96 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
# Audit logging
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Every tool call produces exactly one result event (`tool_invocation`) in an append-only,
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hash-chained JSON-lines log, whether it succeeded, failed at Gitea, failed validation or hit an
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internal error. A call to a known tool is preceded by a small write-ahead event
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(`tool_call_started`, see Location and permissions). Security events are logged in the same
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chain.
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## What an event contains
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Each line is one JSON object:
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| Field | Meaning |
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|---|---|
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| `timestamp` | UTC, ISO 8601 |
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| `event_type` | `tool_invocation`, `tool_call_started`, `access_denied` or `security_event` |
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| `request_id` | Correlation id of the request |
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| `payload` | The event data, see below |
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| `prev_hash` | `entry_hash` of the previous line (`GENESIS` for the first) |
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| `entry_hash` | SHA-256 over the previous hash and this entry |
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A tool invocation payload records:
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- the tool name, its domain, the HTTP method and the path template (for example
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`/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues`, never the filled-in values);
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- the identity: Gitea login and mode (`admin-token` or `oauth`), and the sudo user when one was
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given;
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- the HTTP status when Gitea answered, and the outcome: success, or the error kind
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(`not_found`, `forbidden`, `invalid_argument`, `internal_error`, ...);
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- the duration in milliseconds and the correlation id;
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- the argument names, sorted. Argument values are never logged, so request bodies, secret values
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and file contents do not reach the log.
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All payloads also pass through secret masking before they are written
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(`SECRET_DETECTION_MODE` other than `off`).
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## Integrity
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Each entry hashes the previous one, so editing, deleting or reordering a line breaks the chain
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from that point on. Validate it with:
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```bash
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make validate-audit # default path
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uv run python scripts/validate_audit_log.py --path /var/lib/aegis-mcp/audit.log
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```
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Exit code 0 means the chain is intact; 1 lists the lines that do not verify. The default path is
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`AUDIT_LOG_PATH`, else `DATA_DIR/audit.log`.
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The chain proves that history was not altered after the fact. It does not stop someone with
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write access to the whole file from rewriting it consistently from the start, so also ship the
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log to storage the server cannot modify, and compare the latest `entry_hash` against a copy you
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keep elsewhere.
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## Location and permissions
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The log is written to `AUDIT_LOG_PATH`, default `DATA_DIR/audit.log` (`/var/lib/aegis-mcp` in the
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image). Keep it on durable storage, readable and writable only by the service account.
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The server opens the file for append at startup and exits with code 2 (message on stderr) when
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that fails, so it never runs unaudited. The check does not stop at startup: each call to a known
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tool first writes a `tool_call_started` entry (tool name, domain and correlation id), and when
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that write fails (full disk, revoked mount, closed file) the call is refused with
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`audit_unavailable` and never reaches Gitea. Calls resume as soon as writes work again. A write
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failure of the final `tool_invocation` entry after a call has executed is only logged to stderr:
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the Gitea side effect already happened and the caller must still receive the result. The
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`correlation_id` of both entries is the request id, which is also the entry's `request_id`.
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## Rotation
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The server appends to one file and does not rotate it, because rotating mid-stream would break
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the chain. Rotate externally with `logrotate` and `copytruncate`, so the open file handle keeps
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appending:
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```
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/var/lib/aegis-mcp/audit.log {
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weekly
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rotate 12
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compress
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missingok
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notifempty
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copytruncate
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}
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```
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The validator expects a chain to start at `GENESIS`, so only the first segment verifies as it
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is. For a later segment, check that its first `prev_hash` equals the last `entry_hash` of the
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previous segment. Validate segments before archiving them, and keep them in order.
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## Operating it
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- Alert on bursts of `forbidden` or `unauthorized` outcomes and on tool calls by unexpected
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identities.
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- Review calls to admin, secret and delete tools. The tool name makes them easy to filter.
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- Run the integrity check regularly and during incident response.
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