. If not set, the user DN is passed into the filter. Defaults to Empty.

unmapped_groups_as_roles

If set to true, the names of any unmapped LDAP groups are used as role names and assigned to the user. A group is considered to be unmapped if it is not not referenced in a {xpack-ref}/mapping-roles.html#mapping-roles-file[role-mapping file]. API-based role mappings are not considered. Defaults to false.

files.role_mapping

The {xpack-ref}/security-files.html[location] for the {xpack-ref}/mapping-roles.html#mapping-roles[ YAML role mapping configuration file]. Defaults to ES_PATH_CONF/role_mapping.yml.

follow_referrals

Specifies whether {security} should follow referrals returned by the LDAP server. Referrals are URLs returned by the server that are to be used to continue the LDAP operation (for example, search). Defaults to true.

metadata

A list of additional LDAP attributes that should be loaded from the LDAP server and stored in the authenticated user’s metadata field.

timeout.tcp_connect

The TCP connect timeout period for establishing an LDAP connection. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).

timeout.tcp_read

The TCP read timeout period after establishing an LDAP connection. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).

timeout.ldap_search

The LDAP Server enforced timeout period for an LDAP search. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).

ssl.key

Path to a PEM encoded file containing the private key, which is used if the LDAP server requires client authentication. ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.

ssl.key_passphrase

The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. This value is optional as the key may not be encrypted.

ssl.secure_key_passphrase (Secure)

The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key.

ssl.certificate

Path to a PEM encoded file containing the certificate (or certificate chain) that will be presented to clients when they connect.

ssl.certificate_authorities

List of paths to PEM encoded certificate files that should be trusted. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.

ssl.keystore.path

The path to the Java Keystore file that contains a private key and certificate. ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path may not be used at the same time.

ssl.keystore.type

The format of the keystore file. Should be either jks to use the Java Keystore format, or PKCS12 to use PKCS#12 files. The default is jks.

ssl.keystore.password

The password to the keystore.

ssl.keystore.secure_password (Secure)

The password to the keystore.

ssl.keystore.key_password

The password for the key in the keystore. Defaults to the keystore password.

ssl.keystore.secure_key_password

The password for the key in the keystore. Defaults to the keystore password.

ssl.truststore.path

The path to the Java Keystore file that contains the certificates to trust. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.

ssl.truststore.password

The password to the truststore.

ssl.truststore.secure_password (Secure)

The password to the truststore.

ssl.truststore.type

The format of the keystore file. Should be either jks to use the Java Keystore format, or PKCS12 to use PKCS#12 files. The default is jks.

ssl.verification_mode

Indicates the type of verification when using ldaps to protect against man in the middle attacks and certificate forgery. Values are none, certificate, and full. Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.verification_mode.

See xpack.ssl.verification_mode for an explanation of these values.

ssl.supported_protocols

Supported protocols for TLS/SSL (with versions). Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.supported_protocols.

ssl.cipher_suites

Specifies the cipher suites that should be supported when communicating with the LDAP server. Supported cipher suites can be found in Oracle’s Java Cryptography Architecture documentation. Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.cipher_suites.

cache.ttl

Specifies the time-to-live for cached user entries. A user and a hash of its credentials are cached for this period of time. Use the standard {es} time units. Defaults to 20m.

cache.max_users

Specifies the maximum number of user entries that the cache can contain. Defaults to 100000.

cache.hash_algo

(Expert Setting) Specifies the hashing algorithm that is used for the in-memory cached user credentials. See {xpack-ref}/controlling-user-cache.html#controlling-user-cache[Cache hash algorithms] table for all possible values. Defaults to ssha256.

Active Directory realm settings

The type setting must be set to active_directory. In addition to the settings that are valid for all realms, you can specify the following settings:

url: An LDAP URL of the form ldap[s]://<server>:<port>. {security} attempts to authenticate against this URL. If the URL is not specified, it is derived from the domain_name setting and assumes an unencrypted connection to port 389. Defaults to ldap://<domain_name>:389. This setting is required when connecting using SSL/TLS or when using a custom port.
load_balance.type: The behavior to use when there are multiple LDAP URLs defined. For supported values see load balancing and failover types. Defaults to failover.
load_balance.cache_ttl: When using dns_failover or dns_round_robin as the load balancing type, this setting controls the amount of time to cache DNS lookups. Defaults to 1h.
domain_name: The domain name of Active Directory. If the the url and user_search_dn settings are not specified, the cluster can derive those values from this setting. Required.
bind_dn: The DN of the user that is used to bind to Active Directory and perform searches. Defaults to Empty. Due to its potential security impact, bind_dn is not exposed via the nodes info API.
bind_password: deprecated[6.3] Use secure_bind_password instead. The password for the user that is used to bind to Active Directory. Defaults to Empty. Due to its potential security impact, bind_password is not exposed via the nodes info API.
secure_bind_password (Secure): The password for the user that is used to bind to Active Directory. Defaults to Empty.
unmapped_groups_as_roles: If set to true, the names of any unmapped Active Directory groups are used as role names and assigned to the user. A group is considered unmapped when it is not referenced in any role-mapping files. API-based role mappings are not considered. Defaults to false.
files.role_mapping: The {xpack-ref}/security-files.html[location] for the YAML role mapping configuration file. Defaults to ES_PATH_CONF/role_mapping.yml.
user_search.base_dn: The context to search for a user. Defaults to the root of the Active Directory domain.
user_search.scope: Specifies whether the user search should be sub_tree, one_level or base. one_level only searches users directly contained within the base_dn. sub_tree searches all objects contained under base_dn. base specifies that the base_dn is a user object, and that it is the only user considered. Defaults to sub_tree.
user_search.filter: Specifies a filter to use to lookup a user given a username. The default filter looks up user objects with either sAMAccountName or userPrincipalName. If specified, this must be a valid LDAP user search filter. For example (&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName={0})). For more information, see Search Filter Syntax.
user_search.upn_filter: Specifies a filter to use to lookup a user given a user principal name. The default filter looks up user objects with a matching userPrincipalName. If specified, this must be a valid LDAP user search filter. For example, (&(objectClass=user)(userPrincipalName={1})). {1} is the full user principal name provided by the user. For more information, see Search Filter Syntax.
user_search.down_level_filter: Specifies a filter to use to lookup a user given a down level logon name (DOMAIN\user). The default filter looks up user objects with a matching sAMAccountName in the domain provided. If specified, this must be a valid LDAP user search filter. For example, (&(objectClass=user)(sAMAccountName={0})). For more information, see Search Filter Syntax.
user_search.pool.enabled: Enables or disables connection pooling for user search. When disabled a new connection is created for every search. The default is true when bind_dn is provided.
user_search.pool.size: The maximum number of connections to the Active Directory server to allow in the connection pool. Defaults to 20.
user_search.pool.initial_size: The initial number of connections to create to the Active Directory server on startup. Defaults to 0. If the LDAP server is down, values greater than 0 could cause startup failures.
user_search.pool.health_check.enabled: Enables or disables a health check on Active Directory connections in the connection pool. Connections are checked in the background at the specified interval. Defaults to true.
user_search.pool.health_check.dn: The distinguished name to be retrieved as part of the health check. Defaults to the value of bind_dn if that setting is present. Otherwise, it defaults to the value of the user_search.base_dn setting.
user_search.pool.health_check.interval: The interval to perform background checks of connections in the pool. Defaults to 60s.
group_search.base_dn: The context to search for groups in which the user has membership. Defaults to the root of the Active Directory domain.
group_search.scope: Specifies whether the group search should be sub_tree, one_level or base. one_level searches for groups directly contained within the base_dn. sub_tree searches all objects contained under base_dn. base specifies that the base_dn is a group object, and that it is the only group considered. Defaults to sub_tree.
metadata: A list of additional LDAP attributes that should be loaded from the LDAP server and stored in the authenticated user’s metadata field.
timeout.tcp_connect: The TCP connect timeout period for establishing an LDAP connection. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).
timeout.tcp_read: The TCP read timeout period after establishing an LDAP connection. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).
timeout.ldap_search: The LDAP Server enforced timeout period for an LDAP search. An s at the end indicates seconds, or ms indicates milliseconds. Defaults to 5s (5 seconds ).
ssl.certificate: Path to a PEM encoded file containing the certificate (or certificate chain) that will be presented to clients when they connect.
ssl.certificate_authorities: List of paths to PEM encoded certificate files that should be trusted. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.key: Path to the PEM encoded file containing the private key, which is used when the Active Directory server requires client authentication. ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.key_passphrase: The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. This value is optional as the key might not be encrypted.
ssl.secure_key_passphrase (Secure): The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. This value is optional as the key might not be encrypted.
ssl.keystore.key_password: The password for the key in the keystore. Defaults to the keystore password.
ssl.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): The password for the key in the keystore. Defaults to the keystore password.
ssl.keystore.password: The password to the keystore.
ssl.secure_keystore.password (Secure): The password to the keystore.
ssl.keystore.path: The path to the Java Keystore file that contains a private key and certificate. ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.keystore.type: The format of the keystore file. Should be either jks to use the Java Keystore format, or PKCS12 to use PKCS#12 files. The default is jks.
ssl.truststore.password: The password to the truststore.
ssl.truststore.secure_password (Secure): The password to the truststore.
ssl.truststore.path: The path to the Java Keystore file that contains the certificates to trust. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.truststore.type: The format of the truststore file. Should be either jks to use the Java Keystore format, or PKCS12 to use PKCS#12 files. The default is jks.
ssl.verification_mode: Indicates the type of verification when using ldaps to protect against man in the middle attacks and certificate forgery. Values are none, certificate, and full. Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.verification_mode.

See xpack.ssl.verification_mode for an explanation of these values.
ssl.supported_protocols: Supported protocols for TLS/SSL (with versions). Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.supported_protocols.
ssl.cipher_suites: Specifies the cipher suites that should be supported when communicating with the Active Directory server. Supported cipher suites can be found in Oracle’s Java Cryptography Architecture documentation. Defaults to the value of xpack.ssl.cipher_suites.
cache.ttl: Specifies the time-to-live for cached user entries. A user and a hash of its credentials are cached for this configured period of time. Use the standard Elasticsearch {ref}/common-options.html#time-units[time units]). Defaults to 20m.
cache.max_users: Specifies the maximum number of user entries that the cache can contain. Defaults to 100000.
cache.hash_algo: (Expert Setting) Specifies the hashing algorithm that is used for the in-memory cached user credentials (see {xpack-ref}/controlling-user-cache.html#controlling-user-cache[Cache hash algorithms] table for all possible values). Defaults to ssha256.
follow_referrals: If set to true {security} follows referrals returned by the LDAP server. Referrals are URLs returned by the server that are to be used to continue the LDAP operation (such as search). Defaults to true.

PKI realm settings

The type setting must be set to pki. In addition to the settings that are valid for all realms, you can specify the following settings:

username_pattern: The regular expression pattern used to extract the username from the certificate DN. The first match group is the used as the username. Defaults to CN=(.*?)(?:,\|$).
certificate_authorities: List of paths to the PEM certificate files that should be used to authenticate a user’s certificate as trusted. Defaults to the trusted certificates configured for SSL. This setting cannot be used with truststore.path.
truststore.algorithm: Algorithm for the truststore. Defaults to SunX509.
truststore.password: The password for the truststore. Must be provided if truststore.path is set.
truststore.secure_password (Secure): The password for the truststore.
truststore.path: The path of a truststore to use. Defaults to the trusted certificates configured for SSL. This setting cannot be used with certificate_authorities.
files.role_mapping: Specifies the {xpack-ref}/security-files.html[location] of the {xpack-ref}/mapping-roles.html[YAML role mapping configuration file]. Defaults to ES_PATH_CONF/role_mapping.yml.
cache.ttl: Specifies the time-to-live for cached user entries. A user and a hash of its credentials are cached for this period of time. Use the standard {es} {ref}/common-options.html#time-units[time units]). Defaults to 20m.
cache.max_users: Specifies the maximum number of user entries that the cache can contain. Defaults to 100000.

SAML realm settings

The type setting must be set to saml. In addition to the settings that are valid for all realms, you can specify the following settings:

idp.entity_id: The Entity ID of the SAML Identity Provider. An Entity ID is a URI with a maximum length of 1024 characters. It can be a URL (https://idp.example.com/) or a URN (urn:example.com:idp) and can be found in the configuration or the SAML metadata of the Identity Provider.
idp.metadata.path: The path (recommended) or URL to a SAML 2.0 metadata file describing the capabilities and configuration of the Identity Provider. If a path is provided, then it is resolved relative to the {es} config directory. If a URL is provided, then it must be either a file URL or a https URL. {security} automatically polls this metadata resource and reloads the IdP configuration when changes are detected. File based resources are polled at a frequency determined by the global {es} resource.reload.interval.high setting, which defaults to 5 seconds. HTTPS resources are polled at a frequency determined by the realm’s idp.metadata.http.refresh setting.
idp.metadata.http.refresh: Controls the frequency with which https metadata is checked for changes. Defaults to 1h (1 hour).
idp.use_single_logout: Indicates whether to utilise the Identity Provider’s Single Logout service (if one exists in the IdP metadata file). Defaults to true.
sp.entity_id: The Entity ID to use for this SAML Service Provider. This should be entered as a URI. We recommend that you use the base URL of your Kibana instance. For example, https://kibana.example.com/.
sp.acs: The URL of the Assertion Consumer Service within {kib}. Typically this is the "api/security/v1/saml" endpoint of your Kibana server. For example, https://kibana.example.com/api/security/v1/saml.
sp.logout: The URL of the Single Logout service within {kib}. Typically this is the "logout" endpoint of your Kibana server. For example, https://kibana.example.com/logout.
attributes.principal: The Name of the SAML attribute that should be used as the {security} user’s principal (username).
attributes.groups: The Name of the SAML attribute that should be used to populate {security} user’s groups.
attributes.name: The Name of the SAML attribute that should be used to populate {security} user’s full name.
attributes.mail: The Name of the SAML attribute that should be used to populate {security} user’s email address.
attributes.dn: The Name of the SAML attribute that should be used to populate {security} user’s X.500 Distinguished Name.
attribute_patterns.principal: A Java regular expression that is matched against the SAML attribute specified by attributes.pattern before it is applied to the user’s principal property. The attribute value must match the pattern and the value of the first capturing group is used as the principal. For example, ^([@]+)@example\\.com$ matches email addresses from the "example.com" domain and uses the local-part as the principal.
attribute_patterns.groups: As per attribute_patterns.principal, but for the group property.
attribute_patterns.name: As per attribute_patterns.principal, but for the name property.
attribute_patterns.mail: As per attribute_patterns.principal, but for the mail property.
attribute_patterns.dn: As per attribute_patterns.principal, but for the dn property.
nameid_format: The NameID format that should be requested when asking the IdP to authenticate the current user. Defaults to requesting transient names (urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:transient).
nameid.allow_create: The value of the AllowCreate attribute of the NameIdPolicy element in an authentication request. Defaults to false.
nameid.sp_qualifier: The value of the SPNameQualifier attribute of the NameIdPolicy element in an authentication request. The default is to not include the SPNameQualifier attribute.
force_authn: Specifies whether to set the ForceAuthn attribute when requesting that the IdP authenticate the current user. If set to true, the IdP is required to verify the user’s identity, irrespective of any existing sessions they might have. Defaults to false.
populate_user_metadata: Specifies whether to populate the {es} user’s metadata with the values that are provided by the SAML attributes. Defaults to true.
allowed_clock_skew: The maximum amount of skew that can be tolerated between the IdP’s clock and the {es} node’s clock. Defaults to 3m (3 minutes).

SAML realm signing settings

If a signing key is configured (that is, either signing.key or signing.keystore.path is set), then {security} signs outgoing SAML messages. Signing can be configured using the following settings:

signing.saml_messages: A list of SAML message types that should be signed or to sign all messages. Each element in the list should be the local name of a SAML XML Element. Supported element types are AuthnRequest, LogoutRequest and LogoutResponse. Only valid if signing.key or signing.keystore.path is also specified. Defaults to .
signing.key: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded private key to use for SAML message signing. signing.key and signing.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
signing.secure_key_passphrase (Secure): Specifies the passphrase to decrypt the PEM encoded private key (signing.key) if it is encrypted.
signing.certificate: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded certificate (or certificate chain) that corresponds to the signing.key. This certificate must also be included in the Service Provider metadata or manually configured within the IdP to allow for signature validation. This setting can only be used if signing.key is set.
signing.keystore.path: The path to the keystore that contains a private key and certificate. Must be either a Java Keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. signing.key and signing.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
signing.keystore.type: The type of the keystore in signing.keystore.path. Must be either jks or PKCS12. If the keystore path ends in ".p12", ".pfx", or "pkcs12", this setting defaults to PKCS12. Otherwise, it defaults to jks.
signing.keystore.alias: Specifies the alias of the key within the keystore that should be used for SAML message signing. If the keystore contains more than one private key, this setting must be specified.
signing.keystore.secure_password (Secure): The password to the keystore in signing.keystore.path.
signing.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): The password for the key in the keystore (signing.keystore.path). Defaults to the keystore password.

SAML realm encryption settings

If an encryption key is configured (that is, either encryption.key or encryption.keystore.path is set), then {security} publishes an encryption certificate when generating metadata and attempts to decrypt incoming SAML content. Encryption can be configured using the following settings:

encryption.key: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded private key to use for SAML message decryption. encryption.key and encryption.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
encryption.secure_key_passphrase (Secure): Specifies the passphrase to decrypt the PEM encoded private key (encryption.key) if it is encrypted.
encryption.certificate: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded certificate (or certificate chain) that is associated with the encryption.key. This certificate must also be included in the Service Provider metadata or manually configured within the IdP to enable message encryption. This setting can be used only if encryption.key is set.
encryption.keystore.path: The path to the keystore that contains a private key and certificate. Must be either a Java Keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. encryption.key and encryption.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
encryption.keystore.type: The type of the keystore (encryption.keystore.path). Must be either jks or PKCS12. If the keystore path ends in ".p12", ".pfx", or "pkcs12", this setting defaults to PKCS12. Otherwise, it defaults to jks.
encryption.keystore.alias: Specifies the alias of the key within the keystore (encryption.keystore.path) that should be used for SAML message decryption. If not specified, all compatible key pairs from the keystore are considered as candidate keys for decryption.
encryption.keystore.secure_password (Secure): The password to the keystore (encryption.keystore.path).
encryption.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): The password for the key in the keystore (encryption.keystore.path). Only a single password is supported. If you are using multiple decryption keys, they cannot have individual passwords.

SAML realm SSL settings

If you are loading the IdP metadata over SSL/TLS (that is, idp.metadata.path is a URL using the https protocol), the following settings can be used to configure SSL. If these are not specified, then the default SSL settings are used.

Note	These settings are not used for any purpose other than loading metadata over https.

ssl.key: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded private key to use for http client authentication (if required). ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.key_passphrase: Specifies the passphrase to decrypt the PEM encoded private key (ssl.key) if it is encrypted. Cannot be used with ssl.secure_key_passphrase.
ssl.secure_key_passphrase (Secure): Specifies the passphrase to decrypt the PEM encoded private key (ssl.key) if it is encrypted. Cannot be used with ssl.key_passphrase.
ssl.certificate: Specifies the path to the PEM encoded certificate (or certificate chain) that is associated with the key (ssl.key). This setting can be used only if ssl.key is set.
ssl.certificate_authorities: Specifies the paths to the PEM encoded certificate authority certificates that should be trusted. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.keystore.path: Specifies the path to the keystore that contains a private key and certificate. Must be either a Java Keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. ssl.key and ssl.keystore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.keystore.type: The type of the keystore (ssl.keystore.path). Must be either jks or PKCS12. If the keystore path ends in ".p12", ".pfx" or "pkcs12", this setting defaults to PKCS12. Otherwise, it defaults to jks.
ssl.keystore.password: The password to the keystore (ssl.keystore.path). This setting cannot be used with ssl.keystore.secure_password.
ssl.keystore.secure_password (Secure): The password to the keystore (ssl.keystore.path). This setting cannot be used with ssl.keystore.password.
ssl.keystore.key_password: The password for the key in the keystore (ssl.keystore.path). Defaults to the keystore password. This setting cannot be used with ssl.keystore.secure_key_password.
ssl.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): The password for the key in the keystore (ssl.keystore.path). Defaults to the keystore password. This setting cannot be used with ssl.keystore.key_password.
ssl.truststore.path: The path to the keystore that contains the certificates to trust. Must be either a Java Keystore (jks) or a PKCS#12 file. ssl.certificate_authorities and ssl.truststore.path cannot be used at the same time.
ssl.truststore.type: The type of the truststore (ssl.truststore.path). Must be either jks or PKCS12. If the keystore path ends in ".p12", ".pfx" or "pkcs12", this setting defaults to PKCS12. Otherwise, it defaults to jks.
ssl.truststore.password: The password to the truststore (ssl.truststore.path). This setting cannot be used with ssl.truststore.secure_password.
ssl.truststore.secure_password (Secure): The password to the truststore (ssl.truststore.path). This setting cannot be used with ssl.truststore.password.
ssl.verification_mode: One of full (verify the hostname and the certificate path), certificate (verify the certificate path, but not the hostname) or none (perform no verification). Defaults to full.

See xpack.ssl.verification_mode for a more detailed explanation of these values.
ssl.supported_protocols: Specifies the supported protocols for TLS/SSL.
ssl.cipher_suites: Specifies the cipher suites that should be supported.

Load balancing and failover

The load_balance.type setting can have the following values:

failover: The URLs specified are used in the order that they are specified. The first server that can be connected to will be used for all subsequent connections. If a connection to that server fails then the next server that a connection can be established to will be used for subsequent connections.
dns_failover: In this mode of operation, only a single URL may be specified. This URL must contain a DNS name. The system will be queried for all IP addresses that correspond to this DNS name. Connections to the Active Directory or LDAP server will always be tried in the order in which they were retrieved. This differs from failover in that there is no reordering of the list and if a server has failed at the beginning of the list, it will still be tried for each subsequent connection.
round_robin: Connections will continuously iterate through the list of provided URLs. If a server is unavailable, iterating through the list of URLs will continue until a successful connection is made.
dns_round_robin: In this mode of operation, only a single URL may be specified. This URL must contain a DNS name. The system will be queried for all IP addresses that correspond to this DNS name. Connections will continuously iterate through the list of addresses. If a server is unavailable, iterating through the list of URLs will continue until a successful connection is made.

Default TLS/SSL settings

You can configure the following TLS/SSL settings in elasticsearch.yml. For more information, see {xpack-ref}/encrypting-communications.html[Encrypting communications]. These settings will be used for all of {xpack} unless they have been overridden by more specific settings such as those for HTTP or Transport.

xpack.ssl.supported_protocols

Supported protocols with versions. Valid protocols: SSLv2Hello, SSLv3, TLSv1, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2. Defaults to TLSv1.2, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.

xpack.ssl.client_authentication

Controls the server’s behavior in regard to requesting a certificate from client connections. Valid values are required, optional, and none. required forces a client to present a certificate, while optional requests a client certificate but the client is not required to present one. Defaults to required. This global setting is not applicable for HTTP, see [http-tls-ssl-settings].

xpack.ssl.verification_mode

Controls the verification of certificates. Valid values are:

full, which verifies that the provided certificate is signed by a trusted authority (CA) and also verifies that the server’s hostname (or IP address) matches the names identified within the certificate.
certificate, which verifies that the provided certificate is signed by a trusted authority (CA), but does not perform any hostname verification.
none, which performs no verification of the server’s certificate. This mode disables many of the security benefits of SSL/TLS and should only be used after very careful consideration. It is primarily intended as a temporary diagnostic mechanism when attempting to resolve TLS errors, and its use on production clusters is strongly discouraged.

The default value is full.

xpack.ssl.cipher_suites

Supported cipher suites can be found in Oracle’s Java Cryptography Architecture documentation. Defaults to TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA. If the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files has been installed, the default value also includes TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA.

Default TLS/SSL key and trusted certificate settings

The following settings are used to specify a private key, certificate, and the trusted certificates that should be used when communicating over an SSL/TLS connection. If none of the settings below are specified, this will default to the {xpack} defaults. If no trusted certificates are configured, the default certificates that are trusted by the JVM will be trusted along with the certificate(s) from the key settings. The key and certificate must be in place for connections that require client authentication or when acting as a SSL enabled server.

PEM encoded files

When using PEM encoded files, use the following settings:

xpack.ssl.key: Path to the PEM encoded file containing the private key.
xpack.ssl.key_passphrase: The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. This value is optional as the key might not be encrypted.
xpack.ssl.secure_key_passphrase (Secure): The passphrase that is used to decrypt the private key. This value is optional as the key might not be encrypted.
xpack.ssl.certificate: Path to a PEM encoded file containing the certificate (or certificate chain) that will be presented to clients when they connect.
xpack.ssl.certificate_authorities: List of paths to the PEM encoded certificate files that should be trusted.

Java keystore files

When using Java keystore files (JKS), which contain the private key, certificate and certificates that should be trusted, use the following settings:

xpack.ssl.keystore.path: Path to the keystore that holds the private key and certificate.
xpack.ssl.keystore.password: Password to the keystore.
xpack.ssl.keystore.secure_password (Secure): Password to the keystore.
xpack.ssl.keystore.key_password: Password for the private key in the keystore. Defaults to the same value as xpack.ssl.keystore.password.
xpack.ssl.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): Password for the private key in the keystore.
xpack.ssl.truststore.path: Path to the truststore file.
xpack.ssl.truststore.password: Password to the truststore.
xpack.ssl.truststore.secure_password (Secure): Password to the truststore.

PKCS#12 files

When using PKCS#12 container files (.p12 or .pfx), which contain the private key, certificate, and certificates that should be trusted, use the following settings:

xpack.ssl.keystore.path: Path to the PKCS#12 file that holds the private key and certificate.
xpack.ssl.keystore.type: Set this to PKCS12.
xpack.ssl.keystore.password: Password to the PKCS#12 file.
xpack.ssl.keystore.secure_password (Secure): Password to the PKCS#12 file.
xpack.ssl.keystore.key_password: Password for the private key in the PKCS12 file. Defaults to the same value as xpack.ssl.keystore.password.
xpack.ssl.keystore.secure_key_password (Secure): Password for the private key in the PKCS12 file.
xpack.ssl.truststore.path: Path to the truststore file.
xpack.ssl.truststore.type: Set this to PKCS12.
xpack.ssl.truststore.password: Password to the truststore.
xpack.ssl.truststore.secure_password (Secure): Password to the truststore.

Note

Storing trusted certificates in a PKCS#12 file, although supported, is uncommon in practice. The {ref}/certutil.html[elasticsearch-certutil] tool, as well as Java’s keytool, are designed to generate PKCS#12 files that can be used both as a keystore and as a truststore, but this may not be the case for container files that are created using other tools. Usually, PKCS#12 files only contain secret and private entries. To confirm that a PKCS#12 container includes trusted certificate ("anchor") entries look for 2.16.840.1.113894.746875.1.1: <Unsupported tag 6> in the openssl pkcs12 -info output, or trustedCertEntry in the keytool -list output.

ssl-settings.asciidoc

Transport profile TLS/SSL settings

The same settings that are available for the default transport are also available for each transport profile. By default, the settings for a transport profile will be the same as the default transport unless they are specified.

As an example, lets look at the key setting. For the default transport this is xpack.security.transport.ssl.key. In order to use this setting in a transport profile, use the prefix transport.profiles.$PROFILE.xpack.security. and append the portion of the setting after xpack.security.transport.. For the key setting, this would be transport.profiles.$PROFILE.xpack.security.ssl.key.

ssl-settings.asciidoc

IP filtering settings

You can configure the following settings for {xpack-ref}/ip-filtering.html[IP filtering].

xpack.security.transport.filter.allow: List of IP addresses to allow.
xpack.security.transport.filter.deny: List of IP addresses to deny.
xpack.security.http.filter.allow: List of IP addresses to allow just for HTTP.
xpack.security.http.filter.deny: List of IP addresses to deny just for HTTP.
transport.profiles.$PROFILE.xpack.security.filter.allow: List of IP addresses to allow for this profile.
transport.profiles.$PROFILE.xpack.security.filter.deny: List of IP addresses to deny for this profile.

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security-settings.asciidoc

security-settings.asciidoc

Security settings in {es}

General security settings

Default password security settings

Anonymous access settings

Document and field level security settings

Token service settings

Realm settings

Settings valid for all realms

Native realm settings

File realm settings

LDAP realm settings

Active Directory realm settings

PKI realm settings

SAML realm settings

SAML realm signing settings

SAML realm encryption settings

SAML realm SSL settings

Load balancing and failover

Default TLS/SSL settings

Default TLS/SSL key and trusted certificate settings

PEM encoded files

Java keystore files

PKCS#12 files

Transport profile TLS/SSL settings

IP filtering settings

Files

security-settings.asciidoc

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History

security-settings.asciidoc

File metadata and controls

Security settings in {es}

General security settings

Default password security settings

Anonymous access settings

Document and field level security settings

Token service settings

Realm settings

Settings valid for all realms

Native realm settings

File realm settings

LDAP realm settings

Active Directory realm settings

PKI realm settings

SAML realm settings

SAML realm signing settings

SAML realm encryption settings

SAML realm SSL settings

Load balancing and failover

Default TLS/SSL settings

Default TLS/SSL key and trusted certificate settings

PEM encoded files

Java keystore files

PKCS#12 files

Transport profile TLS/SSL settings

IP filtering settings