# Kibana should not be run as root. Use --allow-root to continue **URL:** \ **Category:** Kibana\ **Created:** [February 13, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253 "2020-02-13T16:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dsv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dsv/32/47173_2.png) [@dsv](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dsv)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/1 "2020-02-13T16:13:37Z")
CentOS Linux release 7.7.1908 (Core) I have the lastest version of the kibana installed from the elasticsearch repo by yum: kibana-7.5.2-1.x86\_64 When I try to install a plugin: # /usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-plugin install $url got error: Kibana should not be run as root. Use --allow-root to continue. Ok, trying the more secure way: su -c '/usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-plugin install $url' kibana got error: This account is currently not available. I know the web application with root owner on files is the gift for hackers and pentesters. So what is the right (recommended) way to install kibana plugins if the kibana user cant be used? Best regards, Serg ---
**Author:** ![tylersmalley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tylersmalley/32/8833_2.png) [@tylersmalley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tylersmalley)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/2 "2020-02-13T21:20:14Z")
It sounds like you don't have a "kibana" user. The recommendation here is to use any user other than root. Do you have any non-root users on the machine? If not, I would recommend creating one and install/run Kibana using that. ---
**Author:** ![dsv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dsv/32/47173_2.png) [@dsv](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dsv)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 7:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/3 "2020-02-14T07:10:09Z")
As i wrote I've kibana from standart elasticsearch repo: # repoquery -i kibana Name : kibana Version : 7.6.0 Release : 1 Architecture: x86\_64 Size : 709167330 Packager : Kibana Team [info@elastic.co](mailto:info@elastic.co) Group : default URL : [https://www.elastic.co](https://www.elastic.co) Repository : elasticsearch-7.x Summary : Explore and visualize your Elasticsearch data Source : kibana-7.6.0-1.src.rpm Description : Explore and visualize your Elasticsearch data # cat /etc/yum.repos.d/elasticsearch.repo [elasticsearch-7.x] name=Elasticsearch repository for 7.x packages baseurl=https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/yum gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch enabled=1 autorefresh=1 type=rpm-md And kibana package created kibana user # id kibana uid=997(kibana) gid=995(kibana) groups=995(kibana) So user is present in the system. Best regards, Serg ---
**Author:** ![dsv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dsv/32/47173_2.png) [@dsv](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dsv)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 7:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/4 "2020-02-14T07:21:03Z")
Installation with non root user shows expected errors (obviously general user cant write files to the kibana folders): someuser$ /usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-plugin install $url Babel could not write cache to file: /usr/share/kibana/optimize/.babel\_register\_cache.json due to a **permission issue**. Cache is disabled. Plugin installation was unsuccessful due to error "ENOENT: no such file or directory, mkdir '/usr/share/kibana/plugins/.plugin.installing'" ---
**Author:** ![dsv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dsv/32/47173_2.png) [@dsv](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dsv)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/5 "2020-02-17T08:11:10Z")
The right answer: su -s /bin/bash -c '/usr/share/kibana/bin/kibana-plugin install $url kibana I thinks the hint "use for example su -s /bin/bash" can be added to the kibana-plugin script error message because the issue occurs after the package installation with default permissions. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-should-not-be-run-as-root-use-allow-root-to-continue/219253/6 "2020-03-16T08:11:11Z")
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