Cannot Edit Dashboards in Kibana After Initial Successful Setup (Vega-Lite Dashboards Affected)

Elastic Stack Kibana
1

Hi Kibana team,

I'm encountering an issue where I can no longer edit dashboards in Kibana, despite having been able to do so previously. Here’s a detailed description of the situation:

  • Elasticsearch Version: 8.17.3
  • Kibana version: 8.18.0
  • Server OS: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS
  • Kibana Configuration (kibana.yml includes):
server.port: 5601
  server.host: "0.0.0.0"
  server.publicBaseUrl: "https://my_host:5601"  
  server.name: "my_server_name"
  server.ssl.enabled: true
  server.ssl.certificate: /etc/kibana/certs/kibana.crt
  server.ssl.key: /etc/kibana/certs/kibana.key
  elasticsearch.hosts: ["https://my_host:9200"]
  elasticsearch.username: "kibana_system"
  elasticsearch.password: "my_password" 
  elasticsearch.ssl.verificationMode: "certificate"
  elasticsearch.ssl.certificateAuthorities: ["/etc/kibana/certs/http_ca.crt"]
  xpack.fleet.outputs:
    - id: fleet-default-output
      name: default
      is_default: true
      is_default_monitoring: true
      type: elasticsearch
      hosts: ["https://my_host:9200"]
      ca_trusted_fingerprint: ...... 
  
  xpack.encryptedSavedObjects.encryptionKey: "....................." 
  
  xpack.security.sameSiteCookies: "None"

  • Security:

    • Kibana security features are enabled.
    • I can log in using both elastic (superuser) and a custom user.

  • Usage:

    • I created several dashboards using Vega-Lite visualizations.
    • I was able to edit, save, and manage them without issues.
    • Kibana is also integrated into a Flask web app (data is fetched from Elasticsearch).

Current Problem

  • I can log in to Kibana using both users.
  • I can view dashboards and fetch data from Kibana into the Flask app.
  • However, I cannot edit or modify existing dashboards anymore in kibana (created using vega-lite).
  • The UI shows the dashboards, but the **edit button is either missing, disabled, or unresponsive.
  • This affects all dashboards, especially Vega-Lite based ones.

What Changed Recently

  • I modified the kibana.yml and added:
xpack.security.sameSiteCookies: "None"

After this, I had issues logging in and reverted the config, but the dashboard edit issue persisted.

  • Possibly some internal Kibana state or role permissions were affected.

What I Tried

  • Restarting Kibana and Elasticsearch.
  • Clearing browser cache and trying different browsers.
  • Verified user roles have the correct permissions (kibana_admin, dashboard-only roles were checked).
  • Checked that Vega visualizations still render and data flows correctly.

Additional Context

  • Flask app still successfully fetches data via Elasticsearch API.
  • This issue is not related to data access or visualization, only to dashboard editability.

image
image1844×235 37.2 KB

Please let me know what logs, configs, or browser console errors you need. I’m happy to provide them.

Thanks for your help and for maintaining Kibana!

2

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image1905×446 75.8 KB

In the first image (control bar), I can see the edit button, and when I click it, I’m able to make changes as needed.

3

image
image1905×446 75.8 KB

However, in the second image (the chart created using Vega-Lite), I don’t see the edit button in the usual area (highlighted with the red circle). Normally, this button allows me to directly edit the chart code, but now it’s missing.

I was experimenting with the config files earlier, and they kept crashing, so I stopped. Now I need help restoring or enabling that edit functionality. I have created a issue in the discussion page still no concrete answer.

Thanks!

4

Hello @arunp77

Welcome to the community!!

Could you please check if this issue persists with elastic user as well?
As from below it seems dashboard-only is custom role so not sure if this role actually has all the required privileges?

Verified user roles have the correct permissions (kibana_admin, dashboard-only roles were checked).

Thanks!!

5

Hey, thanks a lot for your help. I wasn’t able to fix it even with the superuser elastic, but it turned out to be an access rights issue. I had unknowingly changed the permissions myself a few weeks ago, and once I corrected that, everything started working again.

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