Using ECK, Elastic search does not start up after enabling SAML

johanw · August 29, 2023, 8:10am

We are trying to enable SAML on our ELK stack on Kubernetes. We are using ECK and custom resource definitions to manage and run our Elastic cluster.

Instructions followed: Set up SAML with Azure Active Directory | Elasticsearch Service Documentation | Elastic

Our cluster setup:

3x master nodes
2x hot data nodes
2x warm data nodes
2x content data nodes
1x miscellaneous node for all other roles not excplicitly used, as well as 3rd content store

I'm 90% convinced we missed a config, but have been unable to find it so far. We first had these xpack entries added to Kibana, which failed. Then we moved it to a Kubernetes secret and passed it through as a secureSetting for Elasticsearch, but the error on startup indicated it should be part of normal config.

Error Output:

"message":"fatal exception while booting Elasticsearch", "ecs.version": "1.2.0","service.name":"ES_ECS","event.dataset":"elasticsearch.server","process.thread.name":"main","log.logger":"org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch","elasticsearch.node.name":"elk-es-master-1-0","elasticsearch.cluster.name":"elk",
"error.type":"java.lang.IllegalStateException","error.message":"security initialization failed",
"error.stack_trace":"java.lang.IllegalStateException: security initialization failed
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.node.Node.lambda$new$16(Node.java:733)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.Security.createComponents(Security.java:641)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginsService.lambda$flatMap$1(PluginsService.java:261)
    java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$7$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:273)
    java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$3$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:197)
    java.base/java.util.AbstractList$RandomAccessSpliterator.forEachRemaining(AbstractList.java:722)
    java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:509)
    java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:499)
    java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(AbstractPipeline.java:575)
    java.base/java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluateToArrayNode(AbstractPipeline.java:260)
    java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.toArray(ReferencePipeline.java:616)
    java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.toArray(ReferencePipeline.java:622)
    java.base/java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.toList(ReferencePipeline.java:627)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.node.Node.<init>(Node.java:748)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.node.Node.<init>(Node.java:334)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch$2.<init>(Elasticsearch.java:234)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.initPhase3(Elasticsearch.java:234)
    org.elasticsearch.server@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:72)\nCaused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: SAML requires that the token service be enabled (xpack.security.authc.token.enabled)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.saml.SamlRealm.create(SamlRealm.java:204)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.InternalRealms.lambda$getFactories$5(InternalRealms.java:162)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.Realms.initRealms(Realms.java:287)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.Realms.<init>(Realms.java:108)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.Security.createComponents(Security.java:751)
    org.elasticsearch.security@8.9.1/org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.Security.createComponents(Security.java:629)\n\t... 17 more\n"}
ERROR: Elasticsearch did not exit normally - check the logs at /usr/share/elasticsearch/logs/elk.log

Master node configuration in Yaml file:

- name: master-1
      count: 3
      config:
        node.store.allow_mmap: false
        node.roles: ["master"]
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.order: 2
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.attributes.principal: nameid
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.attributes.groups: "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ws/2008/06/identity/claims/groups"
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.idp.metadata.path: "https://login.microsoftonline.com/########-####-####-####-##############/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml?appid=########-####-#####-####-#############"
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.idp.entity_id: "https://sts.windows.net/#########-####-####-####-############/"
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.sp.entity_id: "https://kibana-uat.#####.##.##"
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.sp.acs: "https://kibana-uat.#####.##.##/api/security/saml/callback"
        xpack.security.authc.realms.saml.kibana-realm.sp.logout: "https://kibana-uat.#####.##.##/logout"
      volumeClaimTemplates:
        - metadata:
            name: elasticsearch-data
          spec:
            accessModes:
              - ReadWriteOnce
            resources:
              requests:
                storage: 100Mi
              limits:
                storage: 1Gi
            # storageClassName: local-path
          status: {}
      podTemplate:
        metadata:
          labels:
            elk-role: master
        spec:
          containers:
            - name: elasticsearch
          automountServiceAccountToken: true
          affinity:
            nodeAffinity:
              preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
                - weight: 50
                  preference:
                    matchExpressions:
                      - key: ELK
                        operator: In
                        values:
                          - "true"
            podAntiAffinity:
              preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
                - weight: 100
                  podAffinityTerm:
                    labelSelector:
                      matchLabels:
                        elk-role: master
                    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname

          tolerations:
            - key: ELK
              operator: Exists
              effect: NoSchedule

Kibana configuration:

spec:
  count: 1
  elasticsearchRef:
    name: elk
  secureSettings:
  - secretName: kibana-saml
  http:
    service:
      metadata:
        creationTimestamp: null
      spec: {}
    tls:
      selfSignedCertificate:
        disabled: true
  podTemplate:
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
    spec:
      automountServiceAccountToken: true
      containers:
        - name: kibana
          resources:
            limits:
              cpu: 500m
              memory: 2Gi
            requests:
              cpu: 50m
              memory: 100Mi
  version: 8.9.1

Contents of kibana-saml:

pack.security.authc.providers.saml.kibana-realm.order= 0
xpack.security.authc.providers.saml.kibana-realm.realm= kibana-realm
xpack.security.authc.providers.saml.kibana-realm.description= "Log in with Azure AD"

johanw · August 29, 2023, 8:48am

Ok, except for feeling like an idiot, we found the solution minutes after posting on this forum.

We needed to enable https communication between nodes, and needed the following in the config:

xpack.security.authc.token.enabled: true

Craig_Rodrigues · August 30, 2023, 3:17am

You should also refer to the ECK docs for SAML:

github.com

elastic/cloud-on-k8s/blob/main/docs/orchestrating-elastic-stack-applications/security/saml-authentication.asciidoc

:page_id: saml-authentication
ifdef::env-github[]
****
link:https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/cloud-on-k8s/master/k8s-{page_id}.html[View this document on the Elastic website]
****
endif::[]
[id="{p}-{page_id}"]
= SAML Authentication

The Elastic Stack supports SAML single sign-on (SSO) into Kibana, using Elasticsearch as a backend service. 

NOTE: Elastic Stack SSO requires a valid Enterprise license or Enterprise trial license. Check <<{p}-licensing,the license documentation>> for more details about managing licenses.

TIP: Make sure you check the complete link:https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/saml-guide-stack.html[Configuring SAML single sign-on on the Elastic Stack] guide before setting up SAML SSO for Kibana and Elasticsearch deployments managed by ECK.

== Add a SAML realm to X-Pack security settings 

To enable SAML SSO for the Elastic Stack, you have to configure the SAML realm in Elasticsearch and enable the usage of the SAML realm and authentication provider in Kibana.

=== Elasticsearch

This file has been truncated. show original

I submitted a few patches to that doc.

system · September 27, 2023, 3:17am

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Using ECK, Elastic search does not start up after enabling SAML

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