========
http.log
========

The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) log, or :file:`http.log`, is another
core data source generated by Zeek. With the transition from clear-text HTTP to
encrypted HTTPS traffic, the :file:`http.log` is less active in many
environments. In some cases, however, organizations implement technologies or
practices to expose HTTPS as HTTP. Whether you’re looking at legacy HTTP on the
wire, or HTTPS that has been exposed as HTTP, Zeek’s :file:`http.log` offers
utility for examining normal, suspicious, and malicious activity.

The Zeek scripting manual, derived from the Zeek source code, completely
explains the meaning of each field in the :file:`http.log` (and other logs). It
would be duplicative to manually recreate that information in another format
here. Therefore, this entry seeks to show how an analyst would make use of the
information in the :file:`http.log`. Those interested in getting details on
every element of the :file:`http.log` should refer to :zeek:see:`HTTP::Info`.

Throughout the sections that follow, we will inspect Zeek logs in JSON format.

Inspecting the :file:`http.log`
===============================

To inspect the :file:`http.log`, we will use the same techniques we learned
earlier in the manual. First, we have a JSON-formatted log file, either
collected by Zeek watching a live interface, or by Zeek processing stored
traffic. We use the :program:`jq` utility to review the contents.

.. code-block:: console

  zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ jq . -c http.log

::

  {"ts":1591367999.512593,"uid":"C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":46378,"id.resp_h":"31.3.245.133","id.resp_p":80,"trans_depth":1,"method":"GET","host":"testmyids.com","uri":"/","version":"1.1","user_agent":"curl/7.47.0","request_body_len":0,"response_body_len":39,"status_code":200,"status_msg":"OK","tags":[],"resp_fuids":["FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4"],"resp_mime_types":["text/plain"]}

This is a very simple :file:`http.log`. With only one entry, it’s the simplest
possible entry. As before, we could see each field printed on its own line:

.. code-block:: console

  zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ jq . http.log

::

  {
    "ts": 1591367999.512593,
    "uid": "C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd",
    "id.orig_h": "192.168.4.76",
    "id.orig_p": 46378,
    "id.resp_h": "31.3.245.133",
    "id.resp_p": 80,
    "trans_depth": 1,
    "method": "GET",
    "host": "testmyids.com",
    "uri": "/",
    "version": "1.1",
    "user_agent": "curl/7.47.0",
    "request_body_len": 0,
    "response_body_len": 39,
    "status_code": 200,
    "status_msg": "OK",
    "tags": [],
    "resp_fuids": [
      "FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4"
    ],
    "resp_mime_types": [
      "text/plain"
    ]
  }

HTTP is a protocol that was initially fairly simple. Over time it has become
increasingly complicated. It’s not the purpose of this manual to describe how
HTTP can be used and abused. Rather, we will take a brief look at the most
important elements of this :file:`http.log` entry, which is almost all of them.

Understanding the :file:`http.log` Entry
========================================

Similar to the previous :file:`dns.log`, the :file:`http.log` is helpful
because it combines elements from the conversation between the source and
destination in one log entry. The most fundamental elements of the log answer
questions concerning who made a request, who responded, and the nature of the
request and response.

In this entry, we see that ``192.168.4.76`` made a request to ``31.3.245.133``.
The originator made a HTTP version 1.1 GET request for the ``/`` or root of the
site ``testmyids.com`` hosted by the responder, passing a user agent of
``curl/7.47.0``.

The responder replied with a 200 OK message, with a MIME (Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions) type of ``text/plain``. Zeek provides us a file ID (or
``fuid``) of ``FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4``. If we had configured Zeek to log files of
type ``text/plain``, we could look at the content returned by the responder.

Finally, note the UID of ``C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd``. This is the same UID found in
the :file:`conn.log` for this TCP connection. This allows us to link the
:file:`conn.log` entry with this :file:`http.log` entry.

Reviewing the Original Traffic
==============================

To better understand the original traffic, and how it relates to the Zeek
:file:`http.log`, let’s look at the contents manually. HTTP is a clear-text
protocol. Assuming the contents are also clear text, and not obfuscated or
encrypted, we can look at the contents. In the following example I use the
venerable program :program:`tcpflow` to create two files. One contains data
from the originator to the responder, while the second contains data from the
responder to the originator.

.. code-block:: console

  zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ tcpflow -r testmyids.pcap port 80

Let’s first look at the data from the originator to the responder.

.. code-block:: console

  zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ cat 172.017.000.002.54162-217.160.000.187.00080

::

  GET / HTTP/1.1
  Host: testmyids.com
  User-Agent: curl/8.5.0
  Accept: */*

Here is the data from the responder to the originator.

.. code-block:: console

  zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ cat 217.160.000.187.00080-172.017.000.002.54162

::

  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Content-Type: text/html
  Content-Length: 39
  Connection: keep-alive
  X-WS-Origin: available
  X-WS-RateLimit-Limit: 1000
  X-WS-RateLimit-Remaining: 999
  Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 23:50:35 GMT
  Server: Apache
  Last-Modified: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:11:55 GMT
  ETag: "27-4271c5f1ac4c0"
  Accept-Ranges: bytes

  uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)

As you can see, there are elements, particularly in the response, that do not
appear in the :file:`http.log`. For example, the Server type of
``Apache`` is not logged. If an analyst or administrator decided that he
or she wished to include that data in his or her :file:`http.log`, it is
possible to make adjustments.

The data from the responder also shows the application payload it sent::

  uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)

This is the output of a Unix ``uname -a`` command. It is hosted at the server
``testmyids.com`` to trigger a “GPL ATTACK_RESPONSE id check returned root”
alert found in open source intrusion detection engine rule sets, such as that
supported by Suricata. Analysts sometimes use this site to test if their
intrusion detection engines are functioning properly. A more modern option with
many different tests can be found at https://github.com/0xtf/testmynids.org.

Conclusion
==========

Zeek’s :file:`http.log` is another important log that offers a great deal of
information on how systems are interacting with the Internet and each other. In
the example in this section we looked at a very simple interaction between an
originator and a responder. We could see the benefit of summarizing an HTTP
request and response in a single log entry.  In the next section we will look
at other core Internet protocols.
