elasticsearch-authz

Elasticsearch Authorization

Manage Elasticsearch role-based access control: native users, roles, role assignment, and role mappings for external realms.

For authentication methods and API key management, see the elasticsearch-authn skill.

For detailed API endpoints, see references/api-reference.md [blocked].

Deployment note: Feature availability differs between self-managed, ECH, and Serverless. See Deployment Compatibility for details.

Jobs to Be Done

• Create a native user with a specific set of privileges
• Define a custom role with least-privilege index and cluster access
• Assign one or more roles to an existing user
• Create a role with Kibana feature or space privileges
• Configure a role mapping for external realm users (SAML, LDAP, PKI)
• Derive role assignments dynamically from user attributes (Mustache templates)
• Restrict document visibility per user or department (document-level security)
• Hide sensitive fields like PII from certain roles (field-level security)
• Implement attribute-based access control (ABAC) using templated role queries
• Translate a natural-language access request into user, role, and role mapping tasks

Prerequisites

Prompt the user for any missing values.

Decomposing Access Requests

When the user describes access in natural language (e.g. "create a user that has read-only access to logs-*"), break the request into discrete tasks before executing. Follow this workflow:

Step 1 — Identify the components

Extract from the prompt:

Step 2 — Check for existing roles

Before creating a new role, check if an existing role already grants the required access:

curl "${ELASTICSEARCH_URL}/_security/role" <auth_flags>

If a matching role exists, skip role creation and reuse it.

Step 3 — Create the role (if needed)

Derive a role name and display name from the request. Use the Elasticsearch API for pure index/cluster roles. Use the Kibana API if Kibana features are involved (see Choosing the right API).

Step 4 — Create or update the user

Example decomposition

Prompt: "Create a user analyst with read-only access to logs-* and metrics-* and view dashboards in Kibana."

1. Identify: new user analyst, indices logs-*/metrics-*, dashboards, read access.
2. Check roles: GET /_security/role — no match.
3. Create role via Kibana API (dashboards involved): logs-metrics-dashboard-viewer.
4. Create user: POST /_security/user/analyst with roles: ["logs-metrics-dashboard-viewer"].

Confirm each step with the user if the request is ambiguous.

Manage Native Users

Native user management applies to self-managed and ECH deployments. On Serverless, users are managed at the organization level — skip this section.

Create a user

curl -X POST "${ELASTICSEARCH_URL}/_security/user/${USERNAME}" \
  <auth_flag

Update a user

Use PUT /_security/user/${USERNAME} with the fields to change. Omit password to keep the existing one.

Other user operations

Manage Roles

Choosing the right API

Use the Elasticsearch API (PUT /_security/role/{name}) when the role only needs cluster and indices privileges. This is the default — no Kibana endpoint is required.

Use the Kibana role API (PUT /api/security/role/{name}) when the role includes any Kibana feature or space privileges. The Elasticsearch API cannot set Kibana feature grants, space scoping, or base privileges, so if the user mentions Kibana features like Discover, Dashboards, Maps, Visualize, Canvas, or any other Kibana application, the Kibana API is required.

If the Kibana endpoint is not available or API key authentication to Kibana fails, fall back to the Elasticsearch API for the cluster and indices portion and warn the user that Kibana privileges could not be set. Prompt for a Kibana URL or alternative credentials before giving up.

Create or update a role (Elasticsearch API)

Default choice when the role has only index and cluster privileges:

Create or update a role (Kibana API)

Required when the role includes Kibana feature or space privileges:

Get, list, and delete roles

Document-Level and Field-Level Security

Roles can restrict access at the document and field level within an index, going beyond index-level privileges.

Field-level security (FLS)

Restrict which fields a role can see. Use grant to whitelist or except to blacklist fields:

Users with this role see all fields except the PII fields. FLS is enforced on search, get, and aggregation results.

Document-level security (DLS)

Restrict which documents a role can see by attaching a query filter:

The query field is a JSON string containing a Query DSL filter. Users with this role only see documents where region equals emea.

Templated DLS queries (ABAC)

DLS queries support Mustache templates that inject user metadata at query time, enabling attribute-based access control (ABAC) on top of RBAC. Store user-specific attributes in the user's metadata field, then reference them in the role query template with {{_user.metadata.<key>}}.

A user with "metadata": {"department": "engineering"} only sees documents where department equals engineering. The same role works for all departments — no per-department role needed.

For multi-valued attributes (e.g. a list of required programs), use terms_set with minimum_should_match_field to ensure the user holds all required attributes listed on the document. This enables complex ABAC policies — combining security levels, program lists, and certification dates — using a single role. See references/api-reference.md [blocked] for full terms_set ABAC examples including combined multi-condition policies and user metadata setup.

Combining DLS and FLS

A single index privilege entry can include both query (DLS) and field_security (FLS). See the HR department example for a practical combined use case.

When users hold multiple roles, DLS queries are combined with OR and FLS grants are unioned. A broad role without DLS/FLS can unintentionally widen access. When combining roles, always verify effective permissions and ensure no unrestricted role overrides DLS/FLS intent.

Assign Roles to Users

Self-managed and ECH only. On Serverless, use the cloud-access-management skill — see Serverless User Access.

Update the user with the new roles array:

The roles array is replaced entirely — include all roles the user should have. Fetch the user first to see current roles before updating.

Verify effective permissions

After role or user updates, verify effective access with:

Manage Role Mappings

Role mappings are not available on Serverless (both ES API and Kibana UI are disabled). Use the cloud-access-management skill instead — see Serverless User Access.

Role mappings assign external-realm users (LDAP, AD, SAML, PKI) to roles based on attribute rules. Self-managed and ECH only. For supported rule operators and resource fields, see role mapping resource properties.

Static role mapping

LDAP group-based mapping

Dynamic role assignment with Mustache templates

Use role_templates instead of roles to derive role names from user attributes. Scripting must be enabled.

See references/api-reference.md [blocked] for more Mustache patterns including realm-username derived roles and tiered group access.

Get, list, and delete role mappings

Serverless User Access

On Serverless, there are no native users or role mappings. Users receive project access through Cloud-level role assignments.

• Predefined roles (e.g. admin, developer, viewer) cover common access patterns. If one fits, assign it directly via the Cloud API — no custom role creation needed.
• Custom roles are required when the user needs fine-grained access (specific indices, Kibana features, DLS/FLS). Create the custom role using the Elasticsearch API or Kibana API (same as self-managed — see Manage Roles), then assign it to the user alongside a predefined base role via the Cloud API.
• Run-as privileges are unavailable in Serverless custom roles.

Use the cloud-access-management skill for the full workflow (inviting users, assigning roles, managing Cloud API keys, and verifying access). This skill handles only role definition; cloud-access-management handles user assignment.

Examples

Create a read-only user for logs

Request: "Create a user joe with read-only access to logs-*."

1. Create the role via PUT /_security/role/logs-reader with "description": "Logs Reader" and indices: [{ names: ["logs-*"], privileges: ["read", "view_index_metadata"] }].
2. Create the user via POST /_security/user/joe with "roles": ["logs-reader"] and a strong generated password.

Create a role with Kibana dashboard access

Request: "Let users read logs-* and view dashboards in Kibana."

Use the Kibana API (PUT <KIBANA_URL>/api/security/role/logs-dashboard-viewer) with elasticsearch.indices for data access and kibana[].feature for dashboard and Discover read access on all spaces. See Create or update a role (Kibana API) for the full request structure.

Add a role to an existing user

Request: "Give Alice access to apm-* in addition to her current roles."

1. GET /_security/user/alice — response shows "roles": ["viewer"].
2. Create apm-reader role with indices: [{ names: ["apm-*"], privileges: ["read", "view_index_metadata"] }].
3. PUT /_security/user/alice with "roles": ["viewer", "apm-reader"] (include all roles).

Grant a Serverless user read-write access with Kibana dashboards

Request: "Give alice@example.com read-write access to the colors index and let her use dashboards and Discover."

1. Create a custom role via the Kibana API: PUT <KIBANA_URL>/api/security/role/colors-rw-kibana with elasticsearch.indices for read, write, view_index_metadata on colors and kibana[].feature for dashboard, discover.
2. Use the cloud-access-management skill to assign the user the custom role colors-rw-kibana.

Restrict HR data by department (DLS + FLS)

Request: "Each manager should only see HR records from their own department, and PII fields should be hidden."

1. Create a user with department metadata: POST /_security/user/manager_a with "metadata": {"department": "engineering"}.
2. Create a role with DLS + FLS:

The same role works for every department — each user sees only their department's records with PII fields removed.

Guidelines

Least-privilege principles

• Never use the elastic superuser for day-to-day operations. Create dedicated minimum-privilege roles and reserve elastic for initial setup and emergency recovery.
• Use read and view_index_metadata for read-only data access. Leave cluster empty unless explicitly required.
• Use DLS (query) and FLS (field_security) to restrict access within an index.

Named privileges only

Never use internal action names (e.g. indices:data/read/search). Always use officially documented named privileges. Prefer fine-grained privileges (manage_ingest_pipelines, monitor) over broad ones (manage, all). See references/api-reference.md [blocked] for the full privilege reference tables.

Role naming conventions

• Use short lowercase names with hyphens: logs-reader, apm-data-viewer, metrics-writer.
• Avoid generic names like custom-role or new-role.
• Set description to a short, human-readable display name — not a long sentence. It is shown in the Kibana UI as the role's label. Good: "Logs Reader", "APM Data Viewer". Bad: "Read-only access to all logs-* indices for the operations team".

User management

• Generate strong passwords by default: at least 16 characters mixing uppercase, lowercase, digits, and symbols (e.g. X9k#mP2vL!qR7wZn). Never use placeholder values like changeme or password123.
• Prefer disabling users over deleting them to preserve audit trail.
• The roles array on a user is replaced entirely on update. Always fetch current roles before modifying.

Role mapping best practices

• Use static roles for simple, fixed assignments (e.g. all SAML users get viewer).
• Use role_templates with Mustache only when roles must be derived dynamically from user attributes.
• Combine all, any, field, and except rules to express complex conditions without duplicating mappings.
• Test new mappings with enabled: false first, then enable once verified.

Deployment Compatibility

See references/deployment-compatibility.md [blocked] for a feature matrix and detailed notes on self-managed, ECH, and Serverless deployment differences.