Title

The application server must only generate error messages that provide information necessary for corrective actions without revealing sensitive or potentially harmful information in error logs and administrative messages. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Any application providing too much information in error logs and in administrative messages to the screen risks compromising the data and security of the application and system. The structure and content of error messages needs to be carefully considered by the organization and development team. The application server must not log sensitive information such as passwords, private keys, or other sensitive data. This requirement pertains to logs that are generated by the application server and application server processes, not the applications that may reside on the application server. Those errors are out of the scope of these requirements.

Check Content

Review system documentation and logs to determine if the application server writes sensitive information such as passwords or private keys into the logs and administrative messages. If the application server writes sensitive or potentially harmful information into the logs and administrative messages, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the application server to not write sensitive information into the logs and administrative messages.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-204774r961167_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-204774

Group Title: SRG-APP-000266

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.