# Kibana unable to authenticate

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-unable-to-authenticate/252108>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [October 14, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-unable-to-authenticate/252108 "2020-10-14T21:56:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![elasticbitz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/elasticbitz/32/77207_2.png) [@elasticbitz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticbitz)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-unable-to-authenticate/252108/1 "2020-10-14T21:56:44Z")

</div>

I installed elasticsearch and kibana per the deb apt instructions on the site. All running fine, then added the xpack.security.enabled: true and discovery.type: single-node to the elasticsearch.yaml. Next I used the setup-passwords auto then added a user to the keystore. Updated the kibana.yaml with the kibaba\_system password. restarted the services.

use the curl curl -XGET -u 'elastic:##########' [http://localhost:9200/\_cluster/health?pretty](http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?pretty)

and that results just fine.

however when I go to kibaba it says server not ready yet. check logs and see this:

```auto
Oct 14 22:26:52 SierraElkStack kibana[36686]: {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-10-14T22:26:52Z","tags":["warning","plugins","licensing"],"pid":36686,"message":"License information could not be obtained from Elasticsearch due to [security_exception] unable to authenticate user [admin] for REST request [>
Oct 14 22:26:52 SierraElkStack kibana[36686]: {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-10-14T22:26:52Z","tags":["info","plugins","reporting","config"],"pid":36686,"message":"Chromium sandbox provides an additional layer of protection, and is supported for Linux Ubuntu Linux 20.04 OS. Automatically enabling Chr>
Oct 14 22:27:22 SierraElkStack kibana[36686]: {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-10-14T22:27:22Z","tags":["warning","plugins","licensing"],"pid":36686,"message":"License information could not be obtained from Elasticsearch due to [security_exception] unable to authenticate user [admin] for REST request [>

```

What can I do to get this authenticated?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [October 15, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-unable-to-authenticate/252108/2 "2020-10-15T13:54:17Z")

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`unable to authenticate user [admin]`

It seems there are multiple users being used/tested here. Your curl command is using the `elastic` user, you mentioned updating the `kibana_system`, and the Kibana error seems you're using an `admin` user.

Can you ensure the `kibana_system` user is set for `elasticsearch.username` in the `kibana.yml` file. Then also verify those credentials work with curl?

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<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 12, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-unable-to-authenticate/252108/3 "2020-11-12T13:54:22Z")

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