Provided by: chaosreader_0.96-10_all 
NAME
chaosreader - trace network sessions and export it to html format
SYNOPSIS
chaosreader
chaosreader [-adehiknqrvxAHIRTUXY] [-D dir]
[-b port[,...]] [-B port[,...]]
[-j IPaddr[,...]] [-J IPaddr[,...]]
[-l port[,...]] [-L port[,...]] [-m bytes[k]]
[-M bytes[k]] [-o "time"|"size"|"type"|"ip"]
[-p port[,...]] [-P port[,...]]
infile [infile2 ...]
chaosreader -s [mins] | -S [mins[,count]]
[-z] [-f 'filter']
DESCRIPTION
Chaosreader traces TCP/UDP/others sessions and fetches application data from snoop or tcpdump logs. This
is a type of "any-snarf" program, as it will fetch telnet sessions, FTP files, HTTP transfers (HTML, GIF,
JPEG etc) and SMTP emails from the captured data inside network traffic logs. A html index file is
created to that links to all the session details, including realtime replay programs for telnet, rlogin,
IRC, X11 and VNC sessions. Chaosreader reports such as image reports and HTTP GET/POST content reports.
It also creates replay programs for telnet sessions, so that you can play them back in realtime (or even
different speeds).
Chaosreader can also run in standalone mode, where it invokes tcpdump or snoop (a similar to tcpdump
program for Solaris) to create the log files and then processes them.
OPTIONS
-a, --application
Create application session files (default).
-d, --preferdns
Show DNS names instead of IP addresses.
-e, --everything
Create HTML 2-way & hex files for everything.
-h Print a brief help.
--help Print verbose help (this) and version.
--help2
Print massive help.
-i, --info
Create info file.
-q, --quiet
Quiet, no output to screen.
-r, --raw
Create raw files.
-v, --verbose
Verbose.
-x, --index
Create index files (default).
-A, --noapplication
Exclude application session files.
-H, --hex
Include hex dumps (slow).
-I, --noinfo
Exclude info files.
-R, --noraw
Exclude raw files.
-T, --notcp
Exclude TCP traffic.
-U, --noudp
Exclude UDP traffic.
-Y, --noicmp
Exclude ICMP traffic.
-X, --noindex
Exclude index files.
-k, --keydata
Create extra files for keystroke analysis.
-n, --names
Include hostnames in hyperlinked HTTPlog (HTML)
-D dir, --dir dir
Output all files to this directory.
-b 25,79, --playtcp 25,79
Replay these TCP ports as well (playback).
-B 36,42, --playudp 36,42
Replay these UDP ports as well (playback).
-l 7,79, --htmltcp 7,79
Create HTML for these TCP ports as well.
-L 7,123, --htmludp 7,123
Create HTML for these UDP ports as well.
-m 1k, --min 1k
Min size of connection to save ("k" for Kb).
-M 1024k, --max 1k
Max size of connection to save ("k" for Kb)
-o size, --sort size
Sort Order: time/size/type/ip (Default time).
-p 21,23, --port 21,23
Only examine these ports (TCP & UDP).
-P 80,81, --noport 80,81
Exclude these ports (TCP & UDP).
-s 5, --runonce 5
Standalone. Run tcpdump/snoop for 5 mins.
-S 5,10, --runmany 5,10
Standalone, many. 10 samples of 5 mins each.
-S 5, --runmany 5
Standalone, endless. 5 min samples forever.
-z, --runredo
Standalone, redo. Rereads last run's logs.
-j 10.1.2.1, --ipaddr 10.1.2.1
Only examine these IPs.
-J 10.1.2.1, --noipaddr 10.1.2.1
Exclude these IPs.
-f 'port 7', --filter 'port 7'
With standalone, use this dump filter.
OUTPUT FILES
Many files will be created, run this in a clean directory. Short example:
index.html
Html index (full details).
index.text
Text index.
index.file
File index for standalone redo mode.
image.html
HTML report of images.
getpost.html
HTML report of HTTP GET/POST requests.
session_0001.info
Info file describing TCP session #1.
session_0001.telnet.html
HTML colored 2-way capture (time sorted).
session_0001.telnet.raw
Raw data 2-way capture (time sorted).
session_0001.telnet.raw1
Raw 1-way capture (assembled) server->client.
session_0001.telnet.raw2
Raw 1-way capture (assembled) client->server.
session_0002.web.html
HTML colored 2-way.
session_0002.part_01.html
HTTP portion of the above, a HTML file.
session_0003.web.html
HTML colored 2-way.
session_0003.part_01.jpeg
HTTP portion of the above, a JPEG file.
session_0004.web.html
HTML colored 2-way.
session_0004.part_01.gif
HTTP portion of the above, a GIF file.
session_0005.part_01.ftp-data.gz
An FTP transfer, a gz file.
CONVENTIONS
session_*
TCP Sessions.
stream_*
UDP Streams.
icmp_* ICMP packets.
index.html
HTML Index.
index.text
Text Index.
index.file
File Index for standalone redo mode only.
image.html
HTML report of images.
getpost.html
HTML report of HTTP GET/POST requests.
*.info Info file describing the Session/Stream.
*.raw Raw data 2-way capture (time sorted).
*.raw1 Raw 1-way capture (assembled) server->client.
*.raw2 Raw 1-way capture (assembled) client->server.
*.replay
Session replay program (perl).
*.partial.*
Partial capture (tcpdump/snoop were aware of drops).
*.hex.html
2-way Hex dump, rendered in colored HTML.
*.hex.text
2-way Hex dump in plain text.
*.X11.replay
X11 replay script (talks X11).
*.textX11.replay
X11 communicated text replay script (text only).
*.textX11.html
2-way text report, rendered in red/blue HTML.
*.keydata
Keystroke delay data file. Used for SSH analysis.
MODES
Normal eg "chaosreader infile", this is where a tcpdump/snoop file was created previously and chaosreader
reads and processes it.
Standalone once
eg "chaosreader -s 10" this is where chaosreader runs tcpdump/snoop and generates the log file, in
this case for 10 minutes, and then processes the result. Some OS's may not have tcpdump or snoop
available so this will not work (instead you may be able to get Ethereal, run it, save to a file,
then use normal mode). There is a master index.html and the report index.html in a sub dir, which
is of the format out_YYYYMMDD-hhmm, eg "out_20031003-2221".
Standalone, many
eg "chaosreader -S 5,12", this is where chaosreader runs tcpdump/snoop and generates many log
files, in this case it samples 12 times for 5 minutes each. While this is running, the master
index.html can be viewed to watch progress, which links to minor index.html reports in each sub
directory.
Standalone, redo
eg "chaosreader -ve -z", (the -z), this is where a standalone capture was previously performed -
and now you would like to reprocess the logs - perhaps with different options (in this case,
"-ve"). It reads index.file to determine which capture logs to read.
Standalone, endless
eg "chaosreader -S 5", like standalone many - but runs forever (if you ever had the need?). Watch
your disk space!
Note: this is a work in progress, some of the code is a little unpolished.
NOTES
• Run chaosreader in an empty directory.
• Create small packet dumps. Chaosreader uses around 5x the dump size in memory. A 100Mb file could need
500Mb of RAM to process.
• Your tcpdump may allow "-s0" (entire packet) instead of "-s9000".
• Beware of using too much disk space, especially standalone mode.
• If you capture too many small connections giving a huge index.html, try using the -m option to ignore
small connections. eg "-m 1k".
• snoop logs may actually work better. Snoop logs are based on RFC1761, however there are many variants
of tcpdump/libpcap and this program cannot read them all. If you have Ethereal you can create snoop
logs during the "save as" option. On Solaris use "snoop -o logfile".
• tcpdump logs may not be portable between OSs that use different sized timestamps or endian.
• Logs are best created in a memory filesystem for speed, usually /tmp.
• For X11 or VNC playbacks, first practise by replaying a recent captured session of your own. The
biggest problem is color depth, your screen must match the capture. For X11 check authentication
(xhost +), for VNC check the viewers options (-8bit, "Hextile", ...)
• SSH analysis can be performed with the "sshkeydata" program as demonstrated on
http://www.brendangregg.com/sshanalysis.html . chaosreader provides the input files (*.keydata) that
sshkeydata analyses.
BUGS
The following assumptions may cause problems (check for new vers):
• A lower port number = the service type. Eg with ports 31247 and 23, the actual type of session is
telnet (23). This may not work for some things (eg, VNC).
• Time based order is more important for 2-way sessions (eg telnet), SEQ order is more import for 1-way
transfers (eg ftp-data).
• One particular TCP session isn't active for long enough that the SEQ number loops (or even wraps).
EXAMPLES
• Example 1:
tcpdump -s9000 -w output1 # create tcpdump capture file
chaosreader output1 # extract recognised sessions, or,
chaosreader -ve output1 # gimme everything, or,
chaosreader -p 20,21,23 output1 # only ftp and telnet...
• Example 2:
snoop -o output1 # create snoop capture file instead
chaosreader output1 # extract recognised sessions...
• Example 3:
chaosreader -S 2,5 # Standalone, sniff network 5 times for 2 mins
each. View index.html for progress (or .text)
SEE ALSO
tcpdump(8), snoop(1M), chaosreader help page.
AUTHORS
chaosreader was written by Brendan Gregg.
This manual page was written by Joao Eriberto Mota Filho <eriberto@debian.org> for the Debian project
(but may be used by others).