Base64 errors in reporter.log

Hi all,

I (ad it seems I am not the only one) see a lot of base64 related errors in my reporter.log like:

Reporter::ERROR extra base64 groups after ‘=’ padding are ignored (empty)
Reporter::ERROR incomplete base64 group, padding with 12 bits of 0 (empty)

Question 1: What’s the origin of these errors?
Question 2: How can I avoid these messages polluting my reporter.log?

Thanks,
Jan

I (ad it seems I am not the only one) see a lot of base64 related errors in my reporter.log like:

Reporter::ERROR extra base64 groups after '=' padding are ignored (empty)
Reporter::ERROR incomplete base64 group, padding with 12 bits of 0 (empty)

Question 1: What's the origin of these errors?

Likely a protocol analyzer trying to decode what it thinks is a base64 string, but turns out it’s actually not a valid base64 encoding.

Question 2: How can I avoid these messages polluting my reporter.log?

Possibly w/ a logging filter. Maybe also file a ticket at tracker.bro.org suggesting that, in the case I mentioned above (if it is actually the case), it may be more appropriate to emit a “weird” rather than an “error”.

- Jon