Signing credentials missing empty - Common causes and quick fixes

Signing credentials missing empty – How to solve this Elasticsearch error

Opster Team

Aug-23, Version: 8.6-8.9

Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch cannot find the necessary credentials for signing a request. This could be due to missing, incorrect, or improperly configured access keys, secret keys, or tokens. To resolve this issue, you can: 1) Verify that your credentials are correctly entered and stored in the appropriate configuration files. 2) Check if the credentials have the necessary permissions to perform the requested operation. 3) Ensure that your application or service is correctly configured to use the credentials. 4) If using temporary credentials, make sure they are not expired.

This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Signing credentials missing; empty ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin.

Log Context

Log “Signing credentials missing; empty” classname is SamlRealm.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :

    private static void logDiff(final List newCredentials; final AtomicReference> previousCredentialsRef) {
        if (newCredentials == null) {
            logger.warn("Signing credentials missing; null");
            return;
        } else if (newCredentials.isEmpty()) {
            logger.warn("Signing credentials missing; empty");
            return;
        }
        final Set newPublicKeys = newCredentials.stream().map(Credential::getPublicKey).collect(Collectors.toSet());
        final Set previousPublicKeys = previousCredentialsRef.getAndSet(newPublicKeys);
        if (previousPublicKeys == null) {