# Get and modify \_system internal user permissions
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Tags:** elastic-stack-security
**Created:** [December 24, 2020, 9:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574 "2020-12-24T09:32:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ahmad\_Al-Masry](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ahmad_Al-Masry)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2020, 9:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574/1 "2020-12-24T09:32:05Z")
Hi;
Can I get what `_system` internal user can do when `xpack-security` is enabled? Also, can I modify what it can do or give it extra permissions?
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### Author:  [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574/2 "2020-12-30T06:12:53Z")
`_system` is an internal user that cannot be modified, and cannot be used to authenticate to the cluster.
It sounds like you are asking the wrong question here. Whatever issue you are running into, trying to change `_system` isn't the answer. Perhaps if you explain the problem you're facing we can help solve that.
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### Author:  [@Ahmad\_Al-Masry](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ahmad_Al-Masry)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574/3 "2020-12-30T13:53:33Z")
Hi Tim;
Thank you for your answer;
Actually, I was trying to install opendistro alerting plugin on my cluster.
I works out of the box if xpack security is disabled, but once I enable it, I get this error:
[security\_exception] action [indices:data/read/search] is unauthorized for user [\_system]
Is there any work around?
Best
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### Author:  [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574/4 "2020-12-31T02:47:41Z")
> [@Ahmad\_Al-Masry](#):
>
> Is there any work around?
I don't think so. OpenDistro plugins aren't designed to work with the Elasticsearch default distribution, and it looks like their alerting plugin cannot be used when our security is enabled.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-and-modify-system-internal-user-permissions/259574/5 "2021-01-28T02:47:42Z")
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