fix: enhance error handling and logging in LMSAccountRetirementView #73

Akanshu-2u · 2026-01-05T11:30:10Z

Description:

User retirement 500 errors difficult to debug due to PII in error messages.

Solution:

Added sanitize_error_message() method to replace emails/usernames with - in logs
Enhanced exception handling to store full error details in UserRetirementStatus.responses
Return generic error messages to API callers

Private JIRA Link:

BOMS-297

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR aims to improve error handling and logging in the LMSAccountRetirementView by sanitizing personally identifiable information (PII) from error messages. The changes introduce a new _sanitize_error_message() method to remove emails and usernames from logs, store detailed error information in UserRetirementStatus.responses, and return generic error messages to API callers.

Key changes:

Added _sanitize_error_message() method to remove PII (emails, usernames) from error messages using regex patterns
Enhanced exception handlers to capture and store detailed error information as JSON in retirement.responses
Modified API responses to return generic error messages instead of exposing detailed error information

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

openedx/core/djangoapps/user_api/accounts/views.py:1203

The new error handling logic lacks test coverage. There are no tests validating that:

The _sanitize_error_message method correctly removes PII from error messages
Error details are properly stored in retirement.responses during exceptions
Generic error messages are returned to API callers instead of detailed errors
The sanitization is applied before logging

Consider adding test cases for the exception handlers and the sanitization method to ensure the PII protection works as expected.

        except RetirementStateError as exc:
            try:
                user_id = retirement.user.id
            except AttributeError:
                user_id = 'unknown'

            error_details = {
                'error_type': 'RetirementStateError',
                'user_id': user_id,
                'original_error': str(exc),
                'timestamp': datetime.datetime.now(pytz.UTC).isoformat()
            }

            try:
                current_responses = json.loads(retirement.responses) if retirement.responses else []
                current_responses.append(error_details)
                retirement.responses = json.dumps(current_responses)
                retirement.save()
            except (json.JSONDecodeError, AttributeError):
                pass

            log_error = self._sanitize_error_message(str(exc))
            log.error(
                'RetirementStateError during user retirement: user_id=%s, error=%s',
                user_id, log_error
            )
            record_exception()
            return Response("RetirementStateError occurred during retirement", status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
        except Exception as exc:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
            try:
                user_id = retirement.user.id
            except AttributeError:
                user_id = 'unknown'

            error_details = {
                'error_type': type(exc).__name__,
                'user_id': user_id,
                'original_error': str(exc),
                'timestamp': datetime.datetime.now(pytz.UTC).isoformat()
            }

            try:
                current_responses = json.loads(retirement.responses) if retirement.responses else []
                current_responses.append(error_details)
                retirement.responses = json.dumps(current_responses)
                retirement.save()
            except (json.JSONDecodeError, AttributeError):
                pass

            log_error = self._sanitize_error_message(str(exc))
            log.error(
                'Unexpected error during user retirement: user_id=%s, error=%s',
                user_id, log_error
            )
            record_exception()
            return Response("Internal error occurred during retirement", status=status.HTTP_500_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)

        return Response(status=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT)

    def _sanitize_error_message(self, error_message):
        """
        Remove common PII from error messages while preserving debugging context.

        Args:
            error_message (str): The original error message

        Returns:
            str: Error message with PII removed
        """
        if not error_message:
            return error_message

        message = error_message

        message = re.sub(r'\b[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z|a-z]{2,}\b',
                          '-', message, flags=re.IGNORECASE)

        message = re.sub(r"username='[^']*'", "username='-'", message)
        message = re.sub(r'username="[^"]*"', 'username="-"', message)

        return message


class AccountRetirementView(ViewSet):
    """
    Provides API endpoint for retiring a user.

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.