Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to parse the indices privileges for a specific role because the role or privilege is empty. This could be due to a misconfiguration in the role settings. To resolve this issue, you should check the role configuration and ensure that the role and its privileges are correctly defined. If the role is not needed, consider deleting it. If it is needed, ensure it has the correct permissions and is associated with the correct indices.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” failed to parse indices privileges for role [{}]. [{}] cannot be an empty ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin, indices.
Log Context
Log “failed to parse indices privileges for role [{}]. [{}] cannot be an empty” class name is RoleDescriptor.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
if (token == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_STRING) {
names = new String[]{parser.text()};
} else if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_ARRAY) {
names = readStringArray(roleName; parser; false);
if (names.length == 0) {
throw new ElasticsearchParseException("failed to parse indices privileges for role [{}]. [{}] cannot be an empty " +
"array"; roleName; currentFieldName);
}
} else {
throw new ElasticsearchParseException("failed to parse indices privileges for role [{}]. expected field [{}] " +
"value to be a string or an array of strings; but found [{}] instead"; roleName; currentFieldName; token);
