# ElasticSearch: Filtered aliases , Filters are not always applied?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-filtered-aliases-filters-are-not-always-applied/155552>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 6, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-filtered-aliases-filters-are-not-always-applied/155552 "2018-11-06T13:25:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ssg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@ssg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ssg)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-filtered-aliases-filters-are-not-always-applied/155552/1 "2018-11-06T13:25:02Z")

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Hi ,  
I was referring to documentation i.e

> **[Granting Privileges for Indices & Aliases | X-Pack for the Elastic Stack...](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/x-pack/current/securing-aliases.html#_filtered_aliases)**

It has below definition for Filtered aliases:

**Filtered aliases:**

> Aliases can hold a filter, which allows to select a subset of documents that can be accessed out of all the documents that the physical index contains.  
> **These filters are not always applied** and should not be used in place of document level security.

Can any one explain what does it mean when they say "These filters are not always applied".  
My assumption is if we create a filtered alias , it should filters should always be applied.

Regards,

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**Author:** ![gbrown](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/gbrown/32/34482_2.png) [@gbrown](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gbrown)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-filtered-aliases-filters-are-not-always-applied/155552/2 "2018-11-07T00:00:39Z")

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The [Limitations page](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elastic-stack-overview/6.4/security-limitations.html#_filtered_index_aliases) goes into a bit more detail here - the example provided there is that the filters are not applied to the `_mapping` API, so users can get some information about the index that would normally not be accessible.

The wording on that page is confusing, I agree.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-filtered-aliases-filters-are-not-always-applied/155552/3 "2018-12-05T00:00:48Z")

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