# How can I hide the ssl\_key\_passphrase?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [October 9, 2017, 10:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214 "2017-10-09T10:22:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ihjaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8baadc/32.png) [@Ihjaz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ihjaz)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 10:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214/1 "2017-10-09T10:22:39Z")

</div>

Hi All,

I have the following configuration

```
input {
  beats {
    host => "127.0.0.1"
    port => 5044
    ssl => true
    ssl_certificate_authorities => ["/etc/logstash/certs/trust.pem"]
    ssl_certificate => "/etc/logstash/certs/cert.pem"
    ssl_key => "/etc/logstash/certs/p8key.pem"
    ssl_verify_mode => "force_peer"
    ssl_key_passphrase => "passphrase"
  }
}

```

I'm not supposed to show the passphrase in plain text here. How can I hide this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214/2 "2017-10-10T18:39:16Z")

</div>

You can't. The beats input doesn't support encrypted key passphrases.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214/3 "2017-10-10T19:10:06Z")

</div>

You might be able to move the problem using an [environment variable](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/environment-variables.html). Then you have the problem of how to get the passphrase into an environment variable without having it in plain text anywhere.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-hide-the-ssl-key-passphrase/103214/4 "2017-11-07T19:10:09Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.