Configure Kibana to use the appropriate built-in user.

Update the following settings in the kibana.yml configuration file:

elasticsearch.username: "kibana"
elasticsearch.password: "kibanapassword"

The Kibana server submits requests as this user to access the cluster monitoring APIs and the .kibana index. The server does not need access to user indices.

Set the xpack.security.encryptionKey property in the kibana.yml configuration file. You can use any text string that is 32 characters or longer as the encryption key.

xpack.security.encryptionKey: "something_at_least_32_characters"

For more information, see Security Settings in Kibana.

Optional: Set a timeout to expire idle sessions. By default, a session stays active until the browser is closed. To define a sliding session expiration, set the xpack.security.session.idleTimeout property in the kibana.yml configuration file. The idle timeout is formatted as a duration of <count>[ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|Y] (e.g. 70ms, 5s, 3d, 1Y). For example, set the idle timeout to expire idle sessions after 10 minutes:

xpack.security.session.idleTimeout: "10m"

Optional: Change the maximum session duration or "lifespan" — also known as the "absolute timeout". By default, a session stays active until the browser is closed. If an idle timeout is defined, a session can still be extended indefinitely. To define a maximum session lifespan, set the xpack.security.session.lifespan property in the kibana.yml configuration file. The lifespan is formatted as a duration of <count>[ms|s|m|h|d|w|M|Y] (e.g. 70ms, 5s, 3d, 1Y). For example, set the lifespan to expire sessions after 8 hours:

xpack.security.session.lifespan: "8h"

Temporarily log in to Kibana using the built-in elastic superuser so you can create new users and assign roles. If you are running Kibana locally, go to https://localhost:5601 to view the login page.

Create roles and users to grant access to Kibana.

To manage privileges in Kibana, open the main menu, then click Management / Security / Roles. The built-in kibana_admin role will grant access to Kibana with administrator privileges. Alternatively, you can create additional roles that grant limited access to Kibana.

If you’re using the default native realm with Basic Authentication, open the main menu, then click Management / Security / Users to create users and assign roles, or use the Elasticsearch user management APIs. For example, the following creates a user named jacknich and assigns it the kibana_admin role:

POST /_security/user/jacknich
{
  "password" : "t0pS3cr3t",
  "roles" : [ "kibana_admin" ]
}

Grant users access to the indices that they will be working with in Kibana.

For example, create roles that have read and view_index_metadata privileges on specific index patterns. For more information, see User authorization.

Log out of Kibana and verify that you can log in as a normal user. If you are running Kibana locally, go to https://localhost:5601 and enter the credentials for a user you’ve assigned a Kibana user role. For example, you could log in as the user jacknich.