Spring Boot Actuator is a powerful tool that provides insights, monitoring, and management for applications. However, exposing these endpoints without proper security can leak sensitive data or even compromise your application.

🚨 Common Security Risks with Actuator

🔴 Problem: Unauthorized Access to Actuator Endpoints
Actuator exposes endpoints like /health, /metrics, /env, and /beans. If not secured, attackers can:

View system health status (potentially exposing vulnerabilities)

Access application configurations (e.g., environment variables)

Discover sensitive internal details (like database URLs)

🔍 Example:
If Actuator is enabled without security, anyone can access:

curl http://yourdomain.com/actuator/health

This could expose private system information!
🔐 How to Secure Spring Boot Actuator Endpoints
1️⃣ Restrict Access Using management.endpoints.web.exposure.include
By default, Actuator exposes only a few endpoints. You can explicitly specify which endpoints to expose in application.properties or application.yml:

✅ Recommended Secure Configuration:

# Expose only necessary endpoints
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info

This prevents exposing sensitive endpoints like /env, /beans, and /mappings.

2️⃣ Secure Actuator Endpoints with Spring Security
Spring Security can restrict access to Actuator endpoints. Add the following configuration in your security setup:

✅ Secure Endpoints in application.properties:

# Require authentication for Actuator endpoints
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=*
management.endpoint.health.show-details=when_authorized
management.endpoints.web.base-path=/admin

🔹 This makes Actuator endpoints accessible only to authenticated users under /admin/actuator.

3️⃣ Protect with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
To ensure only admin users can access Actuator, update your Spring Security configuration:

✅ Secure Actuator with Spring Security (Java Config)

@Configuration
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http.authorizeRequests()
            .antMatchers("/actuator/**").hasRole("ADMIN") // Restrict Actuator to ADMIN only
            .antMatchers("/public/**").permitAll()
            .and()
            .httpBasic();
    }
}

🔹 This restricts Actuator access to users with the ADMIN role.

4️⃣ Hide Sensitive Information in Actuator Responses
Even with restricted access, some Actuator endpoints expose sensitive data. Limit details using:

management.endpoint.health.show-details=never
management.endpoint.env.show-values=never

🔹 This prevents sensitive configurations from being displayed.

🚀 Conclusion
Spring Boot Actuator is a powerful tool, but securing it is crucial to avoid exposing sensitive system details. Always:
✅ Restrict exposed endpoints
✅ Use Spring Security to enforce authentication
✅ Apply role-based access control
✅ Hide sensitive configuration values

📢 Have you faced security issues with Actuator? Let’s discuss in the comments! ⬇️

📌 Helpful Links:
🔗 Spring Boot Actuator Docs
🔗 Spring Security Basics

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