This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Security 6.3.4!

Observability

Spring Security integrates with Spring Observability out-of-the-box for tracing; though it’s also quite simple to configure for gathering metrics.

Tracing

When an ObservationRegistry bean is present, Spring Security creates traces for:

  • the filter chain

  • the AuthenticationManager, and

  • the AuthorizationManager

Boot Integration

For example, consider a simple Boot application:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@SpringBootApplication
public class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	public UserDetailsService userDetailsService() {
		return new InMemoryUserDetailsManager(
				User.withDefaultPasswordEncoder()
						.username("user")
						.password("password")
						.authorities("app")
						.build()
		);
	}

	@Bean
	ObservationRegistryCustomizer<ObservationRegistry> addTextHandler() {
		return (registry) -> registry.observationConfig().observationHandler(new ObservationTextPublisher());
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		SpringApplication.run(ListenerSamplesApplication.class, args);
	}
}
@SpringBootApplication
class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	fun userDetailsService(): UserDetailsService {
		InMemoryUserDetailsManager(
				User.withDefaultPasswordEncoder()
						.username("user")
						.password("password")
						.authorities("app")
						.build()
		);
	}

	@Bean
	fun addTextHandler(): ObservationRegistryCustomizer<ObservationRegistry> {
		return registry: ObservationRegistry -> registry.observationConfig()
				.observationHandler(ObservationTextPublisher());
	}

	fun main(args: Array<String>) {
		runApplication<MyApplication>(*args)
	}
}

And a corresponding request:

?> http -a user:password :8080

Will produce the following output (indentation added for clarity):

START - name='http.server.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@687e16d1', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.001779024, duration(nanos)=1779024.0, startTimeNanos=91695917264958}']
	START - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.before', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.position='0', chain.size='17', filter.section='before'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='GET /'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@79f554a5', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=7.42147E-4, duration(nanos)=742147.0, startTimeNanos=91695947182029}']
	... skipped for brevity ...
	STOP - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.before', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.position='0', chain.size='17', filter.section='before'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='GET /'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@79f554a5', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.014771848, duration(nanos)=1.4771848E7, startTimeNanos=91695947182029}']
		START - name='spring.security.authentications', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.failure.type='Optional', authentication.method='ProviderManager', authentication.request.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@4d4b2b56', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=7.09759E-4, duration(nanos)=709759.0, startTimeNanos=91696094477504}']
		... skipped for brevity ...
		STOP - name='spring.security.authentications', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.failure.type='Optional', authentication.method='ProviderManager', authentication.request.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken', authentication.result.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@4d4b2b56', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.895141386, duration(nanos)=8.95141386E8, startTimeNanos=91696094477504}']
		START - name='spring.security.authorizations', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[object.type='Servlet3SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestWrapper'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@6d834cc7', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=3.0965E-4, duration(nanos)=309650.0, startTimeNanos=91697034893983}']
		... skipped for brevity ...
		STOP - name='spring.security.authorizations', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authorization.decision='true', object.type='Servlet3SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestWrapper'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.authorities='[app]', authorization.decision.details='AuthorizationDecision [granted=true]'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@6d834cc7', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.02084809, duration(nanos)=2.084809E7, startTimeNanos=91697034893983}']
		START - name='spring.security.http.secured.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@649c5ec3', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=2.67878E-4, duration(nanos)=267878.0, startTimeNanos=91697059819304}']
		... skipped for brevity ...
		STOP - name='spring.security.http.secured.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@649c5ec3', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.090753322, duration(nanos)=9.0753322E7, startTimeNanos=91697059819304}']
	START - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.after', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.position='0', chain.size='17', filter.section='after'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='GET /'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@47af8207', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=5.31832E-4, duration(nanos)=531832.0, startTimeNanos=91697152857268}']
	... skipped for brevity ...
	STOP - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.after', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.position='17', chain.size='17', current.filter.name='DisableEncodeUrlFilter', filter.section='after'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='GET /'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@47af8207', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.007689382, duration(nanos)=7689382.0, startTimeNanos=91697152857268}']
STOP - name='http.server.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='GET /'], map=[class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@687e16d1', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=1.245858319, duration(nanos)=1.245858319E9, startTimeNanos=91695917264958}']

Manual Configuration

For a non-Spring Boot application, or to override the existing Boot configuration, you can publish your own ObservationRegistry and Spring Security will still pick it up.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@SpringBootApplication
public class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	public UserDetailsService userDetailsService() {
		return new InMemoryUserDetailsManager(
				User.withDefaultPasswordEncoder()
						.username("user")
						.password("password")
						.authorities("app")
						.build()
		);
	}

	@Bean
	ObservationRegistry observationRegistry() {
		ObservationRegistry registry = ObservationRegistry.create();
		registry.observationConfig().observationHandler(new ObservationTextPublisher());
		return registry;
	}

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		SpringApplication.run(ListenerSamplesApplication.class, args);
	}
}
@SpringBootApplication
class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	fun userDetailsService(): UserDetailsService {
		InMemoryUserDetailsManager(
				User.withDefaultPasswordEncoder()
						.username("user")
						.password("password")
						.authorities("app")
						.build()
		);
	}

	@Bean
	fun observationRegistry(): ObservationRegistry {
		ObservationRegistry registry = ObservationRegistry.create()
		registry.observationConfig().observationHandler(ObservationTextPublisher())
		return registry
	}

	fun main(args: Array<String>) {
		runApplication<MyApplication>(*args)
	}
}
<sec:http auto-config="true" observation-registry-ref="ref">
	<sec:intercept-url pattern="/**" access="authenticated"/>
</sec:http>

<!-- define and configure ObservationRegistry bean -->

Disabling Observability

If you don’t want any Spring Security observations, in a Spring Boot application you can publish a ObservationRegistry.NOOP @Bean. However, this may turn off observations for more than just Spring Security.

Instead, you can publish a SecurityObservationSettings like the following:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
SecurityObservationSettings noSpringSecurityObservations() {
	return SecurityObservationSettings.noObservations();
}
@Bean
fun noSpringSecurityObservations(): SecurityObservationSettings {
	return SecurityObservationSettings.noObservations()
}

and then Spring Security will not wrap any filter chains, authentications, or authorizations in their ObservationXXX counterparts.

There is no facility for disabling observations with XML support. Instead, simply do not set the observation-registry-ref attribute.

You can also disable security for only a subset of Security’s observations. For example, the SecurityObservationSettings bean excludes the filter chain observations by default. So, you can also do:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
SecurityObservationSettings defaultSpringSecurityObservations() {
	return SecurityObservationSettings.withDefaults().build();
}
@Bean
fun defaultSpringSecurityObservations(): SecurityObservationSettings {
	return SecurityObservationSettings.withDefaults().build()
}

Or you can turn on and off observations individually, based on the defaults:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
SecurityObservationSettings allSpringSecurityObservations() {
	return SecurityObservationSettings.withDefaults()
            .shouldObserveFilterChains(true).build();
}
@Bean
fun allSpringSecurityObservations(): SecurityObservationSettings {
    return SecurityObservationSettings.builder()
            .shouldObserveFilterChains(true).build()
}

For backward compatibility, the all Spring Security observations are made unless a SecurityObservationSettings is published.

Trace Listing

Spring Security tracks the following spans on each request:

  1. spring.security.http.requests - a span that wraps the entire filter chain, including the request

  2. spring.security.http.chains.before - a span that wraps the receiving part of the security filters

  3. spring.security.http.chains.after - a span that wraps the returning part of the security filters

  4. spring.security.http.secured.requests - a span that wraps the now-secured application request

  5. spring.security.http.unsecured.requests - a span that wraps requests that Spring Security does not secure

  6. spring.security.authentications - a span that wraps authentication attempts

  7. spring.security.authorizations - a span that wraps authorization attempts

spring.security.http.chains.before + spring.security.http.secured.requests + spring.security.http.chains.after = spring.security.http.requests
spring.security.http.chains.before + spring.security.http.chains.after = Spring Security’s part of the request