Apache Camel: Camel-MLLP Protected Health Information Disclosure to Logs by Default

Overview

Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File vulnerability in Apache Camel MLLP component.

This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.0.0 before 4.18.5, from 4.19.0 before 4.22.1.

The camel-mllp component carries a logPhi option that governs whether HL7 payload content may be written to the log. It defaulted to true, so a deployment that did nothing logged protected health information out of the box. Two further paths wrote payload content to the log regardless of the setting, so even an operator who had turned logPhi off was still exposed on those paths. MLLP is used to carry HL7 clinical messages, so the content concerned is patient data, and it reached ordinary application logs where it is subject to whatever retention, aggregation and access the deployment applies to logs generally rather than to clinical records.

Upgrade to Apache Camel 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. Users on the 4.18.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.18.5. Users on the 4.22.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.22.1. logPhi now defaults to false and is honoured on the paths that previously ignored it. This is a changed default: a deployment that relied on payload logging must now set logPhi=true explicitly. Because the upgrade guide for a change like this lives on the main branch only, operators upgrading within the 4.18.x or 4.22.x lines should treat this advisory as the notice of that change. For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, set logPhi=false and be aware that two paths will continue to log payload content until the fix is applied; restrict access to the logs accordingly.

Affected

• org.apache.camel:camel-mllp >= 4.0.0 < 4.18.5
• org.apache.camel:camel-mllp >= 4.19.0 < 4.22.1

Remediation

Upgrade to Apache Camel 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. Users on the 4.18.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.18.5. Users on the 4.22.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.22.1. logPhi now defaults to false and is honoured on the paths that previously ignored it. This is a changed default: a deployment that relied on payload logging must now set logPhi=true explicitly. Because the upgrade guide for a change like this lives on the main branch only, operators upgrading within the 4.18.x or 4.22.x lines should treat this advisory as the notice of that change.

Workarounds

For deployments that cannot upgrade immediately, set logPhi=false and be aware that two paths will continue to log payload content until the fix is applied; restrict access to the logs accordingly.