Kibana Audit Logging

Enable and configure audit logging for Kibana via

kibana.yml

For Elasticsearch audit logging (authentication failures, access grants/denials, security config changes), see elasticsearch-audit. For authentication and API key management, see elasticsearch-authn. For roles and user management, see elasticsearch-authz.

For detailed event types, schema, and correlation queries, see references/api-reference.md.

Deployment note: Kibana audit configuration differs across deployment types. See Deployment Compatibility for details.

Jobs to Be Done

• Enable or disable Kibana audit logging
• Configure audit log output (rolling file, console)
• Filter out noisy events (e.g.

  saved_object_find

  )
• Investigate saved object access or deletion events
• Track Kibana login/logout and session activity
• Monitor space creation, modification, and deletion
• Correlate Kibana audit events with Elasticsearch audit logs via

  trace.id

• Ship Kibana audit logs to Elasticsearch for unified querying

Prerequisites

kibana.yml

.security-audit-*

Prompt the user for any missing values.

Enable Kibana Audit Logging

Kibana audit is configured statically in

kibana.yml

xpack.security.audit.enabled: true
xpack.security.audit.appender:
  type: rolling-file
  fileName: /path/to/kibana/data/audit.log
  policy:
    type: time-interval
    interval: 24h
  strategy:
    type: numeric
    max: 10

To disable, set

xpack.security.audit.enabled

false

Appender types

rolling-file

console

Event Types

Kibana audit events use ECS format with the same core fields as ES audit (

event.action

event.outcome

user.name

trace.id

@timestamp

kibana.saved_object.type

kibana.saved_object.id

kibana.space_id

Key event actions:

saved_object_create

saved_object_get

saved_object_update

saved_object_delete

saved_object_find

saved_object_open_point_in_time

saved_object_close_point_in_time

saved_object_resolve

login

logout

session_cleanup

access_agreement_acknowledged

space_create

space_update

space_delete

space_get

See references/api-reference.md for the complete event schema.

Filter Policies

Suppress noisy events using

ignore_filters

kibana.yml

xpack.security.audit.ignore_filters:
  - actions: [saved_object_find]
    categories: [database]

actions

categories

An event is filtered out if it matches all specified fields within a single filter entry.

Correlate with Elasticsearch Audit Logs

When Kibana makes requests to Elasticsearch on behalf of a user, both systems record the same

trace.id

X-Opaque-Id

Prerequisite: Elasticsearch audit must be enabled via the cluster settings API. See the elasticsearch-audit skill for setup instructions, event types, and ES-specific filter policies.

Correlation workflow

1. Find the suspicious event in the Kibana audit log.
2. Extract its

   trace.id

   value.
3. Search the ES audit index (

   .security-audit-*

   ) for all events with the same

   trace.id

   .
4. Review the combined timeline to understand what ES-level operations the Kibana action triggered.

The elasticsearch-audit skill also documents this workflow from the ES side — use it when starting from an ES audit event and looking for the originating Kibana action.

Search ES audit by trace ID

Given a suspicious Kibana event (e.g. a saved object deletion), extract its

trace.id

curl -X POST "${ELASTICSEARCH_URL}/.security-audit-*/_search" \
  <auth_flags> \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": {
      "bool": {
        "filter": [
          { "term": { "trace.id": "'"${TRACE_ID}"'" } },
          { "range": { "@timestamp": { "gte": "now-24h" } } }
        ]
      }
    },
    "sort": [{ "@timestamp": { "order": "asc" } }]
  }'

Secondary correlation fields:

user.name

source.ip

@timestamp

Ship Kibana audit logs to Elasticsearch

To query Kibana audit events alongside ES audit events, ship the Kibana audit log file to an Elasticsearch index using Filebeat:

filebeat.inputs:
  - type: log
    paths: ["/path/to/kibana/data/audit.log"]
    json.keys_under_root: true
    json.add_error_key: true

output.elasticsearch:
  hosts: ["https://localhost:9200"]
  index: "kibana-audit-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"

Once indexed, both

.security-audit-*

kibana-audit-*

trace.id

Examples

Enable Kibana audit for compliance

Request: "Enable Kibana audit logging and keep 10 rotated log files."

xpack.security.audit.enabled: true
xpack.security.audit.appender:
  type: rolling-file
  fileName: /var/log/kibana/audit.log
  policy:
    type: time-interval
    interval: 24h
  strategy:
    type: numeric
    max: 10

Restart Kibana after applying.

Investigate a deleted dashboard

Request: "Someone deleted a dashboard. Check the Kibana audit log."

Search the Kibana audit log (or the indexed

kibana-audit-*

saved_object_delete

kibana.saved_object.type: dashboard

trace.id

Reduce audit noise from saved object searches

Request: "Kibana audit logs are too large because of constant saved_object_find events."

xpack.security.audit.ignore_filters:
  - actions: [saved_object_find]
    categories: [database]

This suppresses high-volume read operations while preserving create, update, and delete events.

Guidelines

Always enable alongside Elasticsearch audit

For full coverage, enable audit in both

kibana.yml

Use trace.id for correlation

When investigating a Kibana event, always extract

trace.id

.security-audit-*

Filter noisy read events

saved_object_find

Ship logs to Elasticsearch for unified querying

Kibana audit logs are written to files by default. Ship them to Elasticsearch via Filebeat for programmatic querying alongside ES audit events.

Rotate and retain appropriately

Configure rolling-file rotation to avoid filling the disk. A 30-90 day retention is typical for compliance.

Deployment Compatibility

kibana.yml

trace.id

ECH notes: Kibana audit is enabled via the deployment edit page in the Cloud console. Log files are accessible through the Cloud console deployment logs.

Serverless notes:

• Kibana audit logging is not user-configurable on Serverless. Security events are managed by Elastic as part of the platform.
• If a user asks about Kibana auditing on Serverless, direct them to the Elastic Cloud console or their account team.