diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/RealmSettings.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/RealmSettings.java
index 22eee8052f9..10c746ca83b 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/RealmSettings.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/RealmSettings.java
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.Security.setting;
  * Instead, realm configuration relies on the <code>validator</code> parameter to
  * {@link Setting#groupSetting(String, Consumer, Setting.Property...)} in order to validate each realm in a way that respects the
  * declared <code>type</code>.
- * Internally, this validation delegates to {@link AbstractScopedSettings#validate(Settings)} so that validation is reasonably aligned
+ * Internally, this validation delegates to {@link AbstractScopedSettings#validate(Settings, boolean)} so that validation is reasonably
+ * aligned
  * with the way we validate settings globally.
  * </p>
  * <p>
@@ -172,7 +173,7 @@ public class RealmSettings {
         settingSet.add(ORDER_SETTING);
         final AbstractScopedSettings validator = new AbstractScopedSettings(settings, settingSet, Setting.Property.NodeScope) { };
         try {
-            validator.validate(settings);
+            validator.validate(settings, false);
         } catch (RuntimeException e) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("incorrect configuration for realm [" + getFullSettingKey(name, "")
                     + "] of type " + type, e);
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/pki/PkiRealmTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/pki/PkiRealmTests.java
index 32857ce64d1..ab4da6cd6a4 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/pki/PkiRealmTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/authc/pki/PkiRealmTests.java
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ public class PkiRealmTests extends ESTestCase {
         List<Setting<?>> settingList = new ArrayList<>();
         RealmSettings.addSettings(settingList, Collections.emptyList());
         ClusterSettings clusterSettings = new ClusterSettings(settings, new HashSet<>(settingList));
-        clusterSettings.validate(settings);
+        clusterSettings.validate(settings, false);
 
         assertSettingDeprecationsAndWarnings(new Setting[] { SSLConfigurationSettings.withoutPrefix().legacyTruststorePassword });
     }