CWE-779 - Logging of Excessive Data
- Abstraction:Base
- Structure:Simple
- Status:Draft
- Release Date:2009-07-27
- Latest Modification Date:2023-06-29
Weakness Name
Logging of Excessive Data
Description
The product logs too much information, making log files hard to process and possibly hindering recovery efforts or forensic analysis after an attack.
While logging is a good practice in general, and very high levels of logging are appropriate for debugging stages of development, too much logging in a production environment might hinder a system administrator's ability to detect anomalous conditions. This can provide cover for an attacker while attempting to penetrate a system, clutter the audit trail for forensic analysis, or make it more difficult to debug problems in a production environment.
Common Consequences
Scope: Availability
Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU), DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
Notes: Log files can become so large that they consume excessive resources, such as disk and CPU, which can hinder the performance of the system.
Scope: Non-Repudiation
Impact: Hide Activities
Notes: Logging too much information can make the log files of less use to forensics analysts and developers when trying to diagnose a problem or recover from an attack.
Scope: Non-Repudiation
Impact: Hide Activities
Notes: If system administrators are unable to effectively process log files, attempted attacks may go undetected, possibly leading to eventual system compromise.
