New to ELK & Kibana, Error Message: "security_exception: missing authentication credentials for REST request "

I'm new to ELK & Kibana. Haven't made any recommendable configs apart from just installing the instances (which are only Elasticsearch & Kibana so far). Elasticsearch status is ready and running, but I still can't access Kibana at the default address, which is currently localhost:5601 (I don't think there's any port configured), and when I checked Kibana status it throws a message as below:

[fedws@fedora bin]$ systemctl status kibana 
● kibana.service - Kibana
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/kibana.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2023-06-27 15:24:00 WIB; 23min ago
       Docs: https://www.elastic.co
   Main PID: 21000 (node)
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 7608)
     Memory: 100.2M
        CPU: 36.106s
     CGroup: /system.slice/kibana.service
             └─21000 /usr/share/kibana/bin/../node/bin/node /usr/share/kibana/bin/../src/cli/dist

Jun 27 15:41:35 fedora kibana[21000]: [2023-06-27T15:41:35.118+07:00][ERROR][elasticsearch-service] Unable to retrieve version information from Elasticsearch nodes. security_exception
Jun 27 15:41:35 fedora kibana[21000]:         Root causes:
Jun 27 15:41:35 fedora kibana[21000]:                 security_exception: missing authentication credentials for REST request [/_nodes?filter_path=nodes.*.version%2Cnodes.*.http.publish_address%2Cnodes.*.ip]
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]: [2023-06-27T15:44:16.334+07:00][ERROR][plugins.ruleRegistry] Error: Timeout: it took more than 1200000ms
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]:     at Timeout._onTimeout (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/@kbn/alerting-plugin/server/alerts_service/lib/install_with_timeout.js:36:18)
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]:     at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:559:17)
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]:     at processTimers (node:internal/timers:502:7)
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]: [2023-06-27T15:44:16.342+07:00][ERROR][plugins.ruleRegistry] Error: Failure during installation of common resources shared between all indices. Timeout: it took more than 1200000ms
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]:     at installWithTimeout (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/@kbn/alerting-plugin/server/alerts_service/lib/install_with_timeout.js:48:11)
Jun 27 15:44:16 fedora kibana[21000]:     at ResourceInstaller.installCommonResources (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/@kbn/rule-registry-plugin/server/rule_data_plugin_service/resource_installer.js:42:5)
[fedws@fedora bin]$

I don't see how providing my elasticsearch.yml and kibana.yml files would help in this issue, since I haven't made any configurations yet, but if you need them, I'll post it immediately. In the meantime, any idea what those errors mean?

My System:
OS: Fedora Linux 38 (Workstation Edition) x86_64
Host: VMware Virtual Platform None
Kernel: 6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64
Memory: 5527MiB / 6378MiB

Your configs for elasticsearch and kibana would most certainly help in this situation.

How did you setup elasticsearch?

Did you set elasticsearch.password and elasticsearch.username in your kibana config?

This is crazy, but believe me when I said this. I setup Elasticsearch (status: active & enabled) by following the guide at Install Elasticsearch with RPM | Elasticsearch Guide [8.8] | Elastic

All fine until the configuration part.
Here's my /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml:

# ======================== Elasticsearch Configuration =========================
#
# NOTE: Elasticsearch comes with reasonable defaults for most settings.
#       Before you set out to tweak and tune the configuration, make sure you
#       understand what are you trying to accomplish and the consequences.
#
# The primary way of configuring a node is via this file. This template lists
# the most important settings you may want to configure for a production cluster.
#
# Please consult the documentation for further information on configuration options:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/index.html
#
# ---------------------------------- Cluster -----------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for your cluster:
#
cluster.name: FedWS-Cl1
#
# ------------------------------------ Node ------------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for the node:
#
#node.name: node-1
#
# Add custom attributes to the node:
#
#node.attr.rack: r1
#
# ----------------------------------- Paths ------------------------------------
#
# Path to directory where to store the data (separate multiple locations by comma):
#
path.data: /var/lib/elasticsearch
#
# Path to log files:
#
path.logs: /var/log/elasticsearch
#
# ----------------------------------- Memory -----------------------------------
#
# Lock the memory on startup:
#
#bootstrap.memory_lock: true
#
# Make sure that the heap size is set to about half the memory available
# on the system and that the owner of the process is allowed to use this
# limit.
#
# Elasticsearch performs poorly when the system is swapping the memory.
#
# ---------------------------------- Network -----------------------------------
#
# By default Elasticsearch is only accessible on localhost. Set a different
# address here to expose this node on the network:
#
#network.host: 192.168.0.1
#
# By default Elasticsearch listens for HTTP traffic on the first free port it
# finds starting at 9200. Set a specific HTTP port here:
#
#http.port: 9200
#
# For more information, consult the network module documentation.
#
# --------------------------------- Discovery ----------------------------------
#
# Pass an initial list of hosts to perform discovery when this node is started:
# The default list of hosts is ["127.0.0.1", "[::1]"]
#
#discovery.seed_hosts: ["host1", "host2"]
#
# Bootstrap the cluster using an initial set of master-eligible nodes:
#
#cluster.initial_master_nodes: ["node-1", "node-2"]
#
# For more information, consult the discovery and cluster formation module documentation.
#
# ---------------------------------- Various -----------------------------------
#
# Allow wildcard deletion of indices:
#
#action.destructive_requires_name: false



action.auto_create_index: .monitoring*,.watches,.triggered_watches,.watcher-history*,.ml*
xpack.security.enrollment.enabled: true
#xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled: true
#xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode: certificate
#xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path: elastic-certificates.p12
#xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path: elastic-certificates.p12
#xpack.license.self_generated.type: basic

As I said, I haven't made any configs. You can see at the bottom of the line that I have multiple xpack.security commented. Tried implementing them only getting error instead.

Below here is my /etc/kibana/kibana.yml:


# For more configuration options see the configuration guide for Kibana in
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/index.html

# =================== System: Kibana Server ===================
# Kibana is served by a back end server. This setting specifies the port to use.
#server.port: 5601

# Specifies the address to which the Kibana server will bind. IP addresses and host names are both valid values.
# The default is 'localhost', which usually means remote machines will not be able to connect.
# To allow connections from remote users, set this parameter to a non-loopback address.
#server.host: "localhost"

# Enables you to specify a path to mount Kibana at if you are running behind a proxy.
# Use the `server.rewriteBasePath` setting to tell Kibana if it should remove the basePath
# from requests it receives, and to prevent a deprecation warning at startup.
# This setting cannot end in a slash.
#server.basePath: ""

# Specifies whether Kibana should rewrite requests that are prefixed with
# `server.basePath` or require that they are rewritten by your reverse proxy.
# Defaults to `false`.
#server.rewriteBasePath: false

# Specifies the public URL at which Kibana is available for end users. If
# `server.basePath` is configured this URL should end with the same basePath.
#server.publicBaseUrl: ""

# The maximum payload size in bytes for incoming server requests.
#server.maxPayload: 1048576

# The Kibana server's name. This is used for display purposes.
#server.name: "your-hostname"

# =================== System: Kibana Server (Optional) ===================
# Enables SSL and paths to the PEM-format SSL certificate and SSL key files, respectively.
# These settings enable SSL for outgoing requests from the Kibana server to the browser.
#server.ssl.enabled: false
#server.ssl.certificate: /path/to/your/server.crt
#server.ssl.key: /path/to/your/server.key

# =================== System: Elasticsearch ===================
# The URLs of the Elasticsearch instances to use for all your queries.
elasticsearch.hosts: ["http://localhost:9200"]

# If your Elasticsearch is protected with basic authentication, these settings provide
# the username and password that the Kibana server uses to perform maintenance on the Kibana
# index at startup. Your Kibana users still need to authenticate with Elasticsearch, which
# is proxied through the Kibana server.
#elasticsearch.username: "kibana_system"
#elasticsearch.password: "pass"

# Kibana can also authenticate to Elasticsearch via "service account tokens".
# Service account tokens are Bearer style tokens that replace the traditional username/password based configuration.
# Use this token instead of a username/password.
# elasticsearch.serviceAccountToken: "my_token"

# Time in milliseconds to wait for Elasticsearch to respond to pings. Defaults to the value of
# the elasticsearch.requestTimeout setting.
#elasticsearch.pingTimeout: 1500

# Time in milliseconds to wait for responses from the back end or Elasticsearch. This value
# must be a positive integer.
#elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 30000

# The maximum number of sockets that can be used for communications with elasticsearch.
# Defaults to `Infinity`.
#elasticsearch.maxSockets: 1024

# Specifies whether Kibana should use compression for communications with elasticsearch
# Defaults to `false`.
#elasticsearch.compression: false

# List of Kibana client-side headers to send to Elasticsearch. To send *no* client-side
# headers, set this value to [] (an empty list).
#elasticsearch.requestHeadersWhitelist: [ authorization ]

# Header names and values that are sent to Elasticsearch. Any custom headers cannot be overwritten
# by client-side headers, regardless of the elasticsearch.requestHeadersWhitelist configuration.
#elasticsearch.customHeaders: {}

# Time in milliseconds for Elasticsearch to wait for responses from shards. Set to 0 to disable.
#elasticsearch.shardTimeout: 30000

# =================== System: Elasticsearch (Optional) ===================
# These files are used to verify the identity of Kibana to Elasticsearch and are required when
# xpack.security.http.ssl.client_authentication in Elasticsearch is set to required.
#elasticsearch.ssl.certificate: /path/to/your/client.crt
#elasticsearch.ssl.key: /path/to/your/client.key

# Enables you to specify a path to the PEM file for the certificate
# authority for your Elasticsearch instance.
#elasticsearch.ssl.certificateAuthorities: [ "/path/to/your/CA.pem" ]

# To disregard the validity of SSL certificates, change this setting's value to 'none'.
#elasticsearch.ssl.verificationMode: full

# =================== System: Logging ===================
# Set the value of this setting to off to suppress all logging output, or to debug to log everything. Defaults to 'info'
#logging.root.level: debug

# Enables you to specify a file where Kibana stores log output.
logging:
  appenders:
    file:
      type: file
      fileName: /var/log/kibana/kibana.log
      layout:
        type: json
  root:
    appenders:
      - default
      - file
#  layout:
#    type: json

# Logs queries sent to Elasticsearch.
#logging.loggers:
#  - name: elasticsearch.query
#    level: debug

# Logs http responses.
#logging.loggers:
#  - name: http.server.response
#    level: debug

# Logs system usage information.
#logging.loggers:
#  - name: metrics.ops
#    level: debug

# =================== System: Other ===================
# The path where Kibana stores persistent data not saved in Elasticsearch. Defaults to data
#path.data: data

# Specifies the path where Kibana creates the process ID file.
pid.file: /run/kibana/kibana.pid

# Set the interval in milliseconds to sample system and process performance
# metrics. Minimum is 100ms. Defaults to 5000ms.
#ops.interval: 5000

# Specifies locale to be used for all localizable strings, dates and number formats.
# Supported languages are the following: English (default) "en", Chinese "zh-CN", Japanese "ja-JP", French "fr-FR".
#i18n.locale: "en"

# =================== Frequently used (Optional)===================

# =================== Saved Objects: Migrations ===================
# Saved object migrations run at startup. If you run into migration-related issues, you might need to adjust these settings.

# The number of documents migrated at a time.
# If Kibana can't start up or upgrade due to an Elasticsearch `circuit_breaking_exception`,
# use a smaller batchSize value to reduce the memory pressure. Defaults to 1000 objects per batch.
#migrations.batchSize: 1000

# The maximum payload size for indexing batches of upgraded saved objects.
# To avoid migrations failing due to a 413 Request Entity Too Large response from Elasticsearch.
# This value should be lower than or equal to your Elasticsearch cluster’s `http.max_content_length`
# configuration option. Default: 100mb
#migrations.maxBatchSizeBytes: 100mb

# The number of times to retry temporary migration failures. Increase the setting
# if migrations fail frequently with a message such as `Unable to complete the [...] step after
# 15 attempts, terminating`. Defaults to 15
#migrations.retryAttempts: 15

# =================== Search Autocomplete ===================
# Time in milliseconds to wait for autocomplete suggestions from Elasticsearch.
# This value must be a whole number greater than zero. Defaults to 1000ms
#unifiedSearch.autocomplete.valueSuggestions.timeout: 1000

# Maximum number of documents loaded by each shard to generate autocomplete suggestions.
# This value must be a whole number greater than zero. Defaults to 100_000
#unifiedSearch.autocomplete.valueSuggestions.terminateAfter: 100000

#console.ui.enabled: true

Unless I mistook the KIbana config directory, this is the only thing I found in kibana config under /etc/sysconfig/kibana:

user="kibana"
group="kibana"

KBN_PATH_CONF="/etc/kibana"
RESTART_ON_UPGRADE="true

Honestly, I don't even know where this "user:kibana" credential is supposed to be implemented.

If there's anything I'm supposed to change there, my suspicion would be in the permission, since it's under the root group permission. This is KIbana's permission using ls -ltr


-rw-r--r--. 1 root root            84 Jun  6 05:07 kibana

Unlike Elasticsearch, which is under the permission of elasticsearch group.

What's worse about all this is that I can confirm that Elasticsearch is running using
curl --cacert /etc/elasticsearch/certs/http_ca.crt -u elastic https://localhost:9200
but I got thrown curl: (77) error setting certificate file: /etc/elasticsearch/certs/http_ca.crt instead.
So I changed the https into http and somehow I got a proper response. My other suspicion in this is that I haven't established the certificates and keys for TLS yet, and finally the worst part: I couldn't even see the etc/elasticsearch/certs/ directory when I checked it with ls -ltr.

You're my only hope. If this is all pointless, I'll just forget this all and create it from scracth in my Debian.

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