Observability

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

Tracing

When an ObservationRegistry bean is present, Spring Security creates traces for:spring-doc.cn

Boot Integration

For example, consider a simple Boot application:spring-doc.cn

@SpringBootApplication
public class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	public ReactiveUserDetailsService userDetailsService() {
		return new MapReactiveUserDetailsManager(
				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(): ReactiveUserDetailsService {
		MapReactiveUserDetailsManager(
				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:spring-doc.cn

?> http -a user:password :8080

Will produce the following output (indentation added for clarity):spring-doc.cn

START - name='http.server.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@5dfdb78', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.00191856, duration(nanos)=1918560.0, startTimeNanos=101177265022745}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@121549e0']
	START - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.before', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.size='14', filter.section='before'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='/'], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@3932a48c', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=4.65777E-4, duration(nanos)=465777.0, startTimeNanos=101177276300777}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@562db70f']
	STOP - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.before', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.size='14', filter.section='before'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='/'], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@3932a48c', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.003733105, duration(nanos)=3733105.0, startTimeNanos=101177276300777}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@562db70f']
		START - name='spring.security.authentications', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.failure.type='Optional', authentication.method='UserDetailsRepositoryReactiveAuthenticationManager', authentication.request.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@574ba6cd', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=3.21015E-4, duration(nanos)=321015.0, startTimeNanos=101177336038417}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@49202cc7']
		STOP - name='spring.security.authentications', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.failure.type='Optional', authentication.method='UserDetailsRepositoryReactiveAuthenticationManager', authentication.request.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken', authentication.result.type='UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@574ba6cd', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.37574992, duration(nanos)=3.7574992E8, startTimeNanos=101177336038417}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@49202cc7']
		START - name='spring.security.authorizations', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[object.type='SecurityContextServerWebExchange'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@6f837332', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=2.65687E-4, duration(nanos)=265687.0, startTimeNanos=101177777941381}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@7f5bc7cb']
		STOP - name='spring.security.authorizations', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[authorization.decision='true', object.type='SecurityContextServerWebExchange'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[authentication.authorities='[app]', authorization.decision.details='AuthorizationDecision [granted=true]'], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@6f837332', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.039239047, duration(nanos)=3.9239047E7, startTimeNanos=101177777941381}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@7f5bc7cb']
		START - name='spring.security.http.secured.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@2f33dfae', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=3.1775E-4, duration(nanos)=317750.0, startTimeNanos=101177821377592}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@63b0d28f']
		STOP - name='spring.security.http.secured.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@2f33dfae', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.219901971, duration(nanos)=2.19901971E8, startTimeNanos=101177821377592}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@63b0d28f']
	START - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.after', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.size='14', filter.section='after'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='/'], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@40b25623', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=3.25118E-4, duration(nanos)=325118.0, startTimeNanos=101178044824275}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@3b6cec2']
	STOP - name='spring.security.http.chains', contextualName='spring.security.http.chains.after', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[chain.size='14', filter.section='after'], highCardinalityKeyValues=[request.line='/'], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@40b25623', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.001693146, duration(nanos)=1693146.0, startTimeNanos=101178044824275}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@3b6cec2']
STOP - name='http.server.requests', contextualName='null', error='null', lowCardinalityKeyValues=[], highCardinalityKeyValues=[], map=[class io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext='io.micrometer.tracing.handler.TracingObservationHandler$TracingContext@5dfdb78', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.LongTaskTimer$Sample='SampleImpl{duration(seconds)=0.784320641, duration(nanos)=7.84320641E8, startTimeNanos=101177265022745}', class io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample='io.micrometer.core.instrument.Timer$Sample@121549e0']

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.spring-doc.cn

@SpringBootApplication
public class MyApplication {
	@Bean
	public ReactiveUserDetailsService userDetailsService() {
		return new MapReactiveUserDetailsManager(
				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(): ReactiveUserDetailsService {
		MapReactiveUserDetailsManager(
				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.spring-doc.cn

Instead, you can publish a SecurityObservationSettings like the following:spring-doc.cn

@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.spring-doc.cn

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:spring-doc.cn

@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:spring-doc.cn

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

For backward compatibility, all Spring Security observations are made unless a SecurityObservationSettings is published.spring-doc.cn

Trace Listing

Spring Security tracks the following spans on each request:spring-doc.cn

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

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

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

  4. spring.security.http.secured.requests - a span that wraps the now-secured application requestspring-doc.cn

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

  6. spring.security.authentications - a span that wraps authentication attemptsspring-doc.cn

  7. spring.security.authorizations - a span that wraps authorization attemptsspring-doc.cn

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