Configuring loggers is security-sensitive. It has led in the past to the following vulnerabilities:

Logs are useful before, during and after a security incident.

Logs are also a target for attackers because they might contain sensitive information. Configuring loggers has an impact on the type of information logged and how they are logged.

This rule flags for review code that initiates loggers configuration. The goal is to guide security code reviews.

Ask Yourself Whether

There is a risk if you answered yes to any of those questions.

Recommended Secure Coding Practices

Remember that configuring loggers properly doesn’t make them bullet-proof. Here is a list of recommendations explaining on how to use your logs:

Sensitive Code Example

.Net Core: configure programmatically

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore;

namespace MvcApp
{
    public class ProgramLogging
    {
        public static IWebHostBuilder CreateWebHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
            WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
                .ConfigureLogging((hostingContext, logging) => // Sensitive
                {
                    // ...
                })
                .UseStartup<StartupLogging>();
    }

    public class StartupLogging
    {
        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
        {
            services.AddLogging(logging => // Sensitive
            {
                // ...
            });
        }

        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)
        {
            IConfiguration config = null;
            LogLevel level = LogLevel.Critical;
            Boolean includeScopes = false;
            Func<string,Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.LogLevel,bool> filter = null;
            Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console.IConsoleLoggerSettings consoleSettings = null;
            Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.AzureAppServices.AzureAppServicesDiagnosticsSettings azureSettings = null;
            Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.EventLog.EventLogSettings eventLogSettings = null;

            // An issue will be raised for each call to an ILoggerFactory extension methods adding loggers.
            loggerFactory.AddAzureWebAppDiagnostics(); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddAzureWebAppDiagnostics(azureSettings); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(level); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(level, includeScopes); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(filter); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(filter, includeScopes); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(config); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddConsole(consoleSettings); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddDebug(); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddDebug(level); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddDebug(filter); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddEventLog(); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddEventLog(eventLogSettings); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddEventLog(level); // Sensitive
            loggerFactory.AddEventSourceLogger(); // Sensitive

            IEnumerable<ILoggerProvider> providers = null;
            LoggerFilterOptions filterOptions1 = null;
            IOptionsMonitor<LoggerFilterOptions> filterOptions2 = null;

            LoggerFactory factory = new LoggerFactory(); // Sensitive
            new LoggerFactory(providers); // Sensitive
            new LoggerFactory(providers, filterOptions1); // Sensitive
            new LoggerFactory(providers, filterOptions2); // Sensitive
        }
    }
}

Log4Net

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using log4net.Appender;
using log4net.Config;
using log4net.Repository;

namespace Logging
{
    class Log4netLogging
    {
        void Foo(ILoggerRepository repository, XmlElement element, FileInfo configFile, Uri configUri, Stream configStream,
        IAppender appender, params IAppender[] appenders) {
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(repository); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(repository, element); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(repository, configFile); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(repository, configUri); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(repository, configStream); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch(repository, configFile); // Sensitive

            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(repository); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(element); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(repository, element); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(configFile); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(repository, configFile); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(configStream); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.Configure(repository, configStream); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch(configFile); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.DOMConfigurator.ConfigureAndWatch(repository, configFile); // Sensitive

            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(appender); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(appenders); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(repository); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(repository, appender); // Sensitive
            log4net.Config.BasicConfigurator.Configure(repository, appenders); // Sensitive
        }
    }
}

NLog: configure programmatically

namespace Logging
{
    class NLogLogging
    {
        void Foo(NLog.Config.LoggingConfiguration config) {
            NLog.LogManager.Configuration = config; // Sensitive, this changes the logging configuration.
        }
    }
}

Serilog

namespace Logging
{
    class SerilogLogging
    {
        void Foo() {
            new Serilog.LoggerConfiguration(); // Sensitive
        }
    }
}

See