[bitnami/sonarqube] Elasticsearch fails to start: AccessDeniedException on /opt/bitnami/sonarqube/elasticsearch/plugins

[eduardosilva]

Name and Version

bitnami/sonarqube:25

What architecture are you using?

None

What steps will reproduce the bug?

While running SonarQube 25 using the Bitnami Docker image with Docker Compose, Elasticsearch fails to start due to a permissions issue accessing the elasticsearch/plugins directory. This occurs during the bootstrap phase with a java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set up the provided docker-compose.yml with the .env file configuration (see below).
   

2. Run docker-compose up -d sonarqube sonarqube-db.
   

3. Check the logs using docker logs sonarqube or cat /opt/bitnami/sonarqube/logs/es.log inside the container.
   

Docker compose file

services:
  sonarqube-db:
    image: ${POSTGRES_IMAGE:-docker.io/bitnami/postgresql}:${POSTGRE_TAG:-17}
    container_name: sonarqube-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=${SONARQUBE_DB_USER:-postgres}
      - POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=${SONARQUBE_DB_PASSWORD:-postgres}
      - POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=${SONARQUBE_DB_NAME:-bitnami_sonarqube}
    ports:
      - '${SONARQUBE_DB_PORT:-5432}:5432'
    volumes:
      - 'sonarqube_db_data:/bitnami/postgresql'

  sonarqube:
    container_name: sonarqube
    image: ${SONARQUBE_IMAGE:-docker.io/bitnami/sonarqube}:${SONARQUBE_TAG:-25}
    ports:
      - '${SONARQUBE_PORT:-9001}:9000'
    volumes:
      - 'sonarqube_data:/bitnami/sonarqube'
    working_dir: /app
    depends_on:
      sonarqube-db:
        condition: service_healthy
    environment:
      - ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes
      - SONARQUBE_DATABASE_HOST=${SONARQUBE_DB_HOST:-sonarqube-db}
      - SONARQUBE_DATABASE_USER=${SONARQUBE_DB_USER:-postgres}
      - SONARQUBE_DATABASE_PASSWORD=${SONARQUBE_DB_PASSWORD:-postgres}
      - SONARQUBE_DATABASE_NAME=${SONARQUBE_DB_NAME:-bitnami_sonarqube}

Env file

SONARQUBE_IMAGE=docker.io/bitnami/sonarqube
SONARQUBE_TAG=25
SONARQUBE_PORT=9001

SONARQUBE_DB_HOST=sonarqube-db
SONARQUBE_DB_USER=postgres
SONARQUBE_DB_PASSWORD=postgres
SONARQUBE_DB_NAME=bitnami_sonarqube
SONARQUBE_DB_PORT=5433

POSTGRES_IMAGE=docker.io/bitnami/postgresql
POSTGRE_TAG=17

What is the expected behavior?

Sonarqube running using this docker compose.

What do you see instead?

Observed Behavior:
Elasticsearch crashes with the following error:

sonarqube@49b19f8e4c7f:/app$ cat /opt/bitnami/sonarqube/logs/es.log 
2025.02.21 17:05:06 INFO  es[][o.e.n.NativeAccess] Using [jna] native provider and native methods for [Linux]
2025.02.21 17:05:07 ERROR es[][o.e.b.Elasticsearch] fatal exception while booting Elasticsearch
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to access 'path.home' (/opt/bitnami/sonarqube/elasticsearch/plugins)
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.FilePermissionUtils.addDirectoryPath(FilePermissionUtils.java:67) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Security.addFilePermissions(Security.java:342) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Security.createPermissions(Security.java:195) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Security.configure(Security.java:141) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.initPhase2(Elasticsearch.java:202) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:74) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
Caused by: java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException: /opt/bitnami/sonarqube/elasticsearch/plugins
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.createDirectory(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at java.nio.file.Files.createDirectory(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at java.nio.file.Files.createAndCheckIsDirectory(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at java.nio.file.Files.createDirectories(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Security.ensureDirectoryExists(Security.java:454) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.FilePermissionUtils.addDirectoryPath(FilePermissionUtils.java:65) ~[elasticsearch-8.16.3.jar:?]
        ... 5 more

Additional information

I've already have setup vm.max_map_count as recommend and others issues:

sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

[starlessboi]

Hi, I have the same problem, my functional instance gives this error after upgrading image to latest version

[javsalgar]

Hi @eduardosilva, were you upgrading from an instance or does the issue occur on a fresh instance?

[eduardosilva]

Hi @javsalgar , this issue occurs on a fresh instance.

[jaloszek]

Hi, I recreated the same error on a fresh instance on both Windows Docker Desktop and Ubuntu Server, downgrading to 24.12.0 helps as a workaround.

[fmulero]

Hi

I was trying to reproduce the issue but I had no luck. I used the this docker-compose.yml file with fresh volumes and the images resolved are:

• bitnami/sonarqube:25.1.0-debian-12-r1
• bitnami/postgresql:17.4.0-debian-12-r2

[fmulero]

I've just reproduce it with the image bitnami/sonarqube:25.2.0-debian-12-r4. The directory /opt/bitnami/sonarqube/elasticsearch/pluginsdoesn't exist

[fmulero]

Could you give a try to the latest image (25.2.0-debian-12-r5)? I don't know how, the folder elasticsearch/plugins was missing in the original package donwloaded from https://www.sonarsource.com/products/sonarqube/downloads/ when the image was created. Latest package has this folder and the issue is gone.

[eduardosilva]

@fmulero Confirmed! Using the image 25.2.0-debian-12-r5 works perfectly!