Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch fails to invalidate an API key, possibly due to incorrect key details or insufficient permissions. To resolve this, ensure the API key is correct and valid. If the key is correct, check the user permissions. The user must have the ‘manage_api_key’ cluster privilege to invalidate API keys. If the issue persists, it could be a bug or a problem with the Elasticsearch cluster, in which case, restarting the cluster or updating Elasticsearch might help.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Error invalidating api key ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin.
Log Context
Log “Error invalidating api key” class name is ApiKeyService.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
for (BulkItemResponse bulkItemResponse : bulkResponse.getItems()) {
if (bulkItemResponse.isFailed()) {
Throwable cause = bulkItemResponse.getFailure().getCause();
final String failedApiKeyId = bulkItemResponse.getFailure().getId();
traceLog("invalidate api key"; failedApiKeyId; cause);
failedRequestResponses.add(new ElasticsearchException("Error invalidating api key"; cause));
} else {
UpdateResponse updateResponse = bulkItemResponse.getResponse();
if (updateResponse.getResult() == DocWriteResponse.Result.UPDATED) {
logger.debug("Invalidated api key for doc [{}]"; updateResponse.getId());
invalidated.add(updateResponse.getId());
