diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/ActionRequest.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/ActionRequest.java
index 7ab87065bef7e..2254472dd6801 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/ActionRequest.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/action/ActionRequest.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.common.annotation.PublicApi;
 import org.opensearch.core.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.opensearch.core.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
+import org.opensearch.identity.Subject;
 import org.opensearch.transport.TransportRequest;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@
 @PublicApi(since = "1.0.0")
 public abstract class ActionRequest extends TransportRequest {
 
+    private Subject runAs;
+
     public ActionRequest() {
         super();
         // this does not set the listenerThreaded API, if needed, its up to the caller to set it
@@ -67,6 +70,14 @@ public boolean getShouldStoreResult() {
         return false;
     }
 
+    public void runAs(Subject runAs) {
+        this.runAs = runAs;
+    }
+
+    public Subject getRunAs() {
+        return this.runAs;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         super.writeTo(out);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/client/support/AbstractClient.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/client/support/AbstractClient.java
index 509cd732357d6..f94e93e30fc46 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/client/support/AbstractClient.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/client/support/AbstractClient.java
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.core.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.opensearch.core.tasks.TaskId;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.MediaType;
+import org.opensearch.identity.Subject;
 import org.opensearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -480,7 +481,20 @@ public final <Request extends ActionRequest, Response extends ActionResponse> vo
         Request request,
         ActionListener<Response> listener
     ) {
-        doExecute(action, request, listener);
+        Subject runAs = request.getRunAs();
+        if (runAs != null) {
+            try {
+                runAs.runAs(() -> {
+                    doExecute(action, request, listener);
+                    return null;
+                });
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException(e);
+            }
+        } else {
+            // run with default subject. If security is installed, default subject is the authenticated user
+            doExecute(action, request, listener);
+        }
     }
 
     protected abstract <Request extends ActionRequest, Response extends ActionResponse> void doExecute(