diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.test.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..85e002b805e46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+ */
+
+import { withoutControlCharacters } from './string_utils';
+
+describe('ensureSingleLineString()', () => {
+  test('works with plain ole strings', () => {
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('')).toEqual('');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(' a b c ')).toEqual(' a b c ');
+  });
+
+  test('works with multiple control characters', () => {
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(' \r \n ')).toEqual(' ; ; ');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\r \n ')).toEqual('; ; ');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(' \r \n')).toEqual(' ; ;');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\r \n')).toEqual('; ;');
+  });
+
+  test('works with /00-/1F, except tab', () => {
+    for (let c = 0; c <= 0x1f; c++) {
+      if (c === 0x09) {
+        expect(withoutControlCharacters(String.fromCharCode(c))).toEqual('\t');
+      } else {
+        expect(withoutControlCharacters(String.fromCharCode(c))).toEqual(';');
+      }
+    }
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(String.fromCharCode(0x20))).toEqual(' ');
+  });
+
+  test('works with /7F-/9F', () => {
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(String.fromCharCode(0x7e))).toEqual('~');
+    for (let c = 0x7f; c <= 0x9f; c++) {
+      expect(withoutControlCharacters(String.fromCharCode(c))).toEqual(';');
+    }
+    const nbsp = String.fromCharCode(0xa0);
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters(nbsp)).toEqual(nbsp);
+  });
+
+  test('works with UCS newlines', () => {
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\u2027')).toEqual('\u2027');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\u2028')).toEqual(';');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\u2029')).toEqual(';');
+    expect(withoutControlCharacters('\u202A')).toEqual('\u202A');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d0e3504677307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/lib/string_utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+ */
+
+// see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_control_characters
+// but don't include tabs (0x09), they're fine
+const CONTROL_CHAR_PATTERN = /[\x00-\x08]|[\x0A-\x1F]|[\x7F-\x9F]|[\u2028-\u2029]/g;
+
+// replaces control characters in string with ;, but leaves tabs
+export function withoutControlCharacters(s: string): string {
+  return s.replace(CONTROL_CHAR_PATTERN, ';');
+}
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.test.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.test.ts
index 76e639c994834..c59ddf97017fd 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.test.ts
@@ -98,6 +98,6 @@ describe('execute()', () => {
       config: {},
       secrets: {},
     });
-    expect(mockedLogger.info).toHaveBeenCalledWith('message text here');
+    expect(mockedLogger.info).toHaveBeenCalledWith('server-log: message text here');
   });
 });
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.ts
index c2af29051d8dd..0edf409e4d46c 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/server_log.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ import { schema, TypeOf } from '@kbn/config-schema';
 
 import { Logger } from '../../../../../../src/core/server';
 import { ActionType, ActionTypeExecutorOptions, ActionTypeExecutorResult } from '../types';
+import { withoutControlCharacters } from './lib/string_utils';
+
+const ACTION_NAME = 'server-log';
 
 // params definition
 
@@ -17,21 +20,24 @@ export type ActionParamsType = TypeOf<typeof ParamsSchema>;
 
 const ParamsSchema = schema.object({
   message: schema.string(),
-  level: schema.oneOf([
-    schema.literal('trace'),
-    schema.literal('debug'),
-    schema.literal('info'),
-    schema.literal('warn'),
-    schema.literal('error'),
-    schema.literal('fatal'),
-  ]),
+  level: schema.oneOf(
+    [
+      schema.literal('trace'),
+      schema.literal('debug'),
+      schema.literal('info'),
+      schema.literal('warn'),
+      schema.literal('error'),
+      schema.literal('fatal'),
+    ],
+    { defaultValue: 'info' }
+  ),
 });
 
 // action type definition
 export function getActionType({ logger }: { logger: Logger }): ActionType {
   return {
     id: '.server-log',
-    name: 'server-log',
+    name: ACTION_NAME,
     validate: {
       params: ParamsSchema,
     },
@@ -48,8 +54,9 @@ async function executor(
   const actionId = execOptions.actionId;
   const params = execOptions.params as ActionParamsType;
 
+  const sanitizedMessage = withoutControlCharacters(params.message);
   try {
-    logger[params.level](params.message);
+    logger[params.level](`${ACTION_NAME}: ${sanitizedMessage}`);
   } catch (err) {
     const message = i18n.translate('xpack.actions.builtin.serverLog.errorLoggingErrorMessage', {
       defaultMessage: 'error logging message',
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/plugin.ts b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/plugin.ts
index d55b30b8e30ea..e8bc5d60a697b 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/plugin.ts
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/actions/server/plugin.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ export class Plugin {
   private licenseState: LicenseState | null = null;
 
   constructor(initializerContext: ActionsPluginInitializerContext) {
-    this.logger = initializerContext.logger.get('plugins', 'alerting');
+    this.logger = initializerContext.logger.get('plugins', 'actions');
     this.config$ = initializerContext.config.create();
     this.kibana$ = initializerContext.config.kibana$;
   }