Audit Logging

Yopass can emit a structured audit log recording every security-relevant event — secret creation, access, deletion, and authentication — without ever logging encrypted content. The log is designed for compliance requirements such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR data-access accountability.

Requires a valid license. Audit logging is a premium feature gated behind --license-key.

Enabling audit logging

yopass-server \
  --license-key "your-license-key" \
  --audit-log

By default, audit records are written to stdout as NDJSON (one JSON object per line), separate from the regular application log. To write to a dedicated file instead:

yopass-server \
  --license-key    "your-license-key" \
  --audit-log \
  --audit-log-file /var/log/yopass/audit.log

Flags

Flag	Env var	Default	Description
`--audit-log`	`AUDIT_LOG`	`false`	Enable audit logging (requires valid license)
`--audit-log-file`	`AUDIT_LOG_FILE`	—	Write audit log to this file path. When unset, records go to stdout.

Log format

Each event is a single JSON object terminated by a newline (NDJSON). Fields are only emitted when they are relevant to the event — optional fields are omitted rather than set to null or empty.

Fields

Field	Type	Always present	Description
`timestamp`	string (RFC3339Nano, UTC)	yes	When the event occurred
`event`	string	yes	Event type (see Events)
`outcome`	string	yes	`success`, `failure`, or `denied`
`client_ip`	string	yes	Real client IP, respecting `--trusted-proxies`
`secret_id`	string	no	First 12 hexadecimal characters of the SHA-256 hash of the secret or file ID
`user_email`	string	no	Authenticated user's email (OIDC sessions only)
`user_subject`	string	no	Authenticated user's OIDC subject claim
`one_time`	bool	no	Whether the secret was configured for one-time access
`expiration_seconds`	number	no	TTL in seconds at creation time
`require_auth`	bool	no	Whether the secret requires OIDC authentication to access
`error`	string	no	Human-readable reason for `failure` or `denied` outcomes

Privacy note: Encrypted secret content is never written to the audit log — only a hashed ID and metadata are recorded.

Example records

Successful secret creation:

{"timestamp":"2026-04-09T12:00:01.123456789Z","event":"secret.created","outcome":"success","client_ip":"203.0.113.42","secret_id":"3a128f193823","one_time":true,"expiration_seconds":3600,"require_auth":false,"user_email":"alice@corp.example","user_subject":"auth0|abc123"}

Access denied (unauthenticated):

{"timestamp":"2026-04-09T12:01:00.000000001Z","event":"secret.accessed","outcome":"denied","client_ip":"198.51.100.7","secret_id":"3a128f193823","require_auth":true,"error":"authentication required"}

Successful login:

{"timestamp":"2026-04-09T12:00:00.500000000Z","event":"auth.callback_success","outcome":"success","client_ip":"203.0.113.42","user_email":"alice@corp.example","user_subject":"auth0|abc123"}

Events

Secret events

Event	Triggered by	Outcomes
`secret.created`	`POST /create/secret`	`success`, `failure`
`secret.accessed`	`GET /secret/{key}`	`success`, `failure`, `denied`
`secret.deleted`	`DELETE /secret/{key}`	`success`, `failure`
`secret.receipt_checked`	`GET /secret/{key}/receipt` (see Read Receipts)	`success`, `failure`, `denied`

File events

Event	Triggered by	Outcomes
`file.uploaded`	`POST /create/file`	`success`, `failure`
`file.downloaded`	`GET /file/{key}`	`success`, `failure`, `denied`
`file.deleted`	`DELETE /file/{key}`	`success`, `failure`

Auth events

Event	Triggered by	Outcomes
`auth.callback_success`	OIDC callback (successful login)	`success`
`auth.callback_failed`	OIDC callback (rejected login)	`failure`, `denied`
`auth.logout`	`POST /auth/logout`	`success`

Outcomes:

success — operation completed normally
failure — operation failed (validation error, database error, not found)
denied — operation was rejected due to missing or insufficient authentication

HTTP access logs

Regular HTTP access logs are redacted regardless of whether licensed audit logging is enabled. The uri field contains the route template, such as /secret/{key}/status. Only routes with a {key} parameter include secret_id, which contains the same truncated SHA-256 hash used by audit logs. Routes such as /config and /auth/callback omit that field.

Raw identifiers and URL query strings are omitted, including OIDC callback codes and state parameters. Unmatched requests log unmatched; requests handled by the static-file fallback log / without the requested filename.

Apply equivalent redaction to reverse proxies, API Gateway access logs, and log collectors: application redaction cannot remove URLs recorded by those systems. Existing logs may still contain usable identifiers until the associated secrets expire or are consumed; restrict access and handle those logs under your credential-exposure policy.

Log rotation

When writing to a file (--audit-log-file), Yopass does not rotate logs itself. Use your platform's standard tooling:

logrotate (/etc/logrotate.d/yopass-audit):

/var/log/yopass/audit.log {
    daily
    rotate 90
    compress
    delaycompress
    missingok
    notifempty
    copytruncate
}

The copytruncate directive truncates the file in place so no SIGHUP or file descriptor hand-off is needed.

systemd with StandardOutput=append:/var/log/yopass/audit.log and journald log rotation handles this automatically for systemd-managed deployments.

Docker Compose example

services:
  yopass:
    image: jhaals/yopass:latest
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    environment:
      MEMCACHED: memcached:11211
      LICENSE_KEY: your-license-key
      AUDIT_LOG: "true"
    volumes:
      - ./logs:/var/log/yopass
    command: >
      yopass-server
      --audit-log-file /var/log/yopass/audit.log
    depends_on:
      - memcached

  memcached:
    image: memcached

To write to stdout (and let your log collector handle it):

environment:
  AUDIT_LOG: "true"
  # no AUDIT_LOG_FILE — records go to stdout alongside application logs

Tip: When writing to stdout in a containerized environment, prefix your log shipping filter on "event": to separate audit records from regular application log lines.

Combining with OIDC

Audit logging is most valuable when combined with OpenID Connect. With OIDC configured, every audit record that involves an authenticated session includes user_email and user_subject, giving you a full identity trail for compliance reviews.

yopass-server \
  --license-key        "your-license-key" \
  --audit-log \
  --oidc-issuer        "https://accounts.google.com" \
  --oidc-client-id     "123456789-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com" \
  --oidc-client-secret "GOCSPX-…" \
  --oidc-redirect-url  "https://yopass.example.com/auth/callback"

Without OIDC, user_email and user_subject are omitted from all audit records.

Enabling audit logging​

Flags​

Log format​

Fields​

Example records​

Events​

Secret events​

File events​

Auth events​

HTTP access logs​

Log rotation​

Docker Compose example​

Combining with OIDC​