Provided by: auditd_3.1.2-2.1build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       ausearch - a tool to query audit daemon logs

SYNOPSIS

       ausearch [options]

DESCRIPTION

       ausearch  is  a  tool  that  can  query  the  audit  daemon logs based for events based on
       different search criteria. The ausearch utility can also take input from stdin as long  as
       the input is the raw log data. Each commandline option given forms an "and" statement. For
       example, searching with -m and -ui means return events that have both the  requested  type
       and match the user id given. An exception is the -m  and -n options; multiple record types
       and nodes are allowed in a search which will return any matching node and record.

       It should also be noted that each syscall excursion from user space into  the  kernel  and
       back  into  user  space  has  one  event  ID  that  is unique. Any auditable event that is
       triggered during this trip share this ID so that they may be correlated.

       Different parts of the kernel may add supplemental records. For example, an audit event on
       the  syscall  "open"  will also cause the kernel to emit a PATH record with the file name.
       The ausearch utility will present all records that make up one event together. This  could
       mean  that  even though you search for a specific kind of record, the resulting events may
       contain SYSCALL records.

       Also be aware that not all record types have the requested  information.  For  example,  a
       PATH record does not have a hostname or a loginuid.

OPTIONS

       -a, --event audit-event-id
              Search  for  an  event  based  on  the  given  event ID. Messages always start with
              something like msg=audit(1116360555.329:2401771). The event ID is the number  after
              the ':'. All audit events that are recorded from one application's syscall have the
              same audit event ID. A second syscall made by the  same  application  will  have  a
              different event ID. This way they are unique.

       --arch CPU
              Search  for  events  based  on a specific CPU architecture.  If you do not know the
              arch of your machine but you want to use the 32 bit syscall table and your  machine
              supports 32 bits, you can also use b32 for the arch. The same applies to the 64 bit
              syscall table, you can use b64.  The arch of your machine can  be  found  by  doing
              'uname -m'.

       -c, --comm comm-name
              Search for an event based on the given comm name. The comm name is the executable's
              name from the task structure.

       --debug
              Write malformed events that are skipped to stderr.

       --checkpoint checkpoint-file
              Checkpoint the output between successive invocations of  ausearch  such  that  only
              events not previously output will print in subsequent invocations.

              An auditd event is made up of one or more records. When processing events, ausearch
              defines events as either complete or in-complete.  A complete  event  is  either  a
              single record event or one whose event time occurred 2 seconds in the past compared
              to the event being currently processed.

              A checkpoint is achieved by recording the last completed event  output  along  with
              the  device  number  and  inode  of  the  file the last completed event appeared in
              checkpoint-file. On a subsequent invocation, ausearch  will  load  this  checkpoint
              data  and  as it processes the log files, it will discard all complete events until
              it matches the checkpointed one. At this point, it will start  outputting  complete
              events.

              Should  the  file  or  the last checkpointed event not be found, one of a number of
              errors will result and ausearch will terminate. See EXIT STATUS for detail.

       --eoe-timeout seconds
              Set the end of event parsing timeout. See  end_of_event_timeout  in  auditd.conf(5)
              for  details. Note that setting this value will override any configured value found
              in /etc/auditd/auditd.conf.

       -e, --exit exit-code-or-errno
              Search for an event based on the given syscall exit code or errno.

       --escape option
              This option determines if the output is escaped  to  make  the  content  safer  for
              certain  uses.  The  options  are  raw  ,  tty , shell , and shell_quote. Each mode
              includes the characters of the preceding mode and escapes more characters. That  is
              to  say  shell  includes  all  characters  escaped by tty and adds more. tty is the
              default.

       --extra-keys
              When the format mode is  csv,  this  option  will  add  a  final  column  with  key
              information  if  its exists for the event. This would only occur on SYSCALL records
              which were the result of triggering an audit rule that defines a key.

       --extra-labels
              When the format mode is csv, this option will  add  columns  of  information  about
              subject and object labels when they exist.

       --extra-obj2
              When  the  format  mode is csv, this option will add columns of information about a
              second object when it exists. It's rare that a second object is part of  a  record.
              Some  examples are when a file is renamed from one name to another or when a device
              is mounted to a path.

       --extra-time
              When the format mode is csv, this option will  add  columns  of  information  about
              broken down time to make subsetting easier.

       -f, --file file-name
              Search  for  an  event  based on the given filename. The argument will match normal
              files as well as af_unix sockets.

       --format option
              Events that match  the  search  criteria  are  formatted  using  this  option.  The
              supported  formats  are:  raw, default, interpret, csv, and text. The raw option is
              described under the --raw command line option. The default option is what  you  get
              when  no  formatting options are passed. It includes one line as a visual separator
              which indicates the time stamp and then  the  records  of  the  event  follow.  The
              interpret  option  is  explained  under  the -i command line option. The csv option
              outputs the results of the search as a normalized event in  comma  separated  value
              (CSV)  format  suitable  for import into analytical programs. The text option turns
              the event into an English sentence that is easier to understand than other options,
              but it comes at the expense of loss of detail. In most cases this is perfectly fine
              since the original event still retains all the original information.

       -ga, --gid-all all-group-id
              Search for an event with either effective group ID or group ID matching  the  given
              group ID.

       -ge, --gid-effective effective-group-id
              Search for an event with the given effective group ID or group name.

       -gi, --gid group-id
              Search for an event with the given group ID or group name.

       -h, --help
              Help

       -hn, --host host-name
              Search  for  an  event  with  the  given  host  name.  The hostname can be either a
              hostname, fully qualified domain name, or numeric network address.  No  attempt  is
              made to resolve numeric addresses to domain names or aliases. This search typically
              correlates to the addr or host field of audit events. Also see the  --node  command
              which searches the node field.

       -i, --interpret
              Interpret  numeric  entities  into  text.  For example, uid is converted to account
              name. If the audit logs are unenriched, the conversion is done  using  the  current
              resources  of  the  machine  where the search is being run. If you have renamed the
              accounts, or don't have the same accounts on your machine, you could get misleading
              results.  If  the  logs  are  enriched,  it  uses  the  supplemental data to do the
              conversion. This allows accurate log reporting even when run on a different machine
              than the original logs came from.

       -if, --input file-name | directory
              Use  the given file or directory instead of the logs. This is to aid analysis where
              the logs have been moved to another machine or only part of a log  was  saved.  The
              path length is limited to 4064 bytes.

       --input-logs
              Use  the  log file location from auditd.conf as input for searching. This is needed
              if you are using ausearch from a cron job.

       --just-one
              Stop after emitting the first event that matches the search criteria.

       -k, --key key-string
              Search for an event based on the given key string.

       -l, --line-buffered
              Flush output on every line. Most useful when stdout is connected to a pipe and  the
              default block buffering strategy is undesirable. May impose a performance penalty.

       -m, --message message-type | comma-sep-message-type-list
              Search  for an event matching the given message type. (Message types are also known
              as record types.) You may also enter a comma separated list  of  message  types  or
              multiple  individual  message  types  each  with its own -m option. There is an ALL
              message type that doesn't exist in the actual  logs.  It  allows  you  to  get  all
              messages  in the system. The list of valid messages types is long. The program will
              display the list whenever no message  type  is  passed  with  this  parameter.  The
              message  type can be either text or numeric. If you enter a list, there can be only
              commas and no spaces separating the list.

       -n, --node
              Search for events originating from a specific machine. Multiple nodes are  allowed,
              and  if  any  nodes match, the event is matched. This search uses the node field in
              audit events. Also see the --host command which search for events related  to  host
              information in the audit trail.

       -o, --object SE-Linux-context-string
              Search for event with tcontext (object) matching the string.

       -p, --pid process-id
              Search for an event matching the given process ID.

       -pp, --ppid parent-process-id
              Search for an event matching the given parent process ID.

       -r, --raw
              Output  is  completely unformatted. This is useful for extracting records to a file
              that can still be interpreted by audit tools or when piping to other audit tools.

       -sc, --syscall syscall-name-or-value
              Search for an event matching the given syscall. You may  either  give  the  numeric
              syscall  value  or  the syscall name. If you give the syscall name, it will use the
              syscall table for the machine that you are using.

       -se, --context SE-Linux-context-string
              Search for events with either  scontext/subject  or  tcontext/object  matching  the
              given string.

       --session Login-Session-ID
              Search  for  events  matching the given Login Session ID. This process attribute is
              set when a user logs in and can tie any process to a particular user login.

       -su, --subject SE-Linux-context-string
              Search for event with scontext (subject) matching the string.

       -sv, --success success-value
              Search for an event matching the given success value. Legal values are yes and no.

       -te, --end [end-date] [end-time]
              Search for events with time stamps equal to or  before  the  given  end  time.  The
              format  of end time depends on your locale. You can check the format of your locale
              by running date '+%x'.  If the date is omitted, today is assumed. If  the  time  is
              omitted,  now  is  assumed.  Use 24 hour clock time rather than AM or PM to specify
              time. An example date using the en_US.utf8 locale is 09/03/2009. An example of time
              is  18:00:00.  The  date format accepted is influenced by the LC_TIME environmental
              variable.

              You may also  use  the  word:  now,  recent,  this-hour,  boot,  today,  yesterday,
              this-week, week-ago, this-month, or this-year. Now means starting now. Recent is 10
              minutes ago. Boot means the time of day to the second when the system last  booted.
              Today  means  now. Yesterday is 1 second after midnight the previous day. This-week
              means starting 1 second after midnight on day 0 of  the  week  determined  by  your
              locale  (see localtime). Week-ago means 1 second after midnight exactly 7 days ago.
              This-month means 1 second after midnight on day 1 of the month. This-year means the
              1 second after midnight on the first day of the first month.

       -ts, --start [start-date] [start-time]
              Search  for  events  with  time  stamps equal to or after the given start time. The
              format of start time depends on your locale. You  can  check  the  format  of  your
              locale  by  running  date  '+%x'.  If the date is omitted, today is assumed. If the
              time is omitted, midnight is assumed. Use 24 hour clock time rather than AM  or  PM
              to  specify  time.  An  example  date using the en_US.utf8 locale is 09/03/2009. An
              example of time is 18:00:00. The date format accepted is influenced by the  LC_TIME
              environmental variable.

              You  may  also  use  the  word:  now,  recent,  this-hour,  boot, today, yesterday,
              this-week, week-ago, this-month, this-year, or checkpoint. Boot means the  time  of
              day  to  the  second  when the system last booted. Today means starting at 1 second
              after midnight. Recent is 10 minutes ago. Yesterday is 1 second after midnight  the
              previous day. This-week means starting 1 second after midnight on day 0 of the week
              determined by your locale (see localtime). Week-ago means starting 1  second  after
              midnight  exactly  7 days ago. This-month means 1 second after midnight on day 1 of
              the month. This-year means the 1 second after midnight on  the  first  day  of  the
              first month.

              checkpoint  means  ausearch  will use the timestamp found within a valid checkpoint
              file ignoring the recorded inode, device, serial, node and event  type  also  found
              within  a  checkpoint  file.  Essentially,  this  is  the recovery action should an
              invocation of ausearch with a checkpoint option fail with an exit status of 10,  11
              or 12. It could be used in a shell script something like:

                   ausearch --checkpoint /etc/audit/auditd_checkpoint.txt -i
                   _au_status=$?
                   if test ${_au_status} eq 10 -o ${_au_status} eq 11 -o ${_au_status} eq 12
                   then
                     ausearch --checkpoint /etc/audit/auditd_checkpoint.txt --start checkpoint -i
                   fi

       -tm, --terminal terminal
              Search  for  an  event matching the given terminal value. Some daemons such as cron
              and atd use the daemon name for the terminal.

       -ua, --uid-all all-user-id
              Search for an event with either user ID, effective user ID, or login user ID (auid)
              matching the given user ID.

       -ue, --uid-effective effective-user-id
              Search for an event with the given effective user ID.

       -ui, --uid user-id
              Search for an event with the given user ID.

       -ul, --loginuid login-id
              Search for an event with the given login user ID. All entry point programs that are
              PAMified need to be configured with  pam_loginuid  required  for  the  session  for
              searching on loginuid (auid) to be accurate.

       -uu, --uuid guest-uuid
              Search for an event with the given guest UUID.

       -v, --version
              Print the version and exit

       -vm, --vm-name guest-name
              Search for an event with the given guest name.

       -w, --word
              String  based  matches must match the whole word. This category of matches include:
              filename, hostname, terminal, keys, and SE Linux context.

       -x, --executable executable
              Search for an event matching the given executable name.

EXIT STATUS

       0    if OK,

       1    if nothing found, or argument errors or minor file access/read errors,

       10   invalid checkpoint data found in checkpoint file,

       11   checkpoint processing error

       12   checkpoint event not found in matching log file

NOTE

       The boot time option is a convenience function and has limitations. The time it calculates
       is based on time now minus /proc/uptime. If after boot the system clock has been adjusted,
       perhaps by ntp, then the calculation may be wrong. In  that  case  you'll  need  to  fully
       specify the time. You can check the time it would use by running:

       date -d "`cut -f1 -d. /proc/uptime` seconds ago"

EXAMPLES

       Search for a specific user:
       # ausearch --start today --loginuid john -i

       Check the SELinux log for any denials today
       # ausearch --start today -m avc -i

       Output logs in text format
       # ausearch --start today --format text

       Output TTY events interpreted and shell escaped
       # ausearch --start today -m TTY -i --escape shell_quote

SEE ALSO

       auditd(8), auditd.conf(5), aureport(8), pam_loginuid(8).