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Chapter 8. Viewing audit logs

OpenShift Container Platform auditing provides a security-relevant chronological set of records documenting the sequence of activities that have affected the system by individual users, administrators, or other components of the system.

8.1. About the API audit log

Audit works at the API server level, logging all requests coming to the server. Each audit log contains the following information:

Table 8.1. Audit log fields
FieldDescription

level

The audit level at which the event was generated.

auditID

A unique audit ID, generated for each request.

stage

The stage of the request handling when this event instance was generated.

requestURI

The request URI as sent by the client to a server.

verb

The Kubernetes verb associated with the request. For non-resource requests, this is the lowercase HTTP method.

user

The authenticated user information.

impersonatedUser

Optional. The impersonated user information, if the request is impersonating another user.

sourceIPs

Optional. The source IPs, from where the request originated and any intermediate proxies.

userAgent

Optional. The user agent string reported by the client. Note that the user agent is provided by the client, and must not be trusted.

objectRef

Optional. The object reference this request is targeted at. This does not apply for List-type requests, or non-resource requests.

responseStatus

Optional. The response status, populated even when the ResponseObject is not a Status type. For successful responses, this will only include the code. For non-status type error responses, this will be auto-populated with the error message.

requestObject

Optional. The API object from the request, in JSON format. The RequestObject is recorded as is in the request (possibly re-encoded as JSON), prior to version conversion, defaulting, admission or merging. It is an external versioned object type, and might not be a valid object on its own. This is omitted for non-resource requests and is only logged at request level and higher.

responseObject

Optional. The API object returned in the response, in JSON format. The ResponseObject is recorded after conversion to the external type, and serialized as JSON. This is omitted for non-resource requests and is only logged at response level.

requestReceivedTimestamp

The time that the request reached the API server.

stageTimestamp

The time that the request reached the current audit stage.

annotations

Optional. An unstructured key value map stored with an audit event that may be set by plugins invoked in the request serving chain, including authentication, authorization and admission plugins. Note that these annotations are for the audit event, and do not correspond to the metadata.annotations of the submitted object. Keys should uniquely identify the informing component to avoid name collisions, for example podsecuritypolicy.admission.k8s.io/policy. Values should be short. Annotations are included in the metadata level.

Example output for the Kubernetes API server: 

{"kind":"Event","apiVersion":"audit.k8s.io/v1","level":"Metadata","auditID":"ad209ce1-fec7-4130-8192-c4cc63f1d8cd","stage":"ResponseComplete","requestURI":"/api/v1/namespaces/openshift-kube-controller-manager/configmaps/cert-recovery-controller-lock?timeout=35s","verb":"update","user":{"username":"system:serviceaccount:openshift-kube-controller-manager:localhost-recovery-client","uid":"dd4997e3-d565-4e37-80f8-7fc122ccd785","groups":["system:serviceaccounts","system:serviceaccounts:openshift-kube-controller-manager","system:authenticated"]},"sourceIPs":["::1"],"userAgent":"cluster-kube-controller-manager-operator/v0.0.0 (linux/amd64) kubernetes/$Format","objectRef":{"resource":"configmaps","namespace":"openshift-kube-controller-manager","name":"cert-recovery-controller-lock","uid":"5c57190b-6993-425d-8101-8337e48c7548","apiVersion":"v1","resourceVersion":"574307"},"responseStatus":{"metadata":{},"code":200},"requestReceivedTimestamp":"2020-04-02T08:27:20.200962Z","stageTimestamp":"2020-04-02T08:27:20.206710Z","annotations":{"authorization.k8s.io/decision":"allow","authorization.k8s.io/reason":"RBAC: allowed by ClusterRoleBinding \"system:openshift:operator:kube-controller-manager-recovery\" of ClusterRole \"cluster-admin\" to ServiceAccount \"localhost-recovery-client/openshift-kube-controller-manager\""}}

8.2. Viewing the audit logs

You can view the logs for the OpenShift API server, Kubernetes API server, and OpenShift OAuth API server for each control plane node.

Procedure

To view the audit logs:

  • View the OpenShift API server logs:

    1. List the OpenShift API server logs that are available for each control plane node: 

      $ oc adm node-logs --role=master --path=openshift-apiserver/

      Example output

      ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit-2021-03-09T00-12-19.834.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit-2021-03-09T00-11-49.835.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit-2021-03-09T00-13-00.128.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit.log

    2. View a specific OpenShift API server log by providing the node name and the log name: 

      $ oc adm node-logs <node_name> --path=openshift-apiserver/<log_name>

      For example: 

      $ oc adm node-logs ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 --path=openshift-apiserver/audit-2021-03-09T00-12-19.834.log

      Example output

      {"kind":"Event","apiVersion":"audit.k8s.io/v1","level":"Metadata","auditID":"381acf6d-5f30-4c7d-8175-c9c317ae5893","stage":"ResponseComplete","requestURI":"/metrics","verb":"get","user":{"username":"system:serviceaccount:openshift-monitoring:prometheus-k8s","uid":"825b60a0-3976-4861-a342-3b2b561e8f82","groups":["system:serviceaccounts","system:serviceaccounts:openshift-monitoring","system:authenticated"]},"sourceIPs":["10.129.2.6"],"userAgent":"Prometheus/2.23.0","responseStatus":{"metadata":{},"code":200},"requestReceivedTimestamp":"2021-03-08T18:02:04.086545Z","stageTimestamp":"2021-03-08T18:02:04.107102Z","annotations":{"authorization.k8s.io/decision":"allow","authorization.k8s.io/reason":"RBAC: allowed by ClusterRoleBinding \"prometheus-k8s\" of ClusterRole \"prometheus-k8s\" to ServiceAccount \"prometheus-k8s/openshift-monitoring\""}}

  • View the Kubernetes API server logs:

    1. List the Kubernetes API server logs that are available for each control plane node: 

      $ oc adm node-logs --role=master --path=kube-apiserver/

      Example output

      ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit-2021-03-09T14-07-27.129.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit-2021-03-09T19-24-22.620.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit-2021-03-09T18-37-07.511.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit.log

    2. View a specific Kubernetes API server log by providing the node name and the log name: 

      $ oc adm node-logs <node_name> --path=kube-apiserver/<log_name>

      For example: 

      $ oc adm node-logs ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 --path=kube-apiserver/audit-2021-03-09T14-07-27.129.log

      Example output

      {"kind":"Event","apiVersion":"audit.k8s.io/v1","level":"Metadata","auditID":"cfce8a0b-b5f5-4365-8c9f-79c1227d10f9","stage":"ResponseComplete","requestURI":"/api/v1/namespaces/openshift-kube-scheduler/serviceaccounts/openshift-kube-scheduler-sa","verb":"get","user":{"username":"system:serviceaccount:openshift-kube-scheduler-operator:openshift-kube-scheduler-operator","uid":"2574b041-f3c8-44e6-a057-baef7aa81516","groups":["system:serviceaccounts","system:serviceaccounts:openshift-kube-scheduler-operator","system:authenticated"]},"sourceIPs":["10.128.0.8"],"userAgent":"cluster-kube-scheduler-operator/v0.0.0 (linux/amd64) kubernetes/$Format","objectRef":{"resource":"serviceaccounts","namespace":"openshift-kube-scheduler","name":"openshift-kube-scheduler-sa","apiVersion":"v1"},"responseStatus":{"metadata":{},"code":200},"requestReceivedTimestamp":"2021-03-08T18:06:42.512619Z","stageTimestamp":"2021-03-08T18:06:42.516145Z","annotations":{"authentication.k8s.io/legacy-token":"system:serviceaccount:openshift-kube-scheduler-operator:openshift-kube-scheduler-operator","authorization.k8s.io/decision":"allow","authorization.k8s.io/reason":"RBAC: allowed by ClusterRoleBinding \"system:openshift:operator:cluster-kube-scheduler-operator\" of ClusterRole \"cluster-admin\" to ServiceAccount \"openshift-kube-scheduler-operator/openshift-kube-scheduler-operator\""}}

  • View the OpenShift OAuth API server logs:

    1. List the OpenShift OAuth API server logs that are available for each control plane node: 

      $ oc adm node-logs --role=master --path=oauth-apiserver/

      Example output

      ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit-2021-03-09T13-06-26.128.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit-2021-03-09T18-23-21.619.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-1 audit.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit-2021-03-09T17-36-06.510.log
ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-2 audit.log

    2. View a specific OpenShift OAuth API server log by providing the node name and the log name: 

      $ oc adm node-logs <node_name> --path=oauth-apiserver/<log_name>

      For example: 

      $ oc adm node-logs ci-ln-m0wpfjb-f76d1-vnb5x-master-0 --path=oauth-apiserver/audit-2021-03-09T13-06-26.128.log

      Example output

      {"kind":"Event","apiVersion":"audit.k8s.io/v1","level":"Metadata","auditID":"dd4c44e2-3ea1-4830-9ab7-c91a5f1388d6","stage":"ResponseComplete","requestURI":"/apis/user.openshift.io/v1/users/~","verb":"get","user":{"username":"system:serviceaccount:openshift-monitoring:prometheus-k8s","groups":["system:serviceaccounts","system:serviceaccounts:openshift-monitoring","system:authenticated"]},"sourceIPs":["10.0.32.4","10.128.0.1"],"userAgent":"dockerregistry/v0.0.0 (linux/amd64) kubernetes/$Format","objectRef":{"resource":"users","name":"~","apiGroup":"user.openshift.io","apiVersion":"v1"},"responseStatus":{"metadata":{},"code":200},"requestReceivedTimestamp":"2021-03-08T17:47:43.653187Z","stageTimestamp":"2021-03-08T17:47:43.660187Z","annotations":{"authorization.k8s.io/decision":"allow","authorization.k8s.io/reason":"RBAC: allowed by ClusterRoleBinding \"basic-users\" of ClusterRole \"basic-user\" to Group \"system:authenticated\""}}

8.3. Filtering audit logs

You can use jq or another JSON parsing tool to filter the API server audit logs.

Note

The amount of information logged to the API server audit logs is controlled by the audit log policy that is set.

The following procedure provides examples of using jq to filter audit logs on control plane node node-1.example.com. See the jq Manual for detailed information on using jq.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You have installed jq.

Procedure

  • Filter OpenShift API server audit logs by user: 

    $ oc adm node-logs node-1.example.com  \
  --path=openshift-apiserver/audit.log \
  | jq 'select(.user.username == "myusername")'

  • Filter OpenShift API server audit logs by user agent: 

    $ oc adm node-logs node-1.example.com  \
  --path=openshift-apiserver/audit.log \
  | jq 'select(.userAgent == "cluster-version-operator/v0.0.0 (linux/amd64) kubernetes/$Format")'

  • Filter Kubernetes API server audit logs by a certain API version and only output the user agent: 

    $ oc adm node-logs node-1.example.com  \
  --path=kube-apiserver/audit.log \
  | jq 'select(.requestURI | startswith("/apis/apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1")) | .userAgent'

  • Filter OpenShift OAuth API server audit logs by excluding a verb: 

    $ oc adm node-logs node-1.example.com  \
  --path=oauth-apiserver/audit.log \
  | jq 'select(.verb != "get")'

8.4. Gathering audit logs

You can use the must-gather tool to collect the audit logs for debugging your cluster, which you can review or send to Red Hat Support.

Procedure

  1. Run the oc adm must-gather command with the -- /usr/bin/gather_audit_logs flag: 

    $ oc adm must-gather -- /usr/bin/gather_audit_logs

  2. Create a compressed file from the must-gather directory that was just created in your working directory. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command: 

    $ tar cvaf must-gather.tar.gz must-gather.local.472290403699006248 1
    1
    Replace must-gather-local.472290403699006248 with the actual directory name.
  3. Attach the compressed file to your support case on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

8.5. Additional resources

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