﻿---
title: Internal users
description: The Elastic Stack security features use eight internal users (_system, _xpack, _xpack_security, _async_search, _security_profile, _data_stream_lifecycle,...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2626/deploy-manage/users-roles/cluster-or-deployment-auth/internal-users
products:
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available in 9.0+
---

# Internal users
<note>
  These users are designed for internal use by Elasticsearch only. Authenticating with these users is not supported.
</note>

The Elastic Stack security features use eight *internal* users (`_system`, `_xpack`, `_xpack_security`, `_async_search`, `_security_profile`, `_data_stream_lifecycle`, `_synonyms` and `_storage`), which are responsible for the operations that take place inside an Elasticsearch cluster.
These users are only used by requests that originate from within the cluster. For this reason, they cannot be used to authenticate against the API and there is no password to manage or reset.
From time-to-time you may find a reference to one of these users inside your logs, including [audit logs](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2626/deploy-manage/security/logging-configuration/enabling-audit-logs).