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Elastic Docs ›Elasticsearch Guide [7.6] ›Breaking changes

Breaking changes in 7.6

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IMPORTANT: This documentation is no longer updated. Refer to Elastic's version policy and the latest documentation.

Breaking changes in 7.6

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This section discusses the changes that you need to be aware of when migrating your application to Elasticsearch 7.6.

See also Release highlights and Release notes.

Security changes

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Elasticsearch API key privileges

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If you use an API key to create another API key (sometimes called a derived key), its behavior is impacted by the fix for CVE-2020-7009.

When you make a request to create API keys, you can specify an expiration and privileges for the API key. Previously, when you created a derived key, it had no privileges. This behavior disregarded any privileges that you specified in the create API key API.

As of 7.6.2, this behavior changes. To create a derived key, you must explicitly specify a role descriptor with no privileges:

...
"role_descriptors": {
    "no-privilege": {
    }
}
...

Security deprecations

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The xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled setting will be required to configure xpack.security.transport.ssl settings.

Details
Configuring any SSL settings for xpack.security.transport.ssl without also configuring xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled generates warnings in the deprecation log. In 8.0, this configuration will result in errors.

Impact
To avoid deprecation warnings, either:

  • Explicitly set xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled as false
  • Discontinue use of other xpack.security.transport.ssl settings

If you want to enable SSL, follow the instructions to encrypt communications between nodes. As part of this configuration, explicitly set xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled as true.

For example:

xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled: true 
xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path: elastic-certificates.p12
xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path: elastic-certificates.p12

or false.
The xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled setting will be required to configure xpack.security.http.ssl settings.

Details
Configuring any SSL settings for xpack.security.http.ssl without also configuring xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled generates warnings in the deprecation log. In 8.0, this configuration will result in errors.

Impact
To avoid deprecation warnings, either:

  • Explicitly set xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled as false
  • Discontinue use of other xpack.security.http.ssl settings

If you want to enable SSL, follow the instructions to encrypt HTTP client communications for Elasticsearch. As part of this configuration, explicitly set xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled as true.

For example:

xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled: true 
xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate: elasticsearch.crt
xpack.security.http.ssl.key: elasticsearch.key
xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate_authorities: [ "corporate-ca.crt" ]

or false.
A xpack.security.transport.ssl certificate and key will be required to enable SSL for the transport interface.

Details
Enabling SSL for the transport interface without also configuring a certificate and key through use of the xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path setting or the xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate and xpack.security.transport.ssl.key settings generates warnings in the deprecation log. In 8.0, this configuration will result in errors.

Impact
If xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled is set to true, provide a certificate and key using the xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path setting or the xpack.security.transport.ssl.certificate and xpack.security.transport.ssl.key settings. If a certificate and key is not provided, Elasticsearch will generate warnings in the deprecation log.

A xpack.security.http.ssl certificate and key will be required to enable SSL for the HTTP layer.

Details
Enabling SSL for the HTTP layer without also configuring a certificate and key through use of the xpack.security.http.ssl.keystore.path setting or the xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate and xpack.security.http.ssl.key settings generates warnings in the deprecation log. In 8.0, this configuration will result in errors.

Impact
If xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled is set to true, provide a certificate and key using the xpack.security.http.ssl.keystore.path setting or the xpack.security.http.ssl.certificate and xpack.security.http.ssl.key settings. If a certificate and key is not provided, Elasticsearch will generate warnings in the deprecation log.

Search changes

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Aggregating and sorting on _id is deprecated

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It’s possible to aggregate and sort on the built-in _id field by loading an expensive data structure called fielddata. This was deprecated in 7.6 and will be disallowed by default in 8.0. As an alternative, the _id field’s contents can be duplicated into another field with docvalues enabled (note that this does not apply to auto-generated IDs).

Deprecation of sparse vector fields

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The sparse_vector field type has been deprecated and will be removed in 8.0. We have not seen much interest in this experimental field type, and don’t see a clear use case as it’s currently designed. If you have feedback or suggestions around sparse vector functionality, please let us know through GitHub or the discuss forums.

Update to vector function signatures

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The vector functions of the form function(query, doc['field']) are deprecated, and the form function(query, 'field') should be used instead. For example, cosineSimilarity(query, doc['field']) is replaced by cosineSimilarity(query, 'field').

Disallow use of the nGram and edgeNGram tokenizer names

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The nGram and edgeNGram tokenizer names haven been deprecated with 7.6. Mappings for indices created after 7.6 will continue to work but emit a deprecation warning. The tokenizer name should be changed to the fully equivalent ngram or edge_ngram names for new indices and in index templates.

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