[Elasticsearch] Fix authentication failure when password contains YAML special characters - #18436
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maramos-elastic merged 3 commits intoMay 6, 2026
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…characters Use the escape_string Handlebars helper for the password field in all 12 Elasticsearch metrics dataset stream templates. Previously, passwords containing YAML special characters (e.g. double quotes) were rendered as unquoted YAML scalars, causing the YAML parser to strip the special chars before passing the value to the Beat. For example, a password of "mysecret" rendered as: password: "mysecret" which YAML parses as the string 'mysecret' (quotes stripped), causing 401 Unauthorized errors. With escape_string, the same password renders as: password: '"mysecret"' which YAML correctly parses back to '"mysecret"'. Fixes: #18434
andrewkroh
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Apr 30, 2026
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🚀 Benchmarks reportPackage
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| Data stream | Previous EPS | New EPS | Diff (%) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
gc |
4975.12 | 2958.58 | -2016.54 (-40.53%) | 💔 |
To see the full report comment with /test benchmark fullreport
consulthys
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Feature:Stack Monitoring
Escape username values in data_stream agent stream templates using the escape_string Handlebars helper (passwords were already escaped) to prevent authentication failures when credentials contain YAML special characters. Update changelog text to mention username. Replace hardcoded pipeline name in transform/index_pivot/transform.yml with '{{ ingestPipelineName "monitoring_indices" }}' to generate the correct versioned pipeline name.
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LGTM. Thanks @andrewkroh for the 👀
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…L special characters (elastic#18436) * [Elasticsearch] Fix auth failure when password contains YAML special characters Use the escape_string Handlebars helper for the password field in all 12 Elasticsearch metrics dataset stream templates. Previously, passwords containing YAML special characters (e.g. double quotes) were rendered as unquoted YAML scalars, causing the YAML parser to strip the special chars before passing the value to the Beat. For example, a password of "mysecret" rendered as: password: "mysecret" which YAML parses as the string 'mysecret' (quotes stripped), causing 401 Unauthorized errors. With escape_string, the same password renders as: password: '"mysecret"' which YAML correctly parses back to '"mysecret"'. Fixes: elastic#18434 * Update hardcoded version in transform * Escape usernames; use ingestPipelineName Escape username values in data_stream agent stream templates using the escape_string Handlebars helper (passwords were already escaped) to prevent authentication failures when credentials contain YAML special characters. Update changelog text to mention username. Replace hardcoded pipeline name in transform/index_pivot/transform.yml with '{{ ingestPipelineName "monitoring_indices" }}' to generate the correct versioned pipeline name. --------- Co-authored-by: Valentin Crettaz <valentin.crettaz@elastic.co>
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Summary
Fixes #18434
Passwords containing YAML special characters (e.g. double quotes
") cause401 Unauthorizederrors in all Elasticsearch metrics datasets because the compiled agent configuration strips those characters during YAML parsing.Root cause
All 12 Elasticsearch metrics dataset stream templates used the bare Handlebars expression:
When a password such as
"mysecret"is rendered, the template produces:YAML treats the double quotes as string delimiters, so the parsed value is
mysecret— the characters are silently dropped. The Beat then authenticates with a truncated password and receives a401 Unauthorizedresponse.Fix
Replace
{{password}}with{{escape_string password}}in all 12 metrics dataset stream templates:data_stream/cluster_stats/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/node_stats/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/node/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/index/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/index_recovery/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/index_summary/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/ccr/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/enrich/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/ingest_pipeline/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/ml_job/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/pending_tasks/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsdata_stream/shard/agent/stream/stream.yml.hbsThe
escape_stringhelper (registered in Fleet's Handlebars engine) wraps the value in YAML single quotes and escapes any interior single quotes by doubling them — safely preserving all special characters including",\,:,#, etc.Before (password
"mysecret"→ stored asmysecret):After (password
"mysecret"→ stored correctly as"mysecret"):This pattern is already used correctly by other integrations for similar fields (e.g.
ibmmq,apache_tomcat,websphere_application_server,cloudflare).Testing
Configure an Elasticsearch integration policy with a password containing
"characters and confirm thecomponents-actual.yamlpreserves the full password value, and that metrics collection succeeds without401errors.Checklist