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Logging for egress firewall and network policy rules

As a cluster administrator, you can configure audit logging for your cluster and enable logging for one or more namespaces. OpenShift Container Platform produces audit logs for both egress firewalls and network policies.

Audit logging is available for only the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin.

Audit logging

The OVN-Kubernetes network plugin uses Open Virtual Network (OVN) ACLs to manage egress firewalls and network policies. Audit logging exposes allow and deny ACL events.

You can configure the destination for audit logs, such as a syslog server or a UNIX domain socket. Regardless of any additional configuration, an audit log is always saved to /var/log/ovn/acl-audit-log.log on each OVN-Kubernetes pod in the cluster.

You can enable audit logging for each namespace by annotating each namespace configuration with a k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging section. In the k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging section, you must specify allow, deny, or both values to enable audit logging for a namespace.

A network policy does not support setting the Pass action set as a rule.

The ACL-logging implementation logs access control list (ACL) events for a network. You can view these logs to analyze any potential security issues.

Example namespace annotation
kind: Namespace
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: example1
  annotations:
    k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging: |-
      {
        "deny": "info",
        "allow": "info"
      }

To view the default ACL logging configuration values, see the policyAuditConfig object in the cluster-network-03-config.yml file. If required, you can change the ACL logging configuration values for log file parameters in this file.

The logging message format is compatible with syslog as defined by RFC5424. The syslog facility is configurable and defaults to local0. The following example shows key parameters and their values outputted in a log message:

Example logging message that outputs parameters and their values
<timestamp>|<message_serial>|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|<severity>|name="<acl_name>", verdict="<verdict>", severity="<severity>", direction="<direction>": <flow>

Where:

  • <timestamp> states the time and date for the creation of a log message.

  • <message_serial> lists the serial number for a log message.

  • acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0) is a literal string that prints the location of the log message in the OVN-Kubernetes plugin.

  • <severity> sets the severity level for a log message. If you enable audit logging that supports allow and deny tasks then two severity levels show in the log message output.

  • <name> states the name of the ACL-logging implementation in the OVN Network Bridging Database (nbdb) that was created by the network policy.

  • <verdict> can be either allow or drop.

  • <direction> can be either to-lport or from-lport to indicate that the policy was applied to traffic going to or away from a pod.

  • <flow> shows packet information in a format equivalent to the OpenFlow protocol. This parameter comprises Open vSwitch (OVS) fields.

The following example shows OVS fields that the flow parameter uses to extract packet information from system memory:

Example of OVS fields used by the flow parameter to extract packet information
<proto>,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=<src_mac>,dl_dst=<source_mac>,nw_src=<source_ip>,nw_dst=<target_ip>,nw_tos=<tos_dscp>,nw_ecn=<tos_ecn>,nw_ttl=<ip_ttl>,nw_frag=<fragment>,tp_src=<tcp_src_port>,tp_dst=<tcp_dst_port>,tcp_flags=<tcp_flags>

Where:

  • <proto> states the protocol. Valid values are tcp and udp.

  • vlan_tci=0x0000 states the VLAN header as 0 because a VLAN ID is not set for internal pod network traffic.

  • <src_mac> specifies the source for the Media Access Control (MAC) address.

  • <source_mac> specifies the destination for the MAC address.

  • <source_ip> lists the source IP address

  • <target_ip> lists the target IP address.

  • <tos_dscp> states Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) values to classify and prioritize certain network traffic over other traffic.

  • <tos_ecn> states Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) values that indicate any congested traffic in your network.

  • <ip_ttl> states the Time To Live (TTP) information for an packet.

  • <fragment> specifies what type of IP fragments or IP non-fragments to match.

  • <tcp_src_port> shows the source for the port for TCP and UDP protocols.

  • <tcp_dst_port> lists the destination port for TCP and UDP protocols.

  • <tcp_flags> supports numerous flags such as SYN, ACK, PSH and so on. If you need to set multiple values then each value is separated by a vertical bar (|). The UDP protocol does not support this parameter.

For more information about the previous field descriptions, go to the OVS manual page for ovs-fields.
Example ACL deny log entry for a network policy
2023-11-02T16:28:54.139Z|00004|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn
2023-11-02T16:28:55.187Z|00005|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn
2023-11-02T16:28:57.235Z|00006|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn

The following table describes namespace annotation values:

Table 1. Audit logging namespace annotation for k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging
Field Description

deny

Blocks namespace access to any traffic that matches an ACL rule with the deny action. The field supports alert, warning, notice, info, or debug values.

allow

Permits namespace access to any traffic that matches an ACL rule with the allow action. The field supports alert, warning, notice, info, or debug values.

pass

A pass action applies to an admin network policy’s ACL rule. A pass action allows either the network policy in the namespace or the baseline admin network policy rule to evaluate all incoming and outgoing traffic. A network policy does not support a pass action.
Additional resources

Audit configuration

The configuration for audit logging is specified as part of the OVN-Kubernetes cluster network provider configuration. The following YAML illustrates the default values for the audit logging:

Audit logging configuration
apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  defaultNetwork:
    ovnKubernetesConfig:
      policyAuditConfig:
        destination: "null"
        maxFileSize: 50
        rateLimit: 20
        syslogFacility: local0

The following table describes the configuration fields for audit logging.

Table 2. policyAuditConfig object
Field Type Description

rateLimit

integer

The maximum number of messages to generate every second per node. The default value is 20 messages per second.

maxFileSize

integer

The maximum size for the audit log in bytes. The default value is 50000000 or 50 MB.

maxLogFiles

integer

The maximum number of log files that are retained.

destination

string

One of the following additional audit log targets:

libc

The libc syslog() function of the journald process on the host.

udp:<host>:<port>

A syslog server. Replace <host>:<port> with the host and port of the syslog server.

unix:<file>

A Unix Domain Socket file specified by <file>.

null

Do not send the audit logs to any additional target.

syslogFacility

string

The syslog facility, such as kern, as defined by RFC5424. The default value is local0.

Configuring egress firewall and network policy auditing for a cluster

As a cluster administrator, you can customize audit logging for your cluster.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • Log in to the cluster with a user with cluster-admin privileges.

Procedure

  • To customize the audit logging configuration, enter the following command:

    $ oc edit network.operator.openshift.io/cluster

    You can alternatively customize and apply the following YAML to configure audit logging:

    apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  defaultNetwork:
    ovnKubernetesConfig:
      policyAuditConfig:
        destination: "null"
        maxFileSize: 50
        rateLimit: 20
        syslogFacility: local0
Verification

  1. To create a namespace with network policies complete the following steps:

    1. Create a namespace for verification:

      $ cat <<EOF| oc create -f -
kind: Namespace
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: verify-audit-logging
  annotations:
    k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging: '{ "deny": "alert", "allow": "alert" }'
EOF
      Example output
      namespace/verify-audit-logging created

    2. Create network policies for the namespace:

      $ cat <<EOF| oc create -n verify-audit-logging -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: deny-all
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  - Egress
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: allow-from-same-namespace
  namespace: verify-audit-logging
spec:
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
   - Ingress
   - Egress
  ingress:
    - from:
        - podSelector: {}
  egress:
    - to:
       - namespaceSelector:
          matchLabels:
            kubernetes.io/metadata.name: verify-audit-logging
EOF
      Example output
      networkpolicy.networking.k8s.io/deny-all created
networkpolicy.networking.k8s.io/allow-from-same-namespace created

  2. Create a pod for source traffic in the default namespace:

    $ cat <<EOF| oc create -n default -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: client
spec:
  containers:
    - name: client
      image: registry.access.redhat.com/rhel7/rhel-tools
      command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
      args:
        ["sleep inf"]
EOF

  3. Create two pods in the verify-audit-logging namespace:

    $ for name in client server; do
cat <<EOF| oc create -n verify-audit-logging -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: ${name}
spec:
  containers:
    - name: ${name}
      image: registry.access.redhat.com/rhel7/rhel-tools
      command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
      args:
        ["sleep inf"]
EOF
done
    Example output
    pod/client created
pod/server created

  4. To generate traffic and produce network policy audit log entries, complete the following steps:

    1. Obtain the IP address for pod named server in the verify-audit-logging namespace:

      $ POD_IP=$(oc get pods server -n verify-audit-logging -o jsonpath='{.status.podIP}')

    2. Ping the IP address from the previous command from the pod named client in the default namespace and confirm that all packets are dropped:

      $ oc exec -it client -n default -- /bin/ping -c 2 $POD_IP
      Example output
      PING 10.128.2.55 (10.128.2.55) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- 10.128.2.55 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 2041ms

    3. Ping the IP address saved in the POD_IP shell environment variable from the pod named client in the verify-audit-logging namespace and confirm that all packets are allowed:

      $ oc exec -it client -n verify-audit-logging -- /bin/ping -c 2 $POD_IP
      Example output
      PING 10.128.0.86 (10.128.0.86) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.128.0.86: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=2.21 ms
64 bytes from 10.128.0.86: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.440 ms

--- 10.128.0.86 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1001ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.440/1.329/2.219/0.890 ms

  5. Display the latest entries in the network policy audit log:

    $ for pod in $(oc get pods -n openshift-ovn-kubernetes -l app=ovnkube-node --no-headers=true | awk '{ print $1 }') ; do
    oc exec -it $pod -n openshift-ovn-kubernetes -- tail -4 /var/log/ovn/acl-audit-log.log
  done
    Example output
    2023-11-02T16:28:54.139Z|00004|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn
2023-11-02T16:28:55.187Z|00005|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn
2023-11-02T16:28:57.235Z|00006|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:Ingress", verdict=drop, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: tcp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:01,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.131.0.39,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=62,nw_frag=no,tp_src=58496,tp_dst=8080,tcp_flags=syn
2023-11-02T16:49:57.909Z|00028|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Egress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=from-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:57.909Z|00029|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Ingress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:58.932Z|00030|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Egress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=from-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:58.932Z|00031|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Ingress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0

Enabling egress firewall and network policy audit logging for a namespace

As a cluster administrator, you can enable audit logging for a namespace.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • Log in to the cluster with a user with cluster-admin privileges.

Procedure

  • To enable audit logging for a namespace, enter the following command:

    $ oc annotate namespace <namespace> \
  k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging='{ "deny": "alert", "allow": "notice" }'

    where:

    <namespace>

    Specifies the name of the namespace.

    You can alternatively apply the following YAML to enable audit logging:

    kind: Namespace
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: <namespace>
  annotations:
    k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging: |-
      {
        "deny": "alert",
        "allow": "notice"
      }
    Example output
    namespace/verify-audit-logging annotated
Verification

  • Display the latest entries in the audit log:

    $ for pod in $(oc get pods -n openshift-ovn-kubernetes -l app=ovnkube-node --no-headers=true | awk '{ print $1 }') ; do
    oc exec -it $pod -n openshift-ovn-kubernetes -- tail -4 /var/log/ovn/acl-audit-log.log
  done
    Example output
    2023-11-02T16:49:57.909Z|00028|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Egress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=from-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:57.909Z|00029|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Ingress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:58.932Z|00030|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Egress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=from-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0
2023-11-02T16:49:58.932Z|00031|acl_log(ovn_pinctrl0)|INFO|name="NP:verify-audit-logging:allow-from-same-namespace:Ingress:0", verdict=allow, severity=alert, direction=to-lport: icmp,vlan_tci=0x0000,dl_src=0a:58:0a:81:02:22,dl_dst=0a:58:0a:81:02:23,nw_src=10.129.2.34,nw_dst=10.129.2.35,nw_tos=0,nw_ecn=0,nw_ttl=64,nw_frag=no,icmp_type=8,icmp_code=0

Disabling egress firewall and network policy audit logging for a namespace

As a cluster administrator, you can disable audit logging for a namespace.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • Log in to the cluster with a user with cluster-admin privileges.

Procedure

  • To disable audit logging for a namespace, enter the following command:

    $ oc annotate --overwrite namespace <namespace> k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging-

    where:

    <namespace>

    Specifies the name of the namespace.

    You can alternatively apply the following YAML to disable audit logging:

    kind: Namespace
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: <namespace>
  annotations:
    k8s.ovn.org/acl-logging: null
    Example output
    namespace/verify-audit-logging annotated

Additional resources