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InfluxDB 3 Core authentication and authorization

InfluxDB 3 Core uses an Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) model to manage permissions and supports multiple token types for different authentication scenarios.

The ABAC model includes the following components:

  • Authentication (authn): The process through which a user verifies their identity. In InfluxDB 3 Core, this occurs when a token is validated. Users may be human or machine (for example, through automation). InfluxDB 3 Core tokens represent previously verified authenticated users that facilitate automation.

  • Authorization (authz): The process that determines if an authenticated user can perform a requested action. In InfluxDB 3 Core, authorization evaluates whether a token has permissions to perform actions on specific resources.

  • Context: The system may use contextual information, such as location or time, when evaluating permissions.

  • Subject: The identity requesting access to the system. In InfluxDB 3 Core, the subject is a token (similar to an “API key” in other systems). Tokens include attributes such as identifier, name, description, and expiration date.

  • Action: The operations (for example, CRUD) that subjects may perform on resources.

  • Permissions: The set of actions that a specific subject can perform on a specific resource. Authorization compares the incoming request against the permissions set to decide if the request is allowed or not.

    In InfluxDB 3 Core, admin tokens have all permissions.

  • Resource: The objects that can be accessed or manipulated. Resources have attributes such as identifier and name. In InfluxDB 3 Core, resources include databases and system information endpoints.


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New in InfluxDB 3.5

Key enhancements in InfluxDB 3.5 and the InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3.

See the Blog Post

InfluxDB 3.5 is now available for both Core and Enterprise, introducing custom plugin repository support, enhanced operational visibility with queryable CLI parameters and manual node management, stronger security controls, and general performance improvements.

InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3 brings powerful new capabilities including Dashboards (beta) for saving and organizing your favorite queries, and cache querying for instant access to Last Value and Distinct Value caches—making Explorer a more comprehensive workspace for time series monitoring and analysis.

For more information, check out:

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On November 3, 2025, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2