Logging AWS WAF API Calls with AWS CloudTrail

AWS WAF is integrated with CloudTrail, a service that captures all the AWS WAF API calls and delivers the log files to an Amazon S3 bucket that you specify. CloudTrail captures API calls from the AWS WAF console or from your code to the AWS WAF API. Using the information collected by CloudTrail, you can identify the request that was made to AWS WAF, the source IP address from which the request was made, who made the request, when it was made, and so on.

To learn more about CloudTrail, including how to configure and enable it, see the AWS CloudTrail User Guide.

AWS WAF Information in CloudTrail

When CloudTrail logging is enabled in your AWS account, API calls made to AWS WAF actions are tracked in CloudTrail log files, where they are written with other AWS service records. CloudTrail determines when to create and write to a new file based on a time period and file size.

All AWS WAF actions are logged by CloudTrail and are documented in the AWS WAF API Reference. For example, calls to ListWebACL, UpdateWebACL, and DeleteWebACL generate entries in the CloudTrail log files.

Every log entry contains information about who generated the request. The user identity information in the log entry helps you determine the following:

Whether the request was made with root or IAM user credentials
Whether the request was made with temporary security credentials for a role or federated user
Whether the request was made by another AWS service

For more information, see CloudTrail userIdentity Element.

You can store your log files in your Amazon S3 bucket for as long as you want, but you also can define Amazon S3 lifecycle rules to archive or delete log files automatically. By default, your log files are encrypted with Amazon S3 server-side encryption (SSE).

If you want to be notified upon log file delivery, you can configure CloudTrail to publish Amazon SNS notifications when new log files are delivered. For more information, see Configuring Amazon SNS Notifications for CloudTrail.

You also can aggregate AWS WAF log files from multiple AWS Regions and multiple AWS accounts into a single Amazon S3 bucket.

For more information, see Receiving CloudTrail Log Files from Multiple Regions and Receiving CloudTrail Log Files from Multiple Accounts.

Understanding AWS WAF Log File Entries

CloudTrail log files can contain one or more log entries. Each entry lists multiple JSON-formatted events. A log entry represents a single request from any source and includes information about the requested action, the date and time of the action, request parameters, and so on. Log entries are not an ordered stack trace of the public API calls, so they do not appear in any specific order.

The following example shows a CloudTrail log entry that demonstrates the following actions (see the eventName elements):

CreateRule
GetRule
UpdateRule
DeleteRule

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{
  "Records": [
  	{
      "eventVersion": "1.03",
      "userIdentity": {
        "type": "IAMUser",
        "principalId": "AIDAIEP4IT4TPDEXAMPLE",
        "arn": "arn:aws:iam::777777777777:user/nate",
        "accountId": "777777777777",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "userName": "nate"
      },
      "eventTime": "2016-04-25T21:35:14Z",
      "eventSource": "waf.amazonaws.com",
      "eventName": "CreateRule",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "sourceIPAddress": "AWS Internal",
      "userAgent": "console.amazonaws.com",
      "requestParameters": {
        "name": "0923ab32-7229-49f0-a0e3-66c81example",
        "changeToken": "l9434322-8685-4ed2-9c5b-9410bexample",
        "metricName": "0923ab32722949f0a0e366c81example"
      },
      "responseElements": {
        "rule": {
          "metricName": "0923ab32722949f0a0e366c81example",
          "ruleId": "12132e64-6750-4725-b714-e7544example",
          "predicates": [
            
          ],
          "name": "0923ab32-7229-49f0-a0e3-66c81example"
        },
        "changeToken": "l9434322-8685-4ed2-9c5b-9410bexample"
      },
      "requestID": "4e6b66f9-d548-11e3-a8a9-73e33example",
      "eventID": "923f4321-d378-4619-9b72-4605bexample",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-24",
      "recipientAccountId": "777777777777"
    },
    {
      "eventVersion": "1.03",
      "userIdentity": {
        "type": "IAMUser",
        "principalId": "AIDAIEP4IT4TPDEXAMPLE",
        "arn": "arn:aws:iam::777777777777:user/nate",
        "accountId": "777777777777",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "userName": "nate"
      },
      "eventTime": "2016-04-25T21:35:22Z",
      "eventSource": "waf.amazonaws.com",
      "eventName": "GetRule",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "sourceIPAddress": "AWS Internal",
      "userAgent": "console.amazonaws.com",
      "requestParameters": {
        "ruleId": "723c2943-82dc-4bc1-a29b-c7d73example"
      },
      "responseElements": null,
      "requestID": "8e4f3211"-d548-11e3-a8a9-73e33example",
      "eventID": "an236542-d1f9-4639-bb3d-8d2bbexample",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-24",
      "recipientAccountId": "777777777777"
    },
    {
      "eventVersion": "1.03",
      "userIdentity": {
        "type": "IAMUser",
        "principalId": "AIDAIEP4IT4TPDEXAMPLE",
        "arn": "arn:aws:iam::777777777777:user/nate",
        "accountId": "777777777777",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "userName": "nate"
      },
      "eventTime": "2016-04-25T21:35:13Z",
      "eventSource": "waf.amazonaws.com",
      "eventName": "UpdateRule",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "sourceIPAddress": "AWS Internal",
      "userAgent": "console.amazonaws.com",
      "requestParameters": {
        "ruleId": "7237b123-7903-4d9e-8176-9d71dexample",
        "changeToken": "32343a11-35e2-4dab-81d8-6d408example",
        "updates": [
          {
            "predicate": {
              "type": "SizeConstraint",
              "dataId": "9239c032-bbbe-4b80-909b-782c0example",
              "negated": false
            },
            "action": "INSERT"
          }
        ]
      },
      "responseElements": {
        "changeToken": "32343a11-35e2-4dab-81d8-6d408example"
      },
      "requestID": "11918283-0b2d-11e6-9ccc-f9921example",
      "eventID": "00032abc-5bce-4237-a8ee-5f1a9example",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-24",
      "recipientAccountId": "777777777777"
    },
    {
      "eventVersion": "1.03",
      "userIdentity": {
        "type": "IAMUser",
        "principalId": "AIDAIEP4IT4TPDEXAMPLE",
        "arn": "arn:aws:iam::777777777777:user/nate",
        "accountId": "777777777777",
        "accessKeyId": "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE",
        "userName": "nate"
      },
      "eventTime": "2016-04-25T21:35:28Z",
      "eventSource": "waf.amazonaws.com",
      "eventName": "DeleteRule",
      "awsRegion": "us-west-2",
      "sourceIPAddress": "AWS Internal",
      "userAgent": "console.amazonaws.com",
      "requestParameters": {
        "changeToken": "fd232003-62de-4ea3-853d-52932example",
        "ruleId": "3e3e2d11-fd8b-4333-8b03-1da95example"
      },
      "responseElements": {
        "changeToken": "fd232003-62de-4ea3-853d-52932example"
      },
      "requestID": "b23458a1-0b2d-11e6-9ccc-f9928example",
      "eventID": "a3236565-1a1a-4475-978e-81c12example",
      "eventType": "AwsApiCall",
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-24",
      "recipientAccountId": "777777777777"
    }
  ]
}

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