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

Prerequisites

• The Datadog Agent is installed and configured for your application’s operating system or container, cloud, or virtual environment.
• If your service is running with an Agent with Remote Configuration enabled and a tracing library version that supports it, you can block attackers from the Datadog UI without additional configuration of the Agent or tracing libraries.

Enabling Application & API Protection

Get started

1. Update your Datadog Node.js library package to at least version 5.0.0 (for Node 18+) or 4.0.0 (for Node 16+) or 3.10.0 (for Node.js 14+), by running one of these commands:

   npm install dd-trace@^5
   npm install dd-trace@^4
   npm install dd-trace@^3.10.0
   

   Use this migration guide to assess any breaking changes if you upgraded your library.

   App & API Protection is compatible with Express v4+ and Node.js v14+. For additional information, see Compatibility.

2. Where you import and initialize the Node.js library for APM, also enable Application & API Protection. This might be either in your code or with environment variables. If you initialized APM in code, add {appsec: true} to your init statement:

   // This line must come before importing any instrumented module.
   const tracer = require('dd-trace').init({
     appsec: true,
     tracing: false // To disable APM tracing and use security features only
   })
   

   For TypeScript and bundlers that support EcmaScript Module syntax, initialize the tracer in a separate file in order to maintain correct load order.

   // server.ts
   import './tracer'; // must come before importing any instrumented module.
   
   // tracer.ts
   import tracer from 'dd-trace';
   tracer.init({
     appsec: true,
     tracing: false // To disable APM tracing and use security features only
   }); // initialized in a different file to avoid hoisting.
   export default tracer;
   

   If the default config is sufficient, or all configuration is done through environment variables, you can also use dd-trace/init, which loads and initializes in one step.

   import `dd-trace/init`;
   

   Or if you initialize the APM library on the command line using the --require option to Node.js:

   node --require dd-trace/init app.js
   

   Then use environment variables to enable Application & API Protection:

   DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false node app.js
   

   How you do this varies depending on where your service runs:

   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 configuration yaml file container for APM and add the Application & API Protection env 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"
     }
   ]
   

   Initialize Application & API Protection in your code or set environment variables in your service invocation:

   DD_APPSEC_ENABLED=true DD_APM_TRACING_ENABLED=false node app.js
   

   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.

3. 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 Vulnerability Explorer.

If you need additional assistance, contact Datadog support.

Further Reading

Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:

Adding user information to tracesDOCUMENTATION Node.js Datadog library source codeSOURCE CODE OOTB App & API Protection RulesDOCUMENTATION Troubleshooting App & API ProtectionDOCUMENTATION