You can monitor application security for .NET apps running in Docker, Kubernetes, Amazon ECS, and AWS Fargate.

Prerequisites

Enabling Application & API Protection

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  1. Update your Datadog .NET library to at least version 2.2.0 (at least version 2.16.0 for Software Composition Analysis detection features) for your target operating system architecture.

    To check that your service’s language and framework versions are supported for Application & API Protection capabilities, see Compatibility.

  2. Enable Application & API Protection by setting the environment variables. For security-only use without APM tracing, set both DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true and DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false. For example, on Windows self-hosted, run the following PowerShell snippet as part of your application start up script:

    $target=[System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Process
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("DD_APPSEC_ENABLED","true",$target)
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED","false",$target)
    

    Or one of the following methods, depending on where your application runs:

    In a Windows console:

    rem Set environment variables
    SET CORECLR_ENABLE_PROFILING=1
    SET CORECLR_PROFILER={846F5F1C-F9AE-4B07-969E-05C26BC060D8}
    SET DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true
    SET DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false
    
    rem Start application
    dotnet.exe example.dll
    

    Run the following PowerShell command as administrator to configure the necessary environment variables in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment and restart IIS.

    $target=[System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("DD_APPSEC_ENABLED","true",$target)
    [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED","false",$target)
    net stop was /y
    net start w3svc
    

    Or, for IIS services exclusively, on WAS and W3SVC with Powershell as an administrator, run:

    $appsecPart = "DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false"
    [string[]] $defaultvariable = @("CORECLR_ENABLE_PROFILING=1", "CORECLR_PROFILER={846F5F1C-F9AE-4B07-969E-05C26BC060D8}", $appsecPart)
    
    function Add-AppSec {
    
        param (
            $path
        )
        $v = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $path).Environment
        If ($v -eq $null) {
            Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name "Environment" -Value $defaultvariable
        }
        ElseIf (-not ($v -match $appsecPart)) {
            $v += " " + $appsecPart;
            Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name "Environment" -Value $v
        }
    }
    Add-AppSec -path "HKLM:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\"
    Add-AppSec -path "HKLM:SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\"
    
    net stop was /y
    net start w3svc
    

    Or, to avoid editing registry keys, edit the application settings in the web.config file of your application:

    <configuration>
      <appSettings>
            <add key="DD_APPSEC_ENABLED" value="true"/>
            <add key="DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED" value="false"/>
      </appSettings>
    </configuration>
    

    This can also be done at the IIS application pools level in the applicationHost.config file, usually in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\:

    <system.applicationHost>
    
        <applicationPools>
            <add name="DefaultAppPool">
                <environmentVariables>
                    <add name="DD_APPSEC_ENABLED" value="true" />
                    <add name="DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED" value="false" />
                </environmentVariables>
                (...)
    

    Add the following to your application configuration:

    DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true
    DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false
    

    Update your configuration container for APM by adding the following arguments in your docker run command:

    docker run [...] -e DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true -e DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false [...]
    

    Add the following environment variable values to your container Dockerfile:

    ENV DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true
    ENV DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false
    

    Update your deployment configuration file for APM and add the Application & API Protection environment variables:

    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
            - name: <CONTAINER_NAME>
              image: <CONTAINER_IMAGE>/<TAG>
              env:
                - name: DD_APPSEC_ENABLED
                  value: "true"
                - name: DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED
                  value: "false"
    

    Update your ECS task definition JSON file, by adding these in the environment section:

    "environment": [
      ...,
      {
        "name": "DD_APPSEC_ENABLED",
        "value": "true"
      },
      {
        "name": "DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED",
        "value": "false"
      }
    ]
    

    Add the following lines to your container Dockerfile:

    ENV DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true
    ENV DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false
    
  3. Restart the application using a full stop and start.

    After this configuration is complete, the library collects security data from your application and sends it to the Agent. The Agent sends the data to Datadog, where out-of-the-box detection rules flag attacker techniques and potential misconfigurations so you can take steps to remediate.

  4. To see App and API Protection threat detection in action, send known attack patterns to your application. For example, trigger the Security Scanner Detected rule by running a file that contains the following curl script:

    for ((i=1;i<=250;i++)); 
    do
    # Target existing service’s routes
    curl https://your-application-url/existing-route -A dd-test-scanner-log;
    # Target non existing service’s routes
    curl https://your-application-url/non-existing-route -A dd-test-scanner-log;
    done

    Note: The dd-test-scanner-log value is supported in the most recent releases.

    A few minutes after you enable your application and send known attack patterns to it, threat information appears in the Application Signals Explorer and vulnerability information appears in the Vulnerabilities explorer.

Further Reading

PREVIEWING: deforest/consolidated-security-nav-branch