Errors with Apache basic auth in front of Elasticsearch and Kibana

[pgporada]

Kibana version: 5.2.0-1.x86_64

Elasticsearch version: 5.2.0-1.noarch

Server OS version: CentOS 7

Browser version: Firefox 51.0.1

Browser OS version: Ubuntu 16.10

Original install method (e.g. download page, yum, from source, etc.): yum

Description of the problem including expected versus actual behavior:
I believe I am running into a similar issue that #3302 had.

My setup is as follows http://imgur.com/HMBOTux. There is basic auth for both kibana and the elasticsearch boxes.

[Kibana <=> Apache] <----> LB ---> (Cluster of boxes that run [Apache <==> Elasticsearch])

When I navigate to kibana.mycompany.com I am greeted with a basic auth popup. The elasticsearch credentials are required multiple times to authenticate into kibana, not the kibana basic auth credentials. Right away this is very odd and wrong. I have verified that the correct credentials are deployed to the correct servers. I have disabled basic auth on kibana and am still presented with the elasticsearch basic auth popup.

When I disabled basic auth on the apache instances fronting kibana and elasticsearch, everything works.

Here are my configurations
/etc/kibana/kibana.yml

server.port: 5601
server.host: "127.0.0.1"
server.name: "ip-192-168-1-10"
elasticsearch.url: "https://esuser:espass@elasticsearch.mycompany.internal:443"
elasticsearch.preserveHost: false
kibana.index: ".kibana"
elasticsearch.username: "esuser"
elasticsearch.password: "espass"
elasticsearch.ssl.verify: false
elasticsearch.pingTimeout: 1500
elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 30000
elasticsearch.startupTimeout: 5000
logging.dest: /var/log/kibana/kibana.log
logging.quiet: true

kibana vhost

ServerName kibana.mycompany.com
ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/error_log
CustomLog /var/log/httpd/access_log combined
DocumentRoot /var/www/app/public_html
<Directory "/var/www/app/public_html">
    AllowOverride All
    Options -Indexes -FollowSymLinks -Includes
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
    Require all granted
</Directory>

<LocationMatch "^/(.*)>
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted"
    AuthBasicProvider file
    AuthUserFile "/opt/kibana/htpasswd"
    Require valid-user
</LocationMatch>

# CVE-2016-5385, CVE-2016-5387
RequestHeader unset Proxy early

# Hide git related stuff
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?\.git+ - [R=404,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?\.gitignore+ - [R=404,L]

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass        / http://127.0.0.1:5601/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:5601/

elasticsearch vhost(s)

ServerName es.mycompany.com
ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/error_log
CustomLog /var/log/httpd/access_log combined
DocumentRoot /var/www/app/public_html

<Directory "/var/www/app/public_html">
    AllowOverride All
    Options -Indexes -FollowSymLinks -Includes
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
    Require all granted
</Directory>

<LocationMatch "^/(.*)>
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted"
    AuthBasicProvider file
    AuthUserFile "/opt/elasticsearch/htpasswd"
    Require valid-user
</LocationMatch>

# CVE-2016-5385, CVE-2016-5387
RequestHeader unset Proxy early

# Hide git related stuff
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?\.git+ - [R=404,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*/)?\.gitignore+ - [R=404,L]

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass        / http://0.0.0.0:9200/
ProxyPassReverse / http://0.0.0.0:9200/

Steps to reproduce:

1. Deploy apache + kibana on a node
2. Deploy apache + elasticsearch on a different node

Errors in browser console (if relevant):
/var/log/kibana/kibana.log

{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:45:50Z","tags":["listening","info"],"pid":32381,"message":"Server running at http://127.0.0.1:5601"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:45:50Z","tags":["status","plugin:elasticsearch@5.2.0","error"],"pid":32381,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Authentication Exception","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Waiting for Elasticsearch"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:45:50Z","tags":["status","ui settings","error"],"pid":32381,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Elasticsearch plugin is red","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Elasticsearch plugin is yellow"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:46:19Z","tags":["listening","info"],"pid":32402,"message":"Server running at http://127.0.0.1:5601"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:46:22Z","tags":["status","plugin:elasticsearch@5.2.0","error"],"pid":32402,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Request Timeout after 3000ms","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Waiting for Elasticsearch"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:46:22Z","tags":["status","ui settings","error"],"pid":32402,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Elasticsearch plugin is red","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Elasticsearch plugin is yellow"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:48:04Z","tags":["listening","info"],"pid":32440,"message":"Server running at http://127.0.0.1:5601"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:48:07Z","tags":["status","plugin:elasticsearch@5.2.0","error"],"pid":32440,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Request Timeout after 3000ms","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Waiting for Elasticsearch"}
{"type":"log","@timestamp":"2017-02-08T20:48:07Z","tags":["status","ui settings","error"],"pid":32440,"state":"red","message":"Status changed from yellow to red - Elasticsearch plugin is red","prevState":"yellow","prevMsg":"Elasticsearch plugin is yellow"}

/var/log/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.log

[2017-02-08T14:47:12,426][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [aggs-matrix-stats]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,426][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [ingest-common]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,426][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [lang-expression]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,426][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [lang-groovy]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [lang-mustache]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [lang-painless]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [percolator]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [reindex]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [transport-netty3]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded module [transport-netty4]
[2017-02-08T14:47:12,427][INFO ][o.e.p.PluginsService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] loaded plugin [discovery-ec2]
[2017-02-08T14:47:18,520][INFO ][o.e.n.Node               ] [ip-192-168-1-20] initialized
[2017-02-08T14:47:18,520][INFO ][o.e.n.Node               ] [ip-192-168-1-20] starting ...
[2017-02-08T14:47:18,686][WARN ][i.n.u.i.MacAddressUtil   ] Failed to find a usable hardware address from the network interfaces; using random bytes: 71:ec:1a:66:d7:49:15:0d
[2017-02-08T14:47:18,806][INFO ][o.e.t.TransportService   ] [ip-192-168-1-20] publish_address {192.168.1.20:9300}, bound_addresses {[::]:9300}
[2017-02-08T14:47:18,811][INFO ][o.e.b.BootstrapChecks    ] [ip-192-168-1-20] bound or publishing to a non-loopback or non-link-local address, enforcing bootstrap checks
[2017-02-08T14:47:23,817][INFO ][o.e.c.s.ClusterService   ] [ip-192-168-1-20] new_master {ip-192-168-1-20}{9FRxvWz_TrqxGJqcmgaBOw}{_a-5tz8ITBaX32pKraEJHA}{192.168.1.20}{192.168.1.20:9300}{aws_availability_zone=us-east-1a}, reason: zen-disco-elected-as-master ([0] nodes joined)
[2017-02-08T14:47:23,881][INFO ][o.e.h.HttpServer         ] [ip-192-168-1-20] publish_address {192.168.1.20:9200}, bound_addresses {[::]:9200}
[2017-02-08T14:47:23,881][INFO ][o.e.n.Node               ] [ip-192-168-1-20] started
[2017-02-08T14:47:24,111][INFO ][o.e.g.GatewayService     ] [ip-192-168-1-20] recovered [1] indices into cluster_state
[2017-02-08T14:47:24,521][INFO ][o.e.c.r.a.AllocationService] [ip-192-168-1-20] Cluster health status changed from [RED] to [YELLOW] (reason: [shards started [[.kibana][0]] ...]).

[pgporada]

Something I noticed was that an https connection to Elasticsearch from Kibana will not succeed unless the elasticsearch.url is formatted as follows

elasticsearch.url: "https://elasticsearch.mycompany.internal:443"

One would think that you shouldn't have to type out the port number.

elasticsearch.url: "https://elasticsearch.mycompany.internal"

[pgporada]

What is the purpose of these variables? I can't find a use for them in the Kibana codebase other than documentation. How are they consumed and sent to elasticsearch?

elasticsearch.username
elasticsearch.password

From the master branch checked out on github

$ ag -i "elasticsearch.username"
docs/development/plugin/development-elasticsearch.asciidoc
18:  //ping as the configured elasticsearch.user in kibana.yml

docs/setup/docker.asciidoc
75:`ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME`:: `elasticsearch.username`
116:`elasticsearch.username`:: `elastic`

docs/setup/settings.asciidoc
33:`elasticsearch.username:` and `elasticsearch.password:`:: If your Elasticsearch is protected with basic authentication,

$ ag -i "elasticsearch.password"
docs/setup/docker.asciidoc
63:`ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD`:: `elasticsearch.password`
117:`elasticsearch.password`:: `changeme`

docs/setup/settings.asciidoc
33:`elasticsearch.username:` and `elasticsearch.password:`:: If your Elasticsearch is protected with basic authentication,

From the latest available kibana-5.2.0-linux-x86_64 file

$ ag -i "elasticsearch.user"
src/cli/serve/legacy_config.js
35:  kibana_elasticsearch_username: 'elasticsearch.username',

config/kibana.yml
39:#elasticsearch.username: "user"

$ ag -i "elasticsearch.password"
src/cli/serve/legacy_config.js
34:  kibana_elasticsearch_password: 'elasticsearch.password',

config/kibana.yml
40:#elasticsearch.password: "pass"

[pgporada]

If I configure the same username and password for kibana basic auth as I do for the elasticsearch basic auth, I can successfully see the kibana dashboard. Before the index creation page shows up, I have to basic auth a 2nd time.

[epixa]

Kibana doesn't have it's own security model, it just proxies the security of the underlying Elasticsearch queries, which is why you're getting a basic auth prompt that requires the Elasticsearch credentials. The expectation is that Elasticsearch is the source of truth for securing requests, and Kibana passes on those requirements to the user.

The elasticsearch.username and elasticsearch.password values are used by the Kibana server for purely internal calls to Elasticsearch. They'd be used to authenticate any requests that should not be done on behalf of any specific end-user, such as the setup of the .kibana index during the initial startup of Kibana.