Provided by: sec_2.7.5-1_all 
NAME
sec - simple event correlator
SYNOPSIS
sec [--conf=<file pattern> ...]
[--input=<file pattern>[=<context>] ...]
[--input-timeout=<input timeout>]
[--timeout-script=<timeout script>]
[--reopen-timeout=<reopen timeout>]
[--check-timeout=<check timeout>]
[--poll-timeout=<poll timeout>]
[--socket-timeout=<socket timeout>]
[--blocksize=<io block size>]
[--bufsize=<input buffer size>]
[--evstoresize=<event store size>]
[--cleantime=<clean time>]
[--log=<logfile>]
[--syslog=<facility>]
[--debug=<debuglevel>]
[--pid=<pidfile>]
[--dump=<dumpfile>]
[--quoting | --noquoting]
[--tail | --notail]
[--fromstart | --nofromstart]
[--detach | --nodetach]
[--jointbuf | --nojointbuf]
[--keepopen | --nokeepopen]
[--rwfifo | --norwfifo]
[--childterm | --nochildterm]
[--intevents | --nointevents]
[--intcontexts | --nointcontexts]
[--testonly | --notestonly]
[--help] [-?]
[--version]
DESCRIPTION
SEC is an event correlation tool for advanced event processing which can be harnessed for
event log monitoring, for network and security management, for fraud detection, and for
any other task which involves event correlation. Event correlation is a procedure where a
stream of events is processed, in order to detect (and act on) certain event groups that
occur within predefined time windows. Unlike many other event correlation products which
are heavyweight solutions, SEC is a lightweight and platform-independent event correlator
which runs as a single process. The user can start it as a daemon, employ it in shell
pipelines, execute it interactively in a terminal, run many SEC processes simultaneously
for different tasks, and use it in a wide variety of other ways.
SEC reads lines from files, named pipes, or standard input, matches the lines with
patterns (regular expressions, Perl subroutines, etc.) for recognizing input events, and
correlates events according to the rules in its configuration file(s). Rules are matched
against input in the order they are given in the configuration file. If there are two or
more configuration files, rule sequence from every file is matched against input (unless
explicitly specified otherwise). SEC can produce output by executing external programs
(e.g., snmptrap(1) or mail(1)), by writing to files, by sending data to TCP and UDP based
servers, by calling precompiled Perl subroutines, etc.
SEC can be run in various ways. For example, the following command line starts it as a
daemon, in order to monitor events appended to the /var/log/messages syslog file with
rules from /etc/sec/syslog.rules:
/usr/bin/sec --detach --conf=/etc/sec/syslog.rules \
--input=/var/log/messages
Each time /var/log/messages is rotated, a new instance of /var/log/messages is opened and
processed from the beginning. The following command line runs SEC in a shell pipeline,
configuring it to process lines from standard input, and to exit when the /usr/bin/nc tool
closes its standard output and exits:
/usr/bin/nc -l 8080 | /usr/bin/sec --notail --input=- \
--conf=/etc/sec/my.conf
Some SEC rules start event correlation operations, while other rules react immediately to
input events or system clock. For example, suppose that SEC has been started with the
following command line
/usr/bin/sec --conf=/etc/sec/sshd.rules --input=/var/log/secure
in order to monitor the /var/log/secure syslog file for sshd events. Also, suppose that
the /etc/sec/sshd.rules configuration file contains the following rule for correlating SSH
failed login syslog events:
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
action=pipe '%s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH login alert' root@localhost
window=60
thresh=3
The pattern field of the rule defines the pattern for recognizing input events, while the
ptype field defines its type (regular expression). Suppose that user risto fails to log in
over SSH and the following message is logged to /var/log/secure:
Dec 16 16:24:59 myserver sshd[13685]: Failed password for risto from 10.12.2.5 port 41063
ssh2
This input message will match the regular expression pattern of the above rule, and the
match variable $1 will be set to the string risto (see perlre(1) for details). After a
match, SEC will evaluate the operation description string given with the desc field. This
is done by substituting $1 with its current value which yields Three SSH login failures
within 1m for user risto. SEC will then check if there already exists an event
correlation operation identified with this string and triggered by the same rule. If the
operation is not found, SEC will create a new operation for the user name risto, and the
occurrence time of the input event will be recorded into the operation. Note that for
event occurrence time SEC always uses the current time as returned by the time(2) system
call, *not* the timestamp extracted from the event. Suppose that after 25 seconds, a
similar SSH login failure event for the same user name is observed. In this case, a
running operation will be found for the operation description string Three SSH login
failures within 1m for user risto, and the occurrence time of the second event is recorded
into the operation. If after 30 seconds a third event for the user name risto is
observed, the operation has processed 3 events within 55 seconds. Since the threshold
condition "3 events within 60 seconds" (as defined by the thresh and window fields) is now
satisfied, SEC will execute the action defined with the action field -- it will fork a
command
/bin/mail -s 'SSH login alert' root@localhost
with a pipe connected to its standard input. Then, SEC writes the operation description
string Three SSH login failures within 1m for user risto (held by the %s special variable)
to the standard input of the command through the pipe. In other words, an e-mail warning
is sent to the local root-user. Finally, since there are 5 seconds left until the end of
the event correlation window, the operation will consume the following SSH login failure
events for user risto without any further action, and finish after 5 seconds.
The above example illustrates that the desc field of a rule defines the scope of event
correlation and influences the number of operations created by the rule. For example, if
we set the desc field to Three SSH login failures within 1m, the root-user would be also
alerted on 3 SSH login failure events for *different* users within 1 minute. In order to
avoid clashes between operations started by different rules, operation ID contains not
only the value set by the desc field, but also the rule file name and the rule number
inside the file. For example, if the rule file /etc/sec/sshd.rules contains one rule
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
action=pipe '%s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH login alert' root@localhost
window=60
thresh=3
and the event
Dec 16 16:24:59 myserver sshd[13685]: Failed password for risto from 10.12.2.5 port 41063
ssh2
is the first matching event for the above rule, this event will trigger a new event
correlation operation with the ID
/etc/sec/sshd.rules | 0 | Three SSH login failures within 1m for user risto
(0 is the number assigned to the first rule in the file, see EVENT CORRELATION OPERATIONS
section for more information).
The following simple example demonstrates that event correlation schemes can be defined by
combining several rules. In this example, two rules harness contexts and synthetic events
for achieving their goal:
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
action=event 3_SSH_LOGIN_FAILURES_FOR_$1
window=60
thresh=3
type=EventGroup
init=create USER_COUNTING
end=delete USER_COUNTING
ptype=RegExp
pattern=3_SSH_LOGIN_FAILURES_FOR_(\S+)
context=!USER_$1_COUNTED
count=alias USER_COUNTING USER_$1_COUNTED
desc=Repeated SSH login failures for 30 distinct users within 1m
action=pipe '%s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH login alert' root@localhost
window=60
thresh=30
The first rule looks almost identical to the rule from the previous example, but its
action field is different -- after three SSH login failures have been observed for the
same user name within one minute by an event correlation operation, the operation will
emit the synthetic event 3_SSH_LOGIN_FAILURES_FOR_<username>. Although synthetic events
are created by SEC, they are treated like regular events received from input sources and
are matched against rules. The regular expression pattern of the second rule will match
the 3_SSH_LOGIN_FAILURES_FOR_<username> event and start a new event correlation operation
if no such events have been previously seen. When the operation is initialized, the
context USER_COUNTING is created, and when the operation finishes, this context is deleted
(as specified by the init and end fields). Also, each time a synthetic event for some user
name has matched the rule, a context alias for that user name is created (see the count
field). Note that this prevents further matches for the same user name, since a synthetic
event for <username> can match the rule only if the context alias USER_<username>_COUNTED
*does not* exist (as requested by the context field; see CONTEXTS AND CONTEXT EXPRESSIONS
section for more information). The operation started by the rule sends an e-mail warning
to the local root-user if 30 synthetic events have been observed within 1 minute (see the
thresh and window fields). Note that due to the use of the USER_<username>_COUNTED
aliases, all synthetic events concern different user names. After sending an e-mail
warning, the operation will continue to run until the 1 minute event correlation window
expires. When the operation finishes, the deletion of the USER_COUNTING context also
erases the USER_<username>_COUNTED aliases.
The above examples have presented the event correlation capabilities of SEC in a very
brief fashion. The following sections will provide an in-depth discussion of SEC
features.
OPTIONS
--conf=<file_pattern>
expand <file_pattern> to filenames (with the Perl glob() function) and read event
correlation rules from every file. Multiple --conf options can be specified at
command line. Each time SEC receives a signal that forces a configuration reload,
<file_pattern> is re-evaluated. See also INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING section for a
discussion on rule processing order for multiple configuration files.
--input=<file_pattern>[=<context>]
expand <file_pattern> to filenames (with the Perl glob() function) and use the
files as input sources. An input file can be a regular file, named pipe, or
standard input if - was specified. Multiple --input options can be specified at
command line. Each time SEC receives the SIGHUP or SIGABRT signal, <file_pattern>
is re-evaluated. If SEC experiences a system error when reading from an input
file, it will close the file (use the --reopen-timeout option for reopening the
file). If <context> is given, SEC will set up the context <context> each time it
reads a line from input files that correspond to <file_pattern>. This will help the
user to write rules that match data from particular input source(s) only. When
there is an --input option with <context> specified, it will automatically enable
the --intcontexts option. See INTERNAL EVENTS AND CONTEXTS section for more
information.
--input-timeout=<input_timeout>, --timeout-script=<timeout_script>
if SEC has not observed new data in an input file during <input_timeout> seconds
(or the file was closed <input_timeout> seconds ago), <timeout_script> will be
executed with command line parameters 1 and <the name of the input file>. If fresh
data become available again, <timeout_script> will be executed with command line
parameters 0 and <the name of the input file>. Note that --input_timeout and
--timeout_script options can be used as synonyms for --input-timeout and
--timeout-script, respectively.
--reopen-timeout=<reopen_timeout>
if an input file is in the closed state (e.g., SEC fails to open the file at
startup, because it has not been created yet), SEC will attempt to reopen the file
after every <reopen_timeout> seconds until open succeeds. This option has no
meaning when the --notail option is also specified. Note that --reopen_timeout is
a synonym for --reopen-timeout.
--check-timeout=<check_timeout>
if SEC has not observed new data in an input file, the file will not be polled
(both for status and data) during the next <check_timeout> seconds. Note that
--check_timeout is a synonym for --check-timeout.
--poll-timeout=<poll_timeout>
a real number that specifies how many seconds SEC will sleep when no new data were
read from input files. Default is 0.1 seconds. Note that --poll_timeout is a
synonym for --poll-timeout.
--socket-timeout=<socket_timeout>
if a network connection to a remote peer can't be established within
<socket_timeout> seconds, give up. Default is 60 seconds. Note that
--socket_timeout is a synonym for --socket-timeout.
--blocksize=<io_block_size>
the number of bytes SEC will attempt to read at once from an input file. Default
is 1024 (i.e., read from input files by 1KB blocks).
--bufsize=<input_buffer_size>
set all input buffers to hold last <input_buffer_size> lines. The content of input
buffers will be compared with patterns that are part of rule definitions (i.e., no
more than <input_buffer_size> lines can be matched by a pattern at a time).
Default buffer size is 10 lines.
--evstoresize=<event_store_size>
set an upper limit to the number of events in context event stores.
--cleantime=<clean_time>
time interval in seconds that specifies how often internal event correlation and
context lists are processed, in order to accomplish time-related tasks and to
remove obsolete elements. See INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING section for more
information. Default is 1 second.
--log=<logfile>
use <logfile> for logging SEC activities. Note that if the SEC standard error is
connected to a terminal, messages will also be logged there, in order to facilitate
debugging.
--syslog=<facility>
use syslog for logging SEC activities. All messages will be logged with the
facility <facility>, e.g., local0 (see syslog(3) for possible facility values).
Warning: be careful with using this option if SEC is employed for monitoring syslog
logfiles, because message loops might occur.
--debug=<debuglevel>
set logging verbosity for SEC. Setting debuglevel to <debuglevel> means that all
messages of level <debuglevel> and lower are logged (e.g., if <debuglevel> is 3,
messages from levels 1-3 are logged). The following levels are recognized by SEC:
1 - critical messages (severe faults that cause SEC to terminate, e.g., a failed
system call)
2 - error messages (faults that need attention, e.g., an incorrect rule definition
in a configuration file)
3 - warning messages (possible faults, e.g., a command forked from SEC terminated
with a non-zero exit code)
4 - notification messages (normal system level events and interrupts, e.g., the
reception of a signal)
5 - informative messages (information about external programs forked from SEC)
6 - debug messages (detailed information about all SEC activities)
Default <debuglevel> is 6 (i.e., log everything). See SIGNALS section for
information on how to change <debuglevel> at runtime.
--pid=<pidfile>
SEC will store its process ID to <pidfile> at startup.
--dump=<dumpfile>
SEC will use <dumpfile> as its dumpfile. See SIGNALS section for more information.
Default is /tmp/sec.dump.
--quoting, --noquoting
if the --quoting option is specified, operation description strings that are
supplied to command lines of shellcmd and spawn actions will be put inside
apostrophes. All apostrophes ' that strings originally contain will be masked. This
option prevents the shell from interpreting special symbols that operation
description strings might contain. Default is --noquoting.
--tail, --notail
if the --notail option is specified, SEC will process all data that are currently
available in input files and exit after reaching all EOFs. If all input is
received from a pipe and the --notail option is given, SEC terminates when the last
writer closes the pipe (EOF condition). Please note that with named pipes --notail
should be used with --norwfifo. With the --tail option, SEC will jump to the end
of input files and wait for new lines to arrive. Each input file is tracked both
by its name and i-node, and input file rotations are handled seamlessly. If the
input file is recreated or truncated, SEC will reopen it and process its content
from the beginning. If the input file is removed (i.e., there is just an i-node
left without a name), SEC will keep the i-node open and wait for the input file
recreation. Default is --tail.
--fromstart, --nofromstart
these flags have no meaning when the --notail option is also specified. When used
in combination with --tail (or alone, since --tail is enabled by default),
--fromstart will force SEC to read and process input files from the beginning to
the end, before the 'tail' mode is entered. Default is --nofromstart.
--detach, --nodetach
if the --detach option is specified, SEC will disassociate itself from the
controlling terminal and become a daemon at startup (note that SEC will close its
standard input, standard output, and standard error, and change its working
directory to the root directory). Default is --nodetach.
--jointbuf, --nojointbuf
if the --jointbuf option is specified, SEC uses joint input buffer for all input
sources (the size of the buffer is set with the --bufsize option). The --nojointbuf
option creates a separate input buffer for each input file, and a separate buffer
for all synthetic and internal events (the sizes of all buffers are set with the
--bufsize option). The --jointbuf option allows multiline patterns to match lines
from several input sources, while the --nojointbuf pattern restricts the matching
to lines from one input source only. See INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING section for
more information. Default is --jointbuf.
--keepopen, --nokeepopen
if the --keepopen option is specified, SEC will keep input files open across soft
restarts. When the SIGABRT signal is received, SEC will not reopen input files
which have been opened previously, but will only open input files which are in the
closed state. The --nokeepopen option forces SEC to close and (re)open all input
files during soft restarts. Default is --nokeepopen.
--rwfifo, --norwfifo
if the --norwfifo option is specified, named pipe input files are opened in read-
only mode. In this mode, the named pipe has to be reopened when the last writer
closes the pipe, in order to clear the EOF condition on the pipe. With the --rwfifo
option, named pipe input files are opened in read-write mode, although SEC never
writes to the pipes. In this mode, the pipe does not need to be reopened when an
external writer closes it, since there is always at least one writer on the pipe
and EOF will never appear. Therefore, if the --notail option has been given,
--norwfifo should also be specified. Default is --rwfifo.
--childterm, --nochildterm
if the --childterm option is specified, SEC will send the SIGTERM signal to all its
child processes when it terminates or goes through a full restart. Default is
--childterm.
--intevents, --nointevents
SEC will generate internal events when it starts up, when it receives certain
signals, and when it terminates gracefully. Specific rules can be written to match
those internal events, in order to accomplish special tasks at SEC startup,
restart, and shutdown. See INTERNAL EVENTS AND CONTEXTS section for more
information. Default is --nointevents.
--intcontexts, --nointcontexts
SEC will create an internal context when it reads a line from an input file. This
will help the user to write rules that match data from particular input source
only. See INTERNAL EVENTS AND CONTEXTS section for more information. Default is
--nointcontexts.
--testonly, --notestonly
if the --testonly option is specified, SEC will exit immediately after parsing the
configuration file(s). If the configuration file(s) contained no faulty rules, SEC
will exit with 0, otherwise with 1. Default is --notestonly.
--help, -?
SEC will output usage information and exit.
--version
SEC will output version information and exit.
Note that options can be introduced both with the single dash (-) and double dash (--),
and both the equal sign (=) and whitespace can be used for separating the option name from
the option value. For example, -conf=<file_pattern> and --conf <file_pattern> options are
equivalent.
CONFIGURATION FILES
Each SEC configuration file consists of rule definitions which are separated by empty
lines, whitespace lines and/or comment lines. Each rule definition consists of
keyword=value fields, one keyword and value per line. Values are case insensitive only
where character case is not important (like the values specifying rule types, e.g.,
'Single' and 'single' are treated identically). The backslash character (\) may be used
at the end of a line to continue the current rule field in the next line. Lines which
begin with the number sign (#) are treated as comments and ignored (whitespace characters
may precede #). Any comment line, empty line, whitespace line, or end of file will
terminate the preceding rule definition. For inserting comments into rule definitions,
the rem keyword can be used. For example, the following lines define two rules:
type=Single
rem=this rule matches any line which contains \
three consecutive A characters and writes the string \
"three A characters were observed" to standard output
ptype=SubStr
pattern=AAA
desc=Three A characters
action=write - three A characters were observed
# This comment line ends preceding rule definition.
# The following rule works like the previous rule,
# but looks for three consecutive B characters and
# writes the string "three B characters were observed"
# to standard output
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=BBB
desc=Three B characters
action=write - three B characters were observed
Apart from keywords that are part of rule definitions, label keywords may appear anywhere
in the configuration file. The value of each label keyword will be treated as a label that
can be referred to in rule definitions as a point-of-continue. This allows for continuing
event processing at a rule that follows the label, after the current rule has matched and
processed the event.
The points-of-continue are defined with continue* fields. Accepted values for these fields
are:
TakeNext
after an event has matched the rule, search for matching rules in the configuration
file will continue from the next rule.
GoTo <label>
after an event has matched the rule, search for matching rules will continue from
the location of <label> in the configuration file (<label> must be defined with the
label keyword anywhere in the configuration file *after* the current rule
definition).
DontCont (default value)
after an event has matched the rule, search for matching rules ends in the
*current* configuration file.
EndMatch
after an event has matched the rule, search for matching rules ends for *all*
configuration files.
SEC rules from the same configuration file are matched against input in the order they
have been given in the file. For example, consider a configuration file which contains
the following rule sequence:
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=AAA
rem=after this rule has matched, continue from last rule
continue=GoTo lastRule
desc=Three A characters
action=write - three A characters were observed
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=BBB
rem=after this rule has matched, don't consider following rules, \
since 'continue' defaults to 'DontCont'
desc=Three B characters
action=write - three B characters were observed
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=CCC
rem=after this rule has matched, continue from next rule
continue=TakeNext
desc=Three C characters
action=write - three C characters were observed
label=lastRule
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=DDD
desc=Three D characters
action=write - three D characters were observed
For the input line "AAABBBCCCDDD", this ruleset writes strings "three A characters were
observed" and "three D characters were observed" to standard output. If the input line is
"BBBCCCDDD", the string "three B characters were observed" is written to standard output.
For the input line "CCCDDD", strings "three C characters were observed" and "three D
characters were observed" are sent to standard output, while the input line "DDD" produces
the output string "three D characters were observed".
If there are two or more configuration files, rule sequence from every file is matched
against input (unless explicitly specified otherwise). For example, suppose SEC is
started with the command line
/usr/bin/sec --input=- \
--conf=/etc/sec/sec1.rules --conf=/etc/sec/sec2.rules
and the configuration file /etc/sec/sec1.rules has the following content:
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=AAA
desc=Three A characters
action=write - three A characters were observed
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=BBB
continue=EndMatch
desc=Three B characters
action=write - three B characters were observed
Also, suppose the configuration file /etc/sec/sec2.rules has the following content:
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=CCC
desc=Three C characters
action=write - three C characters were observed
If SEC receives the line "AAABBBCCC" from standard input, rules from both configuration
files are tried, and as a result, the strings "three A characters were observed" and
"three C characters were observed" are written to standard output. Note that rules from
/etc/sec/sec1.rules are tried first against the input line, since the option
--conf=/etc/sec/sec1.rules is given before --conf=/etc/sec/sec2.rules in the SEC command
line (see also INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING section for a more detailed discussion). If
SEC receives the line "BBBCCC" from standard input, the second rule from
/etc/sec/sec1.rules produces a match, and the string "three B characters were observed" is
written to standard output. Since the rule contains continue=EndMatch statement, the
search for matching rules will end for all configuration files, and rules from
/etc/sec/sec2.rules will not be not tried. Without this statement, the search for matching
rules would continue in /etc/sec/sec2.rules, and the first rule would write the string
"three C characters were observed" to standard output.
PATTERNS, PATTERN TYPES AND MATCH VARIABLES
Patterns and pattern types are defined with pattern* and ptype* rule fields. Many pattern
types define the number of lines N which the pattern matches (if N is omitted, 1 is
assumed). If N is greater than 1, the scope of matching is set with the --jointbuf and
--nojointbuf options. With --jointbuf, the pattern is used for matching N last input
lines taken from the joint input buffer (the lines can come from different input sources).
With --nojointbuf, the source of the last input line is identified, and the pattern is
matched with N last input lines from the input buffer of the identified source.
SubStr[N]
pattern is a string that is searched in the last N input lines L1, L2, ..., LN. If
N is greater than 1, the input lines are joined into a string
"L1<NEWLINE>L2<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>LN", and the pattern string will be searched
from it. If the pattern string is found in input line(s), the pattern matches.
Backslash sequences \t, \n, \r, \s, and \0 can be used in the pattern for denoting
tabulation, newline, carriage return, space character, and empty string,
respectively, while \\ denotes backslash itself. For example, consider the
following pattern definition:
ptype=substr
pattern=Backup done:\tsuccess
The pattern matches lines containing "Backup done:<TAB>success".
RegExp[N]
pattern is a Perl regular expression (see perlre(1) for more information) for
matching the last N input lines L1, L2, ..., LN. If N is greater than 1, the input
lines are joined into a string "L1<NEWLINE>L2<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>LN", and the
regular expression is matched with this string. If the regular expression matches,
match variables will be set, and these match variables can be used in other parts
of the rule definition.
In addition to numbered match variables ($1, $2, etc.), SEC supports named match
variables $+{name} and the $0 variable. The $0 variable holds the entire string of
last N input lines that the regular expression has matched. Named match variables
can be created in newer versions of Perl regular expression language, e.g.,
(?<myvar>AB|CD) sets $+{myvar} to AB or CD. The special named match variable
$+{_inputsrc} is created by SEC and holds input file name(s) where matching line(s)
came from.
For example, the following pattern matches the SSH "Connection from" event, and
sets $0 to the entire event line, both $1 and $+{ip} to the IP address of the
remote node, $2 to the port number at the remote node, and $+{_inputsrc} to the
input file name:
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Connection from (?<ip>[\d.]+) port (\d+)
Also, SEC allows for match caching and for the creation of additional named match
variables through variable maps which are defined with the varmap* fields. Variable
map is a list of name=number mappings separated by semicolons, where name is the
name for the named variable and number identifies a numbered match variable that is
set by the regular expression. Each name must begin with a letter and consist of
letters, digits and underscores. After the regular expression has matched, named
variables specified by the map are created from corresponding numbered variables.
If the same named variable is set up both from the regular expression and variable
map, the map takes precedence.
If name is not followed by the equal sign and number in the varmap* field, it is
regarded as a common name for all match variables and their values from a
successful match. This name is used for caching a successful match by the pattern
-- match variables and their values are stored in the memory-based pattern match
cache under name. Cached match results can be reused by Cached and NCached
patterns. Note that before processing each new input line, previous content of the
pattern match cache is cleared. Also note that a successful pattern match is cached
even if the subsequent context expression evaluation yields FALSE (see INPUT
PROCESSING AND TIMING section for more information).
For example, consider the following pattern definition:
ptype=regexp
pattern=(?i)(\S+\.mydomain).*printer: toner\/ink low
varmap=printer_toner_or_ink_low; message=0; hostname=1
The pattern matches "printer: toner/ink low" messages in a case insensitive manner
from printers belonging to .mydomain. Note that the printer hostname is assigned to
$1 and $+{hostname}, while the whole message line is assigned to $0 and
$+{message}. The name of the file where message line came from is assigned to
$+{_inputsrc}. Also, these variables and their values are stored to the pattern
match cache under the name "printer_toner_or_ink_low".
The following pattern definition produces a match if the last two input lines are
AAA and BBB:
ptype=regexp2
pattern=^AAA\nBBB$
varmap=aaa_bbb
Note that with the --nojointbuf option the pattern only matches if the matching
lines are coming from the *same* input file, while the --jointbuf option lifts that
restriction.
In the case of a match, $0 is set to "AAA<NEWLINE>BBB" and $+{_inputsrc} to file
name(s) for matching lines. Also, these variable-value pairs are cached under the
name "aaa_bbb".
PerlFunc[N]
pattern is a Perl function for matching the last N input lines L1, L2, ..., LN. The
Perl function is compiled at SEC startup with the Perl eval() function, and eval()
must return a code reference for the pattern to be valid (see also PERL INTEGRATION
section). In order to check whether the pattern matches input line(s), SEC will
call the function in list context and pass lines L1, L2, ..., LN and the names of
corresponding input files F1, F2, ..., FN to the function as parameters:
function(L1, L2, ..., LN, F1, F2, ..., FN)
Note that with the --nojointbuf option, the function is called with a single file
name parameter F, since lines L1, ..., LN are coming from the same input file:
function(L1, L2, ..., LN, F)
Also note that if the input line is a synthetic event, the input file name is Perl
undefined value.
If the function returns several values or a single value that is true in Perl
boolean context, the pattern matches. If the function returns no values or a single
value that is false in Perl boolean context (0, empty string or undefined value),
the pattern does not match. If the pattern matches, return values will be assigned
to numbered match variables ($1, $2, etc.). Like with RegExp patterns, the $0
variable is set to matching input line(s), the $+{_inputsrc} variable is set to
input file name(s), and named match variables can be created from variable maps.
For example, consider the following pattern definition:
ptype=perlfunc2
pattern=sub { return ($_[0] cmp $_[1]); }
The pattern compares last two input lines in a stringwise manner ($_[1] holds the
last line and $_[0] the preceding one), and matches if the lines are different.
Note that the result of the comparison is assigned to $1, while two matching lines
are concatenated (with the newline character between them) and assigned to $0. The
file name(s) for matching lines are assigned to $+{_inputsrc}.
The following pattern produces a match for any line, and sets $1, $2 and $3
variables to strings "abc", "def" and "ghi", respectively (also, $0 is set to the
whole input line and $+{_inputsrc} to the input file name):
ptype=perlfunc
pattern=sub { return ("abc", "def", "ghi"); }
The following pattern definition produces a match if the input line is not a
synthetic event and contains either the string "abc" or "def". The $0 variable is
set to the matching line, while $1, $+{file} and $+{_inputsrc} are set to the name
of the input file:
ptype=perlfunc
pattern=sub { if (defined($_[1]) && $_[0] =~ /abc|def/) \
{ return $_[1]; } return 0; }
varmap= file=1
Finally, if a function pattern returns a single value which is a reference to a
Perl hash, named match variables are created from key-value pairs in the hash. For
example, the following pattern matches a line if it contains either the string
"three" or "four". Apart from setting $0 and $+{_inputsrc}, the pattern also
creates match variables $+{three} and $+{four}, and sets them to 3 and 4,
respectively:
ptype=perlfunc
pattern=sub { my(%hash); \
if ($_[0] !~ /three|four/) { return 0; } \
$hash{"three"} = 3; $hash{"four"} = 4; return \%hash; }
Cached pattern is a name that is searched in the pattern match cache (entries are stored
into the cache with the varmap* fields). If an entry with the given name is found
in the cache, the pattern matches, and match variables and values are retrieved
from the cache. For example, if the input line matches the following pattern
ptype=perlfunc
pattern=sub { if (defined($_[1]) && $_[0] =~ /abc|def/) \
{ return $_[1]; } return 0; }
varmap=abc_or_def_found; file=1
then the entry "abc_or_def_found" is created in the pattern match cache.
Therefore, the pattern
ptype=cached
pattern=abc_or_def_found
will also produce a match for this input line, and set the $0, $1, $+{file}, and
$+{_inputsrc} variables to values from the previous match.
NSubStr[N]
like SubStr[N], except that the result of the match is negated.
NRegExp[N]
like RegExp[N], except that the result of the match is negated and variable maps
are not supported. Note that the only match variables set by the pattern are $0 and
$+{_inputsrc}.
NPerlFunc[N]
like PerlFunc[N], except that the result of the match is negated and variable maps
are not supported. Note that the only match variables set by the pattern are $0 and
$+{_inputsrc}.
NCached
like Cached, except that the result of the match is negated.
TValue pattern is a truth value, with TRUE and FALSE being legitimate values. TRUE always
matches an input line, while FALSE never matches anything.
When match variables are substituted, each "$$" sequence is interpreted as a literal
dollar sign ($) which allows for masking match variables. For example, the string
"Received $$1" becomes "Received $1" after substitution, while "Received $$$1" becomes
"Received $<value_of_1st_var>". In order to disambiguate numbered match variables from
the following text, variable number must be enclosed in braces. For example, the string
"Received ${1}0" becomes "Received <value_of_1st_var>0" after substitution, while the
string "Received $10" would become "Received <value_of_10th_var>".
If the match variable was not set by the pattern, it is substituted with an empty string
(i.e., a zero-width string). Thus the string "Received $10!" becomes "Received !" after
substitution if the pattern did not set $10. (Note that prior to SEC-2.6, unset variables
were *not* substituted.)
In the current version of SEC, names of $+{name} match variables must comply with the
following naming convention -- the first character can be a letter or underscore, while
remaining characters can be letters, digits, underscores and exclamation marks (!).
However, when setting named match variables from a pattern, it is recommended to begin the
variable name with a letter, since names of special automatically created variables begin
with an underscore (e.g., $+{_inputsrc}).
After the pattern has matched an event and match variables have been set, it is also
possible to refer to previously cached match variables with the syntax
$:{entryname:varname}, where entryname is the name of the pattern match cache entry, and
varname is the name of the variable stored under the entry. For example, if the variable
$+{ip} has been previously cached under the entry "SSH", it can be referred as $:{SSH:ip}.
For the reasons of efficiency, the $:{entryname:varname} syntax is not supported for fast
pattern types which do not set match variables (i.e., SubStr, NSubStr and TValue).
Note that since Pair and PairWithWindow rules have two patterns, match variables of the
first pattern are shadowed for some rule fields when the second pattern matches and sets
variables. In order to refer to shadowed variables, their names must begin with % instead
of $ (e.g., %1 refers to match variable $1 set by the first pattern). However, the use of
the %-prefix is only valid under the following circumstances -- *both* pattern types
support match variables *and* in the given rule field match variables from *both* patterns
can be used.
The %-prefixed match variables are masked with the "%%" sequence (like regular match
variables with "$$"). Similarly, the braces can be used for disambiguating the %-prefixed
variables from the following text.
Finally, note that the second pattern of Pair and PairWithWindow rules may contain match
variables if the second pattern is of type SubStr, NSubStr, Regexp, or NRegExp. The
variables are substituted at runtime with the values set by the first pattern. If the
pattern is a regular expression, all special characters inside substituted values are
masked with the Perl quotemeta() function and the final expression is checked for
correctness.
CONTEXTS AND CONTEXT EXPRESSIONS
A SEC context is a memory based entity which has one or more names, a lifetime, and an
event store. Also, an action list can be set up for a context which is executed
immediately before the context expires.
For example, the action create MYCONTEXT 3600 (report MYCONTEXT /bin/mail root@localhost)
creates the context MYCONTEXT which has a lifetime of 3600 seconds and empty event store.
Also, immediately before MYCONTEXT expires and is dropped from memory, the action report
MYCONTEXT /bin/mail root@localhost is executed which mails the event store of MYCONTEXT to
root@localhost.
Contexts can be used for event aggregation and reporting. Suppose the following actions
are executed in this order:
create MYCONTEXT
add MYCONTEXT This is a test
alias MYCONTEXT MYALIAS
add MYALIAS This is another test
report MYCONTEXT /bin/mail root@localhost
delete MYALIAS
The first action creates the context MYCONTEXT with infinite lifetime and empty event
store. The second action appends the string "This is a test" to the event store of
MYCONTEXT. The third action sets up an alias name MYALIAS for the context (names
MYCONTEXT and MYALIAS refer to the same context data structure). The fourth action appends
the string "This is another test" to the event store of the context. The fifth action
writes the lines
This is a test
This is another test
to the standard input of the /bin/mail root@localhost command. The sixth action deletes
the context data structure from memory and drops its names MYCONTEXT and MYALIAS.
Since contexts are accessible from all rules and event correlation operations, they can be
used for data sharing and joining several rules into one event correlation scheme. In
order to check for the presence of contexts from rules, context expressions can be
employed.
Context expressions are boolean expressions that are defined with the context* rule
fields. Context expressions can be used for restricting the matches produced by patterns,
since if the expression evaluates FALSE, the rule will not match an input event.
The context expression accepts context names, Perl miniprograms, and Perl functions as
operands. These operands can be combined with the following operators:
! - logical NOT,
&& - short-circuit logical AND,
|| - short-circuit logical OR.
In addition, parentheses can be used for grouping purposes.
If the operand contains the arrow operator (->), the text following the arrow must be a
valid Perl function definition that is compiled at SEC startup with the Perl eval()
function. The eval() must return a code reference (see also PERL INTEGRATION section for
more information). If any text precedes the arrow, it is treated as a list of parameters
for the function. Parameters must be separated by whitespace and may contain match
variables set by pattern(s). In order to evaluate the Perl function operand, the function
is called in the Perl scalar context. If the return value of the function is true in the
Perl boolean context, the operand evaluates TRUE, otherwise it evaluates FALSE.
If instead of arrow the :> operator is used, each parameter is treated as a name of an
entry in the pattern match cache. In that case, the parameter is passed to the Perl
function as a reference to the Perl hash which contains all match variables for the given
entry. In the hash, each key-value pair represents some variable name and value, e.g., if
cached match variable $+{ip} is holding 10.1.1.1, the hash contains the value 10.1.1.1
with the key ip.
If the operand begins with the equal sign (=), the following text must be a Perl
miniprogram which is a valid parameter for the Perl eval() function. The miniprogram may
contain match variables set by the pattern(s). In order to evaluate the Perl miniprogram
operand, it will be compiled and executed by calling the Perl eval() function in the Perl
scalar context (see also PERL INTEGRATION section). If the return value from eval() is
true in the Perl boolean context, the operand evaluates TRUE, otherwise it evaluates
FALSE.
Note that since Perl functions, miniprograms, and parameter lists may contain strings that
clash with context expression operators (e.g., '!'), it is strongly recommended to enclose
them in parentheses, e.g.,
($1 $2) -> (sub { return ($_[0] != $_[1]); })
=({my($temp) = 0; return !$temp;})
If the varset keyword precedes the operand, it is treated as a name of an entry in the
pattern match cache. The operand evaluates TRUE if the given entry exists, and FALSE
otherwise.
If the operand is not a Perl function or miniprogram, it is treated as a context name. As
other operands, context names may contain match variables. If the context name refers to
an existing context, the operand evaluates TRUE, otherwise it evaluates FALSE.
If the whole context expression is enclosed in square brackets [], e.g., [MYCONTEXT1 &&
!MYCONTEXT2], SEC evaluates the expression *before* pattern matching (normally, the
pattern is matched with input line(s) first, so that match variables would be initialized
and ready for expression evaluation). However, if the expression does not contain match
variables and many input events are known to match the pattern but not the expression, the
[]-operator could save substantial amount of CPU time.
In order to illustrate the discussion, consider the context expressions below. The
following expression evaluates TRUE if the /var/log/messages file does not exist or was
last modified more than 1 hour ago:
-> ( sub { my(@stat) = stat("/var/log/messages"); \
return (!scalar(@stat) || time() - $stat[9] > 3600); } )
The following expression evaluates TRUE if the values of $1 and $2 match variables are
numerically unequal and the context C1 exists:
($1 $2) -> (sub { return ($_[0] != $_[1]); }) && C1
The following expression evaluates TRUE when neither the context C1 nor the context C2
exists and the value of $1 the variable equals to the string "myhost.mydomain". Note that
since && is a short-circuiting operator, the Perl code is not evaluated if C1 and/or C2
exist:
!(C1 || C2) && =("$1" eq "myhost.mydomain")
The following expression evaluates true if the pattern match cache entry SSH exists and
under this entry, the value of the match variable $+{user} equals to the string "risto".
Note that inside the Perl function, the first input parameter $_[0] holds a reference to
the hash of variable name-value pairs:
varset SSH && SSH :> ( sub { $_[0]->{"user"} eq "risto" } )
ACTIONS, ACTION LISTS AND ACTION LIST VARIABLES
Action lists are defined with the action* rule fields. An action list consists of action
definitions that are separated by semicolons. Each action definition begins with a
keyword specifying the action type. Depending on the action type, parameters may follow,
and non-constant parameters may contain match variables. In order to use semicolons
inside a non-constant parameter, the parameter must be enclosed in parentheses (the
outermost set of parentheses will be removed by SEC during configuration file parsing).
For example, the following action list consists of delete and shellcmd actions:
delete MYCONTEXT; shellcmd (rm /tmp/sec1.tmp; rm /tmp/sec2.tmp)
The delete action deletes the context MYCONTEXT, while the shellcmd action executes the
command line rm /tmp/sec1.tmp; rm /tmp/sec2.tmp. Since the command line contains a
semicolon, it has been enclosed in parentheses, since otherwise the semicolon would be
mistakenly considered a separator between two actions.
Apart from match variables, SEC supports action list variables in action lists which
facilitate data sharing between actions and Perl integration. Each action list variable
has a name which must begin with a letter and consist of letters, digits and underscores.
In order to refer to an action list variable, its name must be prefixed by a percent sign
(%). Unlike match variables, action list variables can only be used in action lists and
they are substituted with their values immediately before the action list execution. Also,
action list variables continue to exist after the current action list has been executed
and can be employed in action lists of other rules.
The following action list variables are predefined by SEC:
%s - operation description string (the value of the desc field after match variables have
been substituted with their values). Note that for the action2 field of Pair and
PairWithWindow rules, the %s variable is set by evaluating the desc2 field of the rule.
%t - current time in human-readable format (as returned by the date(1) utility).
%u - current time in seconds since Epoch (as returned by the time(2) system call).
Note that in order to disambiguate the variable from the following text, the variable name
must be enclosed in braces (e.g., %{s}). Also, when action list variables are substituted
with their values, each sequence "%%" is interpreted as a literal percent sign (%) which
allows for masking the variables. For example, the string "s%%t" becomes "s%t" after
substitution, not "s%<timestamp>".
However, note that if %-prefixed match variables are supported for the action2 field of
the Pair or PairWithWindow rule, the sequence "%%%" must be used in action2 for masking a
variable, since the string goes through *two* variable substitution rounds (first for
%-prefixed match variables and then for action list variables, e.g., the string "s%%%t"
first becomes "s%%t" and finally "s%t").
Whenever a rule field goes through several substitution rounds, the $ or % characters are
masked inside values substituted during earlier rounds, in order to avoid unwanted side
effects during later rounds.
If the action list variable has not been set, it is substituted with an empty string
(i.e., a zero-width string). Thus the string "Value of A is: %a" becomes "Value of A is:
" after substitution if the variable %a is unset. (Note that prior to SEC-2.6, unset
variables were *not* substituted.)
Finally, the values are substituted as strings, therefore values of other types (e.g.,
references) lose their original meaning, unless explicitly noted otherwise (e.g., if a
Perl function reference is stored to an action list variable, the function can later be
invoked through this variable with the call action).
The following actions are supported (optional parameters are enclosed in square brackets):
none No action.
logonly [<string>]
Message <string> is logged to destinations given with the --log and --syslog
options. The level of the log message is set to 4 (see the --debug option for more
information on log message levels). Default value for <string> is %s.
write <filename> [<string>]
String <string> with a terminating newline is written to the file <filename>
(<filename> may not contain whitespace). File may be a regular file, named pipe, or
standard output (denoted by -). If the file is a regular file, <string> is
appended to the end of the file. If the file does not exist, it is created as a
regular file before writing. Note that the file will not be closed after the
action completes, and the following write actions will access an already open file.
However, several signals cause the file to be closed and reopened (see SIGNALS
section for more information). Default value for <string> is %s.
owritecl <filename> [<string>]
Similar to the write action, except that the file <filename> is opened and closed
at each write. Also, the string <string> is written without a terminating newline.
If the file has already been opened by a previous write action, owritecl does not
use existing filehandle, but opens and closes the file separately.
udgram <filename> [<string>]
String <string> is written to the UNIX datagram socket <filename> (<filename> may
not contain whitespace). Note that the socket will not be closed after the action
completes, and the following udgram actions will access an already open socket.
However, several signals cause the socket to be closed and reopened (see SIGNALS
section for more information). Default value for <string> is %s.
ustream <filename> [<string>]
String <string> is written to the UNIX stream socket <filename> (<filename> may not
contain whitespace). Note that the socket will not be closed after the action
completes, and the following ustream actions will access an already open socket.
However, several signals cause the socket to be closed and reopened (see SIGNALS
section for more information). Default value for <string> is %s.
udpsock <host>:<port> [<string>]
String <string> is sent to the UDP port <port> of the host <host>. Note that the
UDP socket which is used for communication will not be closed after the action
completes, and the following udpsock actions for the same remote peer will use an
already existing socket. However, several signals cause the socket to be closed
and recreated (see SIGNALS section for more information). Default value for
<string> is %s.
tcpsock <host>:<port> [<string>]
String <string> is sent to the TCP port <port> of the host <host>. The timeout
value given with the --socket-timeout option determines for how many seconds SEC
will attempt to establish a connection to the remote peer. If the connection
establishment does not succeed immediately, the tcpsock action buffers <string> in
memory for later sending to the remote peer. Note that the relevant TCP socket
will not be closed after <string> has been transmitted, and the following tcpsock
actions for the same peer will use an already existing socket. However, several
signals cause the socket to be closed and recreated (see SIGNALS section for more
information). Default value for <string> is %s.
shellcmd <cmdline>
Fork a process for executing command line <cmdline>. If the --quoting option was
specified and <cmdline> contains %s variables, the value of %s is quoted with
apostrophes before substituting it into <cmdline>; note if the value of %s contains
apostrophes, they are masked with backslashes (e.g., abc is converted to 'abc' and
aa'bb is converted to 'aa'\''bb'). For additional information, see INTERPROCESS
COMMUNICATION section.
spawn <cmdline>
Similar to the shellcmd action, except that each line from the standard output of
<cmdline> becomes a synthetic event and will be treated like a line from input file
(see the event action for more information).
pipe '[<string>]' [<cmdline>]
Fork a process for executing command line <cmdline>. The string <string> with a
terminating newline is written to the standard input of <cmdline> (apostrophes are
used for disambiguating <string> from <cmdline>). Default value for <string> is
%s. If <cmdline> is omitted, <string> is written to standard output. For
additional information, see INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION section.
create [<name> [<time> [<action list>] ] ]
Create a context with the name <name>, lifetime of <time> seconds, and empty event
store. The <name> parameter may not contain whitespace and defaults to %s. The
<time> parameter must evaluate to an unsigned integer at runtime. Specifying 0 for
<time> or omitting the value means infinite lifetime. If <action list> is given,
it will be executed when the context expires. If <action list> contains several
actions, the list must be enclosed in parentheses. In <action list>, the internal
context name _THIS may be used for referring to the current context (see INTERNAL
EVENTS AND CONTEXTS section for a detailed discussion). If an already existing
context is recreated with create, its remaining lifetime is set to <time> seconds,
its action list is reinitialized, and its event store is emptied.
delete [<name>]
Delete the context <name>. The <name> parameter may not contain whitespace and
defaults to %s.
obsolete [<name>]
Similar to the delete action, except that the action list of the context <name> (if
present) is executed before deletion.
set <name> <time> [<action list>]
Change settings for the context <name>. The creation time of the context is set to
the current time, and the lifetime of the context is set to <time> seconds. If the
<action list> parameter is given, the context action list is set to <action list>.
The <name> parameter may not contain whitespace and defaults to %s. The <time>
parameter must evaluate to an unsigned integer or hyphen (-) at runtime.
Specifying 0 for <time> means infinite lifetime. If <time> equals to -, the
creation time and lifetime of the context are not changed. If <action list>
contains several actions, the list must be enclosed in parentheses. In <action
list>, the internal context name _THIS may be used for referring to the current
context (see INTERNAL EVENTS AND CONTEXTS section for a detailed discussion).
alias <name> [<alias>]
Create an alias name <alias> for the context <name>. After creation, both <alias>
and <name> will point to the same context data structure, and can thus be used
interchangeably for referring to the context. The <name> and <alias> parameters
may not contain whitespace, and <alias> defaults to %s. If the context <name> does
not exist, the alias name is not created. If the delete action is called for one
of the context names, the context data structure is destroyed, and all context
names (which are now pointers to unallocated memory) cease to exist. Also note that
when the context expires, its action list is executed only once, no matter how many
names the context has.
unalias [<alias>]
Drop an existing context name <alias>, so that it can no longer be used for
referring to the given context. The <alias> parameter may not contain whitespace
and defaults to %s. If the name <alias> is the last reference to the context, the
unalias action is identical to delete.
add <name> [<string>]
String <string> is appended to the end of the event store of the context <name>.
The <name> parameter may not contain whitespace, and the <string> parameter
defaults to %s. If the context <name> does not exist, the context is created with
an infinite lifetime, empty action list and empty event store (as with create
<name>) before adding the string to event store. If <string> is a multi-line
string (i.e., it contains newlines), it is split into lines, and each line is
appended to the event store separately.
prepend <name> [<string>]
Similar to the add action, except that the string <string> is prepended to the
beginning of the event store of context <name>.
fill <name> [<string>]
Similar to the add action, except that the event store of the context <name> is
emptied before <string> is added.
report <name> [<cmdline>]
Fork a process for executing command line <cmdline>, and write strings from the
event store of the context <name> to the standard input of <cmdline>. Strings are
written in the order they appear in the event store, with a terminating newline
appended to each string. If the context <name> does not exist or its event store
is empty, <cmdline> is not executed. The <name> parameter may not contain
whitespace, and if <cmdline> is omitted, strings are written to standard output.
For additional information, see INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION section.
copy <name> %<var>
Strings s1,...,sn from the event store of the context <name> are joined into a
multi-line string "s1<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>sn", and this string is assigned to the
action list variable %<var>. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of
%<var> does not change.
empty <name> [%<var>]
Similar to the copy action, except that the event store of the context <name> will
be emptied after the assignment. If %<var> is omitted, the content of the event
store is dropped without an assignment.
pop <name> %<var>
Remove the last string from the event store of context <name>, and assign it to the
action list variable %<var>. If the event store is empty, %<var> is set to empty
string. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of %<var> does not change.
shift <name> %<var>
Remove the first string from the event store of context <name>, and assign it to
the action list variable %<var>. If the event store is empty, %<var> is set to
empty string. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of %<var> does not
change.
exists %<var> <name>
If the context <name> exists, set the action list variable %<var> to 1, otherwise
set %<var> to 0.
getsize %<var> <name>
Find the number of strings in the event store of context <name>, and assign this
number to the action list variable %<var>. If the context <name> does not exist,
%<var> is set to Perl undefined value.
getaliases %<var> <name>
Find all alias names for context <name>, join the names into a multi-line string
"alias1<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>aliasn", and assign this string to the action list
variable %<var>. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of %<var> does
not change.
getltime %<var> <name>
Find the lifetime of context <name>, and assign this number to the action list
variable %<var>. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of %<var> does
not change.
getctime %<var> <name>
Find the creation time of context <name>, and assign this number to the action list
variable %<var>. If the context <name> does not exist, the value of %<var> does
not change.
setctime <time> <name>
Set the creation time of context <name> to <time>. The <time> parameter must
evaluate to seconds since Epoch (as reported by the time(2) system call), and must
reflect a time moment between the previous creation time and the current time (both
endpoints included).
event [<time>] [<string>]
After <time> seconds, create a synthetic event <string>. If <string> is a multi-
line string (i.e., it contains newlines), it is split into lines, and from each
line a separate synthetic event is created. SEC will treat each synthetic event
like a line from an input file -- the event will be matched against rules and it
might trigger further actions. The <time> parameter is an integer constant.
Specifying 0 for <time> or omitting the value means "now". Default value for
<string> is %s.
tevent <time> [<string>]
Similar to the event action, except that the <time> parameter may contain variables
and must evaluate to an unsigned integer at runtime.
reset [<offset>] [<string>]
Terminate event correlation operation(s) with the operation description string
<string>. Note that the reset action works only for operations started from the
same configuration file. The <offset> parameter is used to refer to a specific
rule in the configuration file. If <offset> is given, the operation started by the
given rule is terminated (if it exists). If <offset> is an unsigned integer N, it
refers to the N-th rule in the configuration file. If <offset> is 0, it refers to
the current rule. If <offset> begins with the plus (+) or minus (-) sign, it
specifies an offset from the current rule (e.g., -1 denotes the previous and +1 the
next rule). If <offset> is not given, SEC checks for each rule from the current
configuration file if an operation with <string> has been started by this rule, and
the operation is terminated if it exists. Default value for <string> is %s. For
additional information, see EVENT CORRELATION OPERATIONS section.
getwpos %<var> <offset> [<string>]
Find the beginning of the event correlation window for an event correlation
operation, and set the action list variable %<var> to this timestamp. The value
assigned to %<var> is measured in seconds since Epoch (as reported by the time(2)
system call). As with the reset action, the event correlation operation is
identified by the operation description string <string> and the rule offset
<offset>. If the operation does not exist, the value of %<var> does not change.
Default value for <string> is %s. For additional information, see EVENT
CORRELATION OPERATIONS section.
setwpos <time> <offset> [<string>]
Set the beginning of the event correlation window to <time> for an event
correlation operation (if it exists). The <time> parameter must evaluate to seconds
since Epoch (as reported by the time(2) system call), and must reflect a time
moment between the previous window position and the current time (both endpoints
included). As with the reset action, the event correlation operation is identified
by the operation description string <string> and the rule offset <offset>. Default
value for <string> is %s. For additional information, see EVENT CORRELATION
OPERATIONS section.
assign %<var> [<string>]
Assign string <string> to the action list variable %<var>. Default value for
<string> is %s.
free %<var>
Unset the action list variable %<var>.
eval %<var> <code>
The parameter <code> is a Perl miniprogram that is compiled and executed by calling
the Perl eval() function in the Perl list context. If the miniprogram returns a
single value, it is assigned to the action list variable %<var>. If the miniprogram
returns several values s1,...,sn, they are joined into a multi-line string
"s1<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>sn", and this string is assigned to %<var>. If no value is
returned, %<var> is set to Perl undefined value. If eval() fails, the value of
%<var> does not change. Since most Perl programs contain semicolons which are also
employed by SEC as action separators, it is recommended to enclose the <code>
parameter in parentheses, in order to mask the semicolons in <code>. For
additional information, see PERL INTEGRATION section.
call %<var> %<ref> [<paramlist>]
Call the precompiled Perl function referenced by the action list variable %<ref>,
and assign the result to the action list variable %<var>. The %<ref> parameter
must be a code reference that has been previously created with the eval action. The
<paramlist> parameter (if given) is a string which specifies parameters for the
function. The parameters must be separated by whitespace in the <paramlist> string.
If the function returns a single value, it is assigned to %<var>. If the function
returns several values s1,...,sn, they are joined into a multi-line string
"s1<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>sn", and this string is assigned to %<var>. If no value is
returned, %<var> is set to Perl undefined value. If the function encounters a
fatal runtime error or %<ref> is not a code reference, the value of %<var> does not
change. For additional information, see PERL INTEGRATION section.
lcall %<var> [<paramlist>] -> <code>
Call the precompiled Perl function <code> and assign the result to the action list
variable %<var>. The <code> parameter must be a valid Perl function definition
that is compiled at SEC startup with the Perl eval() function, and eval() must
return a code reference. The <paramlist> parameter (if given) is a string which
specifies parameters for the function. The parameters must be separated by
whitespace in the <paramlist> string. If the function returns a single value, it
is assigned to %<var>. If the function returns several values s1,...,sn, they are
joined into a multi-line string "s1<NEWLINE>...<NEWLINE>sn", and this string is
assigned to %<var>. If no value is returned, %<var> is set to Perl undefined value.
If the function encounters a fatal runtime error, the value of %<var> does not
change. Since most Perl functions contain semicolons which are also employed by
SEC as action separators, it is recommended to enclose the <code> parameter in
parentheses, in order to mask the semicolons in <code>. For additional
information, see PERL INTEGRATION section.
rewrite <lnum> [<string>]
Replace last <lnum> lines in the input buffer with string <string>. If the
--nojointbuf option was specified and the action is triggered by a matching event,
the action modifies the buffer which holds this event. If the --nojointbuf option
was specified and the action is triggered by the system clock (e.g., the action is
executed from the Calendar rule), the action modifies the buffer which holds the
last already processed event. With the --jointbuf option, the content of the joint
input buffer is rewritten. The <lnum> parameter must evaluate to an unsigned
integer at runtime. If <lnum> evaluates to 0, <lnum> is reset to the number of
lines in <string>. If the value of <lnum> is greater than the buffer size N,
<lnum> is reset to N. If <string> contains less than <lnum> lines, <string> will
be padded with leading empty lines. If <string> contains more than <lnum> lines,
only leading <lnum> lines from <string> are written into the buffer. Default value
for <string> is %s. For additional information, see INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING
section.
if %<var> ( <action list> ) [ else ( <action list2> ) ]
If the action list variable %<var> evaluates true in the Perl boolean context
(i.e., it holds a defined value which is neither 0 nor empty string), execute the
action list <action list>. If the second action list <action list2> is given with
the optional else-statement, it is executed if %<var> either does not exist or
evaluates false (i.e., %<var> holds 0, empty string or Perl undefined value).
while %<var> ( <action list> )
Execute the action list <action list> repeatedly until the action list variable
%<var> evaluates true in the Perl boolean context (i.e., it holds a defined value
which is neither 0 nor empty string).
break If used inside a while-loop, terminates its execution; otherwise terminates the
execution of the entire action list.
continue
If used inside a while-loop, starts the next iteration of the loop; otherwise
terminates the execution of the entire action list.
Examples:
Follow the /var/log/trapd.log file and feed to SEC input all lines that are appended to
the file:
spawn /bin/tail -f /var/log/trapd.log
Mail the timestamp and the value of the $0 variable to the local root:
pipe '%t: $0' /bin/mail -s "alert message" root@localhost
Add the value of the $0 variable to the event store of the context ftp_<the value of $1>,
and set the context to expire after 30 minutes. When the context expires, its event store
will be mailed to the local root:
add ftp_$1 $0; set ftp_$1 1800 (report ftp_$1 /bin/mail root@localhost)
Create a subroutine for weeding out comment lines from the input list, and use this
subroutine for removing comment lines from the event store of the context C1:
eval %funcptr ( sub { my(@buf) = split(/\n/, $_[0]); \
my(@ret) = grep(!/^#/, @buf); return @ret; } ); \
copy C1 %in; call %out %funcptr %in; fill C1 %out
The following action list achieves the same goal as the previous action list with while
and if actions:
getsize %size C1; while %size ( shift C1 %event; \
lcall %nocomment %event -> ( sub { $_[0] !~ /^#/ } ); \
if %nocomment ( add C1 %event ); \
lcall %size %size -> ( sub { $_[0]-1; } ) )
PARSING ISSUES
As already noted, SEC context expressions and action lists may contain parentheses which
are used for grouping and masking purposes. When SEC parses its configuration, it checks
whether parentheses in context expressions and action lists are balanced (i.e., whether
each parenthesis has a counterpart), since unbalanced parentheses introduce ambiguity.
This can cause SEC to reject some legitimate constructs, e.g.,
action=eval %o (print ")";)
is considered an invalid action list (however, note that
action=eval %o (print "()";)
would be passed by SEC, since now parentheses are balanced). In order to avoid such
parsing errors, each parenthesis without a counterpart must be masked with a backslash
(the backslash will be removed by SEC during configuration file parsing). For example, the
above action could be written as
action=eval %o (print "\)";)
RULE TYPES
This section provides a detailed discussion of SEC rule types.
SINGLE RULE
The Single rule immediately executes an action list when an event has matched the rule.
An event matches the rule if the pattern matches the event and the context expression (if
given) evaluates TRUE.
The Single rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Single (value is case insensitive, so single or sIngLe can be used
instead).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, and action fields. Also note that
this rule does not start an event correlation operation, and the desc field is merely used
for setting the %s action list variable.
Examples:
type=single
continue=takenext
ptype=regexp
pattern=ftpd\[(\d+)\]: \S+ \(ristov2.*FTP session opened
desc=ftp session opened for ristov2 pid $1
action=create ftp_$1
type=single
continue=takenext
ptype=regexp
pattern=ftpd\[(\d+)\]:
context=ftp_$1
desc=ftp session event for ristov2 pid $1
action=add ftp_$1 $0; set ftp_$1 1800 \
(report ftp_$1 /bin/mail root@localhost)
type=single
ptype=regexp
pattern=ftpd\[(\d+)\]: \S+ \(ristov2.*FTP session closed
desc=ftp session closed for ristov2 pid $1
action=report ftp_$1 /bin/mail root@localhost; \
delete ftp_$1
This ruleset is created for monitoring the ftpd log file. The first rule creates the
context ftp_<pid> when someone connects from host ristov2 over FTP and establishes a new
ftp session (the session is identified by the PID of the process which has been created
for handling this session). The second rule adds all further log file lines for the
session <pid> to the event store of the context ftp_<pid> (before adding a line, the rule
checks if the context exists). After adding a line, the rule extends context's lifetime
for 30 minutes and sets the action list that will be executed when the context expires.
The third rule mails collected log file lines to root@localhost when the session <pid> is
closed. Collected lines will also be mailed when the session <pid> has been inactive for
30 minutes (no log file lines observed for that session).
Note that the log file line that has matched the first rule is also matched against the
second rule (since the first rule has the continue field set to TakeNext). Since the
second rule always matches this line, it will become the first line in the event store of
ftp_<pid>. The second rule has also its continue field set to TakeNext, since otherwise
no log file lines would reach the third rule.
SINGLEWITHSCRIPT RULE
The SingleWithScript rule forks a process for executing an external program when an event
has matched the rule. The names of all currently existing contexts are written to the
standard input of the program. After the program has been forked, the rule matching
continues immediately, and the program status will be checked periodically until the
program exits. If the program returns 0 exit status, the action list defined by the
action field is executed; otherwise the action list defined by the action2 field is
executed (if given).
The SingleWithScript rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to SingleWithScript (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
script an external program.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
action2 (optional)
action list.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, script, desc, action, and action2
fields. Also note that this rule does not start an event correlation operation, and the
desc field is merely used for setting the %s action list variable.
Examples:
type=SingleWithScript
ptype=RegExp
pattern=interface ([\d.]+) down
script=/bin/ping -c 3 -q $1
desc=Check if $1 responds to ping
action=logonly Interface $1 reported down, but is pingable
action2=pipe '%t: Interface $1 is down' /bin/mail root@localhost
When "interface <ipaddress> down" line appears in input, the rule checks if <ipaddress>
responds to ping. If <ipaddress> is pingable, the message "Interface <ipaddress> reported
down, but is pingable" is logged; otherwise an e-mail warning containing a human-readable
timestamp is sent to root@localhost.
SINGLEWITHSUPPRESS RULE
The SingleWithSuppress rule runs event correlation operations for filtering repeated
instances of the same event during T seconds. The value of T is defined by the window
field.
When an event has matched the rule, SEC evaluates the operation description string given
with the desc field. If the operation for the given string and rule does not exist, SEC
will create it with the lifetime of T seconds, and the operation immediately executes an
action list. If the operation exists, it consumes the matching event without any action.
The SingleWithSuppress rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to SingleWithSuppress (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
window event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, and action fields.
Examples:
type=SingleWithSuppress
ptype=RegExp
pattern=(\S+): [fF]ile system full
desc=File system $1 full
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=900
This rule runs event correlation operations for processing "file system full" syslog
messages, e.g.,
Dec 16 14:26:09 test ufs: [ID 845546 kern.notice] NOTICE: alloc: /var: file system full
When the first message for a file system is observed, an operation is created which sends
an e-mail warning about this file system to root@localhost. The operation will then run
for 900 seconds and silently consume further messages for the *same* file system.
However, if a message for a different file system is observed, another operation will be
started which sends a warning to root@localhost again (since the desc field contains the
$1 match variable which evaluates to the file system name).
PAIR RULE
The Pair rule runs event correlation operations for processing event pairs during T
seconds. The value of T is defined by the window field. Default value is 0 which means
infinity.
When an event has matched the conditions defined by the pattern and context field, SEC
evaluates the operation description string given with the desc field. If the operation
for the given string and rule exists, it consumes the matching event without any action.
If the operation does not exist, SEC will create it with the lifetime of T seconds, and
the operation immediately executes an action list defined by the action field. SEC will
also copy the match conditions given with the pattern2 and context2 field into the
operation, and substitute match variables with their values in copied conditions.
If the event does not match conditions defined by the pattern and context field, SEC will
check the match conditions of all operations started by the given rule. Each matching
operation executes the action list given with the action2 field and finishes.
The Pair rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Pair (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by pattern and context.
ptype pattern type for pattern (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map for pattern.
context (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with pattern.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
continue2 (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by pattern2 and
context2.
ptype2 pattern type for pattern2 (value is case insensitive).
pattern2
pattern.
varmap2 (optional)
variable map for pattern2.
context2 (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with pattern2.
desc2 format string that sets the %s variable for action2.
action2
action list.
window (optional)
event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, action, pattern2, context2, desc2,
and action2 fields.
Examples:
type=Pair
ptype=RegExp
pattern=kernel: nfs: server (\S+) not responding, still trying
desc=Server $1 is not responding
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
ptype2=SubStr
pattern2=kernel: nfs: server $1 OK
desc2=Server $1 is responding again
action2=logonly
window=3600
This rule runs event correlation operations for processing NFS "server not responding" and
"server OK" syslog messages, e.g.,
Dec 18 22:39:48 test kernel: nfs: server box1 not responding, still trying
Dec 18 22:42:27 test kernel: nfs: server box1 OK
When the "server not responding" message for an NFS server is observed, an operation is
created for this server which sends an e-mail warning about the server to root@localhost.
The operation will then run for 3600 seconds and silently consume further "server not
responding" messages for the same server. If this operation observes "server OK" message
for the *same* server, it will log the message "Server <servername> is responding again"
and finish.
For example, if SEC observes the following event at 22:39:48
Dec 18 22:39:48 test kernel: nfs: server box1 not responding, still trying
an event correlation operation is created for server box1 which issues an e-mail warning
about this server immediately. After that, the operation will run for 3600 seconds (until
23:39:48), waiting for an event which would contain the substring "kernel: nfs: server
box1 OK" (because the pattern2 field contains the $1 match variable which evaluates to the
server name).
If any further error messages appear for server box1 during the 3600 second lifetime of
the operation, e.g.,
Dec 18 22:40:28 test kernel: nfs: server box1 not responding, still trying
Dec 18 22:41:09 test kernel: nfs: server box1 not responding, still trying
these messages will be silently consumed by the operation. If before its expiration the
operation observes an event which contains the substring "kernel: nfs: server box1 OK",
e.g.,
Dec 18 22:42:27 test kernel: nfs: server box1 OK
the operation will log the message "Server box1 is responding again" and terminate
immediately. If no such message appears during the 3600 second lifetime of the operation,
the operation will expire without taking any action. Please note that if the window field
would be either removed from the rule definition or set to 0, the operation would never
silently expire, but would terminate only after observing an event which contains the
substring "kernel: nfs: server box1 OK".
PAIRWITHWINDOW RULE
The PairWithWindow rule runs event correlation operations for processing event pairs
during T seconds. The value of T is defined by the window field.
When an event has matched the conditions defined by the pattern and context field, SEC
evaluates the operation description string given with the desc field. If the operation
for the given string and rule exists, it consumes the matching event without any action.
If the operation does not exist, SEC will create it with the lifetime of T seconds. SEC
will also copy the match conditions given with the pattern2 and context2 field into the
operation, and substitute match variables with their values in copied conditions.
If the event does not match conditions defined by the pattern and context field, SEC will
check the match conditions of all operations started by the given rule. Each matching
operation executes the action list given with the action2 field and finishes. If the
operation has not observed a matching event by the end of its lifetime, it executes the
action list given with the action field before finishing.
The PairWithWindow rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to PairWithWindow (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by pattern and context.
ptype pattern type for pattern (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map for pattern.
context (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with pattern.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
continue2 (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by pattern2 and
context2.
ptype2 pattern type for pattern2 (value is case insensitive).
pattern2
pattern.
varmap2 (optional)
variable map for pattern2.
context2 (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with pattern2.
desc2 format string that sets the %s variable for action2.
action2
action list.
window event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, action, pattern2, context2, desc2,
and action2 fields.
Examples:
type=PairWithWindow
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
desc=User $1 has been unable to log in from $2 over SSH during 1 minute
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
ptype2=RegExp
pattern2=sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for $1 from $2 port \d+ ssh2
desc2=SSH login successful for %1 from %2 after initial failure
action2=logonly
window=60
This rule runs event correlation operations for processing SSH login events, e.g.,
Dec 27 19:00:24 test sshd[10526]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 52622 ssh2
Dec 27 19:00:27 test sshd[10526]: Accepted password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 52622
ssh2
When an SSH login failure is observed for a user name and a source IP address, an
operation is created for this user name and IP address combination which will expect a
successful login for the *same* user name and *same* IP address during 60 seconds. If the
user will not log in from the same IP address during 60 seconds, the operation will send
an e-mail warning to root@localhost before finishing, otherwise it will log the message
"SSH login successful for <username> from <ipaddress> after initial failure" and finish.
Suppose the following events are generated by an SSH daemon, and each event timestamp
reflects the time SEC observes the event:
Dec 30 13:02:01 test sshd[30517]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42172 ssh2
Dec 30 13:02:30 test sshd[30810]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port 46125
ssh2
Dec 30 13:02:37 test sshd[30517]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42172 ssh2
Dec 30 13:02:59 test sshd[30810]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port 46125
ssh2
Dec 30 13:03:04 test sshd[30810]: Accepted password for root from 192.168.1.104 port 46125
ssh2
When the first event is observed at 13:02:01, an operation is started for user risto and
IP address 10.1.2.7 which will expect a successful login for risto from 10.1.2.7. The
operation will run for 60 seconds, waiting for an event which would match the regular
expression
sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for risto from 10\.1\.2\.7 port \d+ ssh2
When the second event is observed at 13:02:30, another operation is started for user root
and IP address 192.168.1.104 which will expect root to log in successfully from
192.168.1.104. This operation will run for 60 seconds, waiting for an event matching the
regular expression
sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for root from 192\.168\.1\.104 port \d+ ssh2
The third event at 13:02:37 represents a second login failure for user risto and IP
address 10.1.2.7, and is silently consumed by the first operation. Likewise, the fourth
event at 13:02:59 is silently consumed by the second operation. The first operation will
run until 13:03:01 and then expire without seeing a successful login for risto from
10.1.2.7. Before terminating, the operation will send an e-mail warning to root@localhost
that user risto has not managed to log in from 10.1.2.7 during one minute. At 13:03:04,
the second operation will observe an event which matches its regular expression
sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for root from 192\.168\.1\.104 port \d+ ssh2
After seeing this event, the operation will log the message "SSH login successful for root
from 192.168.1.104 after initial failure" and terminate immediately. Please note that the
match by the regular expression
sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for root from 192\.168\.1\.104 port \d+ ssh2
sets the $1 match variable to 1 and unsets $2. Therefore, the %1 and %2 match variables
have to be used in the desc2 field, in order to refer to the original values of $1 (root)
and $2 (192.168.1.104) when the operation was created.
SINGLEWITHTHRESHOLD RULE
The SingleWithThreshold rule runs event correlation operations for counting repeated
instances of the same event during T seconds, and taking an action if N events are
observed. The values of T and N are defined by the window and thresh field, respectively.
When an event has matched the rule, SEC evaluates the operation description string given
with the desc field. If the operation for the given string and rule does not exist, SEC
will create it with the lifetime of T seconds. The operation will memorize the occurrence
time of the event (current time as returned by the time(2) system call), and compare the
number of memorized occurrence times with the threshold N. If the operation has observed N
events, it executes the action list defined by the action field, and consumes all further
matching events without any action. If the rule has an optional action list defined with
the action2 field, the operation will execute it before finishing. Note that a sliding
window is employed for event counting -- if the operation has observed less than N events
by the end of its lifetime, it drops occurrence times which are older than T seconds, and
extends its lifetime for T seconds from the earliest remaining occurrence time. If there
are no remaining occurrence times, the operation finishes without executing an action
list.
The SingleWithThreshold rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to SingleWithThreshold (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
action2 (optional)
action list.
window event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
thresh counting threshold (value is an integer constant).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, action, and action2 fields.
Examples:
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=60
thresh=3
This rule runs event correlation operations for counting the number of SSH login failure
events. Each operation counts events for one user name, and if the operation has observed
three login failures within 60 seconds, it sends an e-mail warning to root@localhost.
Suppose the following events are generated by an SSH daemon, and each event timestamp
reflects the time SEC observes the event:
Dec 28 01:42:21 test sshd[28132]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42172 ssh2
Dec 28 01:43:10 test sshd[28132]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42172 ssh2
Dec 28 01:43:29 test sshd[28132]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42172 ssh2
Dec 28 01:44:00 test sshd[28149]: Failed password for risto2 from 10.1.2.7 port 42176 ssh2
Dec 28 01:44:03 test sshd[28211]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42192 ssh2
Dec 28 01:44:07 test sshd[28211]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 42192 ssh2
When the first event is observed at 01:42:21, a counting operation is started for user
risto, with its event correlation window ending at 01:43:21. Since by 01:43:21 two SSH
login failures for user risto have occurred, the threshold condition remains unsatisfied
for the operation. Therefore, the beginning of its event correlation window will be moved
to 01:43:10 (the occurrence time of the second event), leaving the first event outside the
window. At 01:44:00, another counting operation is started for user risto2. The
threshold condition for the first operation will become satisfied at 01:44:03 (since the
operation has seen three login failure events for user risto within 60 seconds), and thus
an e-mail warning will be issued. Finally, the event occurring at 01:44:07 will be
consumed silently by the first operation (the operation will run until 01:44:10). Since
there will be no further login failure events for user risto2, the second operation will
exist until 01:45:00 without taking any action.
SINGLEWITH2THRESHOLDS RULE
The SingleWith2Thresholds rule runs event correlation operations which take action if N1
events have been observed in the window of T1 seconds, and then at most N2 events will be
observed in the window of T2 seconds. The values of T1, N1, T2, and N2 are defined by the
window, thresh, window2, and thresh2 field, respectively.
When an event has matched the rule, SEC evaluates the operation description string given
with the desc field. If the operation for the given string and rule does not exist, SEC
will create it with the lifetime of T1 seconds. The operation will memorize the occurrence
time of the event (current time as returned by the time(2) system call), and compare the
number of memorized occurrence times with the threshold N1. If the operation has observed
N1 events, it executes the action list defined by the action field, and starts another
counting round for T2 seconds. If no more than N2 events have been observed by the end of
the window, the operation executes the action list defined by the action2 field and
finishes. Note that both windows are sliding -- the first window slides like the window of
the SingleWithThreshold operation, while the beginning of the second window is moved to
the second earliest memorized event occurrence time when the threshold N2 is violated.
The SingleWith2Thresholds rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to SingleWith2Thresholds (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
window event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
thresh counting threshold.
desc2 format string that sets the %s variable for action2.
action2
action list.
window2
event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
thresh2
counting threshold.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context, desc, action, desc2, and action2 fields.
Examples:
type=SingleWith2Thresholds
ptype=RegExp
pattern=(\S+): %SYS-3-CPUHOG
desc=Router $1 CPU overload
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=300
thresh=2
desc2=Router $1 CPU load has been normal for 1h
action2=logonly
window2=3600
thresh2=0
When a SYS-3-CPUHOG syslog message is received from a router, the rule starts a counting
operation for this router which sends an e-mail warning to root@localhost if another such
message is received from the same router within 300 seconds. After sending the warning,
the operation will continue to run until no SYS-3-CPUHOG syslog messages have been
received from the router for 3600 seconds. When this condition becomes satisfied, the
operation will log the message "Router <routername> CPU load has been normal for 1h" and
finish.
Suppose the following events are generated by a router, and each event timestamp reflects
the time SEC observes the event:
Dec 30 12:23:25 router1.mydomain Router1: %SYS-3-CPUHOG: cpu is hogged
Dec 30 12:25:38 router1.mydomain Router1: %SYS-3-CPUHOG: cpu is hogged
Dec 30 12:28:53 router1.mydomain Router1: %SYS-3-CPUHOG: cpu is hogged
When the first event is observed at 12:23:25, a counting operation is started for router
Router1. The appearance of the second event at 12:25:38 fulfills the threshold condition
given with the thresh and window fields (two events have been observed within 300
seconds). Therefore, the operation will send an e-mail warning about the CPU overload of
Router1 to root@localhost.
After that, the operation will start another counting round, expecting to see no
SYS-3-CPUHOG events (since thresh2=0) for Router1 during the following 3600 seconds (the
beginning of the operation's event correlation window will be moved to 12:25:38 for the
second counting round). Since the appearance of the third event at 12:28:53 violates the
threshold condition given with the thresh2 and window2 fields, the beginning of the event
correlation window will be moved to 12:28:53. Since there will be no further SYS-3-CPUHOG
messages for Router1, the operation will run until 13:28:53 and then expire, logging the
message "Router Router1 CPU load has been normal for 1h" before finishing.
EVENTGROUP RULE
The EventGroup rule runs event correlation operations for counting repeated instances of N
different events e1,...,eK during T seconds, and taking an action if threshold conditions
c1,...,cN for *all* events are satisfied (i.e., for each event eK there are at least cK
event instances in the window). The values for N and T are defined by the type and window
field, respectively, while values for c1,...,cN are given with the thresh* fields. Values
for N and c1,...,cN default to 1. Note that the event correlation window is sliding like
the window of the SingleWithThreshold operation.
When an event has matched the rule, SEC evaluates the operation description string given
with the desc field. If the operation for the given string and rule does not exist, SEC
will create it with the lifetime of T seconds. The operation will memorize the occurrence
time of the event (current time as returned by the time(2) system call), and compare the
number of memorized occurrence times for each eK with the threshold cK. If all threshold
confitions are satisfied, the operation executes the action list defined by the action
field, and consumes all further matching events without re-executing the action list if
the multact field is set to No (this is the default). However, if multact is set to Yes,
the operation will evaluate the threshold conditions on every further matching event,
executing the action list given with the action field if all conditions are satisfied, and
sliding the event correlation window forward when the window is about to expire (if no
events remain in the window, the operation will finish).
If the rule definition has an optional action list defined with the count* field for event
eK, the operation executes it every time an instance of eK is observed (even if multact is
set to No and the operation has already executed the action list given with action).
If the rule definition has an optional action list defined with the init field, the
operation executes it immediately after the operation has been created.
If the rule definition has an optional action list defined with the end field, the
operation executes it immediately before the operation finishes.
If the rule definition has an optional action list defined with the slide field, the
operation executes it immediately after the event correlation window has slidden forward.
However, note that moving the window with the setwpos action will *not* trigger the
execution.
The EventGroup rule supports the following fields:
type EventGroup[N] (value is case insensitive, N defaults to 1).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by pattern and context.
ptype pattern type for pattern (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map for pattern.
context (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with pattern.
count (optional)
action list for execution after a match by pattern and context.
thresh (optional)
counting threshold for events matched by pattern and context (value is an integer
constant, default is 1).
...
continueN (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive). Specifies the point-of-continue after a match by patternN and
contextN.
ptypeN pattern type for patternN (value is case insensitive).
patternN
pattern.
varmapN (optional)
variable map for patternN.
contextN (optional)
context expression, evaluated together with patternN.
countN (optional)
action list for execution after a match by patternN and contextN.
threshN (optional)
counting threshold for events matched by patternN and contextN (value is an integer
constant, default is 1).
desc operation description string.
action action list.
init (optional)
action list.
end (optional)
action list.
slide (optional)
action list.
multact (optional)
Yes or No (values are case insensitive, default is No).
window event correlation window size (value is an integer constant).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in context*, count*, desc, action, init, end, and
slide fields.
Examples:
The following example rule cross-correlates iptables events, Apache web server access log
messages with 4xx response codes, and SSH login failure events:
type=EventGroup3
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (?:invalid user )?\S+ from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
thresh=2
ptype2=RegExp
pattern2=^([\d.]+) \S+ \S+ \[.+?\] ".+? HTTP\/[\d.]+" 4\d+
thresh2=3
ptype3=RegExp
pattern3=kernel: iptables:.* SRC=([\d.]+)
thresh3=5
desc=Repeated probing from host $1
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=120
The rule starts an event correlation operation for an IP address if SSH login failure
event, iptables event, or Apache 4xx event is observed for that IP address. The operation
sends an e-mail warning to root@localhost if within 120 seconds three threshold conditions
are satisfied for the IP address it tracks -- (1) at least two SSH login failure events
have occurred for this client IP, (2) at least three Apache 4xx events have occured for
this client IP, (3) at least five iptables events have been observed for this source IP.
Suppose the following events occur, and each event timestamp reflects the time SEC
observes the event:
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:11:22 +0200] "GET /test.html HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
Jan 5 01:12:52 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=48422 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=46351 DPT=21 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
Jan 5 01:12:53 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=48423 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=46351 DPT=21 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
Jan 5 01:13:01 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=20048 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=44963 DPT=23 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
Jan 5 01:13:02 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=20049 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=44963 DPT=23 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
Jan 5 01:13:08 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=36362 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=56918 DPT=25 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
Jan 5 01:13:09 localhost kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:8e:a1:3a:00:1d:e0:7e:89:b1:08:00 SRC=192.168.1.104 DST=192.168.1.107 LEN=60
TOS=0x10 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=36363 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=56918 DPT=25 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN
URGP=0
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:13:51 +0200] "GET /test.html HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:13:54 +0200] "GET /test.html HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:14:00 +0200] "GET /login.html HTTP/1.1" 404 287 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:14:03 +0200] "GET /login.html HTTP/1.1" 404 287 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:14:03 +0200] "GET /login.html HTTP/1.1" 404 287 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
Jan 5 01:14:11 localhost sshd[1810]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port
46125 ssh2
Jan 5 01:14:12 localhost sshd[1810]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port
46125 ssh2
Jan 5 01:14:18 localhost sshd[1822]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port
46126 ssh2
Jan 5 01:14:19 localhost sshd[1822]: Failed password for root from 192.168.1.104 port
46126 ssh2
192.168.1.104 - - [05/Jan/2014:01:14:34 +0200] "GET /test.html HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-"
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux i686; rv:26.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/26.0"
The Apache 4xx event at 01:11:22 starts an event correlation operation for 192.168.1.104
which has the event correlation window of 120 seconds, thus ending at 01:13:22. Between
01:12:52 and 01:13:09, six iptables events appear for 192.168.1.104, and the appearance of
the fifth event at 01:13:08 fulfills the third threshold condition (within 120 seconds, at
least five iptables events have been observed).
Since by 01:13:22 (the end of the event correlation window) no additional events have
occurred, the first and second threshold condition remain unsatisfied. Therefore, the
beginning of the event correlation window will be moved to 01:12:52 (the occurrence time
of the earliest event which is at most 120 seconds old). As a result, the end of the
window will move from 01:13:22 to 01:14:52. The only event which is left outside the
window is the Apache 4xx event at 01:11:22, and thus the threshold condition for iptables
events remains satisfied.
Between 01:13:51 and 01:14:03, five Apache 4xx events occur, and the appearance of the
third event at 01:14:00 fulfills the second threshold condition (within 120 seconds, at
least three Apache 4xx events have been observed). These events are followed by four SSH
login failure events which occur between 01:14:11 and 01:14:19. The appearance of the
second event at 01:14:12 fulfills the first threshold condition (within 120 seconds, at
least two SSH login failure events have been observed). Since at this particular moment
(01:14:12) the other two conditions are also fulfilled, the operation sends an e-mail
warning about 192.168.1.104 to root@localhost. After that, the operation silently
consumes all further matching events for 192.168.1.104 until 01:14:52, and then
terminates.
Please note that if the above rule definition would contain multact=yes statement, the
operation would continue sending e-mails at each matching event after 01:14:12, provided
that all threshold conditions are satisfied. Therefore, the operation would send three
additional e-mails at 01:14:18, 01:14:19, and 01:14:34. Also, the operation would not
terminate after its window ends at 01:14:52, but would rather slide the window forward and
expect new events. At the occurence of any iptables, SSH login failure or Apache 4xx
event for 192.168.1.104, the operation would produce a warning e-mail if all threshold
conditions are fulfilled.
The following example rule cross-correlates iptables events and SSH login events:
type=EventGroup3
ptype=regexp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
varmap= user=1; ip=2
count=alias OPER_$+{ip} LOGIN_FAILED_$+{user}_$+{ip}
ptype2=regexp
pattern2=sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for (\S+) from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
varmap2= user=1; ip=2
context2=LOGIN_FAILED_$+{user}_$+{ip}
ptype3=regexp
pattern3=kernel: iptables:.* SRC=([\d.]+)
varmap3= ip=1
desc=Client $+{ip} accessed a firewalled port and had difficulties with logging in
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
init=create OPER_$+{ip}
slide=delete OPER_$+{ip}; reset 0
end=delete OPER_$+{ip}
window=120
The rule starts an event correlation operation for an IP address if SSH login failure or
iptables event was observed for that IP address. The operation exists for 120 seconds
(since when the event correlation window slides forward, the operation terminates itself
with the reset action as specified with the slide field). The operation sends an e-mail
warning to root@localhost if within 120 seconds three threshold conditions are satisfied
for the IP address it tracks -- (1) at least one iptables event has been observed for this
source IP, (2) at least one SSH login failure has been observed for this client IP, (3) at
least one successful SSH login has been observed for this client IP and for some user,
provided that the operation has previously observed an SSH login failure for the same user
and same client IP.
Suppose the following events occur, and each event timestamp reflects the time SEC
observes the event:
Dec 27 19:00:06 test kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=00:13:72:8a:83:d2:00:1b:25:07:e2:1b:08:00 SRC=10.1.2.7 DST=10.2.5.5 LEN=60 TOS=0x00
PREC=0x00 TTL=62 ID=1881 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=34342 DPT=23 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
Dec 27 19:00:14 test sshd[10520]: Accepted password for root from 10.1.2.7 port 52609 ssh2
Dec 27 19:00:24 test sshd[10526]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 52622 ssh2
Dec 27 19:00:27 test sshd[10526]: Accepted password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 52622
ssh2
The iptables event at 19:00:06 starts an event correlation operation for 10.1.2.7 which
has the event correlation window of 120 seconds. Immediately after the operation has been
started, it creates the context OPER_10.1.2.7. The second event at 19:00:14 does not
match the rule, since the context LOGIN_FAILED_root_10.1.2.7 does not exist. The third
event at 19:00:24 matches the rule, and the operation which is running for 10.1.2.7 sets
up the alias name LOGIN_FAILED_risto_10.1.2.7 for the context OPER_10.1.2.7. Finally, the
fourth event at 19:00:27 matches the rule, since the context LOGIN_FAILED_risto_10.1.2.7
exists, and the event is therefore processed by the operation (the presence of the context
indicates that the operation has previously observed a login failure for user risto from
10.1.2.7). At this particular moment (19:00:27), all three threshold conditions for the
operation are fulfilled, and therefore it sends an e-mail warning about 10.1.2.7 to
root@localhost. After that, the operation silently consumes all further matching events
for 10.1.2.7 until 19:02:06, and then terminates. Immediately before termination, the
operation deletes the context OPER_10.1.2.7 which also drops its alias name
LOGIN_FAILED_risto_10.1.2.7.
SUPPRESS RULE
The Suppress rule takes no action when an event has matched the rule, and keeps matching
events from being processed by later rules in the configuration file.
The Suppress rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Suppress (value is case insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc (optional)
string for describing the rule.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in the context field. Also note that this rule does
not start an event correlation operation, and the optional desc field is merely used for
describing the rule.
Examples:
type=Suppress
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for \S+ from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
context=SUPPRESS_IP_$1
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1 from $2
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost; \
create SUPPRESS_IP_$2 3600
window=60
thresh=3
The first rule filters out SSH login failure events for an already reported source IP
address, so that they will not be matched against the second rule during 3600 seconds
after sending an e-mail warning.
CALENDAR RULE
The Calendar rule was designed for executing actions at specific times. Unlike all other
rules, this rule reacts only to the system clock, ignoring other input. The Calendar rule
executes the action list given with the action field if the current time matches all
conditions of the time specification given with the time field. The action list is
executed only once for any matching minute.
The rule employs a time specification which closely resembles the crontab(1) style, but
there are some subtle differences. The time specification consists of five or six
conditions separated by whitespace. The first condition matches minutes (allowed values
are 0-59), the second condition matches hours (allowed values are 0-23), the third
condition days (allowed values are 0-31, with 0 denoting the last day of the month), the
fourth condition months (allowed values are 1-12), and the fifth condition weekdays
(allowed values are 0-7, with 0 and 7 denoting Sunday). The sixth condition is optional
and matches years (allowed values are 0-99 which denote the last two digits of the year).
Asterisks (*), ranges of numbers (e.g., 8-11), and lists (e.g., 2,5,7-9) are allowed as
conditions. Asterisks and ranges may be augmented with step values (e.g., 47-55/2 means
47,49,51,53,55).
Note that unlike crontab(1) time specification, the day and weekday conditions are *not*
joined with logical OR, but rather with logical AND. Therefore, 0 1 25-31 10 7 means 1AM
on last Sunday in October. On the other hand, with crontab(1) the same specification
means 1AM in every last seven days or every Sunday in October. Also, unlike some versions
of cron(8), SEC is not restricted to take action only during the first second of the
current minute (for example, if SEC is started at the 22th second of a minute, the
wildcard condition produces a match for this minute).
The Calendar rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Calendar (value is case insensitive).
time time specification.
context (optional)
context expression.
desc operation description string.
action action list.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that this rule does not start event correlation operation, and the desc field is
merely used for setting the %s action list variable.
Examples:
type=Calendar
time=0 2 25-31 3,12 6
desc=Check if backup is done on last Saturday of Q1 and Q4
action=event WAITING_FOR_BACKUP
type=Calendar
time=0 2 24-30 6,9 6
desc=Check if backup is done on last Saturday of Q2 and Q3
action=event WAITING_FOR_BACKUP
type=PairWithWindow
ptype=SubStr
pattern=WAITING_FOR_BACKUP
desc=Quarterly backup not completed on time!
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
ptype2=SubStr
pattern2=BACKUP READY
desc2=Quarterly backup successfully completed
action2=none
window=1800
The first two rules create a synthetic event WAITING_FOR_BACKUP at 2AM on last Saturday of
March, June, September and December. The third rule matches this event and starts an
event correlation operation which waits for the BACKUP READY event for 1800 seconds. If
this event has not arrived by 2:30AM, the operation sends an e-mail warning to
root@localhost.
JUMP RULE
The Jump rule submits matching events to specific ruleset(s) for further processing. If
the event matches the rule, SEC continues the search for matching rules in configuration
file set(s) given with the cfset field. Rules from every file are tried in the order of
their appearance in the file. Configuration file sets can be created from Options rules
with the joincfset field, with each set containing at least one configuration file. If
more that one set name is given with cfset, sets are processed from left to right; a
matching rule in one set doesn't prevent SEC from processing the following sets. If the
constset field is set to Yes, set names are assumed to be constants and will not be
searched for match variables at runtime.
The Jump rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Jump (value is case insensitive).
continue (optional)
TakeNext, DontCont, EndMatch or GoTo <label> (apart from <label>, values are case
insensitive).
ptype pattern type (value is case insensitive).
pattern
pattern.
varmap (optional)
variable map.
context (optional)
context expression.
cfset (optional)
configuration file set names that are separated by whitespace.
constset (optional)
Yes or No (values are case insensitive, default is Yes).
desc (optional)
string for describing the rule.
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Note that match variables may be used in the context and cfset fields. Also note that this
rule does not start event correlation operations, and the optional desc field is merely
used for describing the rule.
Finally, if the cfset field is not present and the continue field is set to GoTo, the Jump
rule can be used for skipping rules inside the current configuration file; if both cfset
and continue are not present, Jump is identical to Suppress.
Examples:
type=Jump
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]:
cfset=sshd-rules auth-rules
When an sshd syslog message appears in input, rules from configuration files of the set
sshd-rules are first used for matching the message, and then rules from the configuration
file set auth-rules are tried.
OPTIONS RULE
The Options rule sets processing options for the ruleset in the current configuration
file. If more than one Options rule is present in the configuration file, the last
instance overrides all previous ones. Note that the Options rule is only processed when
SEC (re)starts and reads in the configuration file. Since this rule is not applied at
runtime, it can never match events, react to the system clock, or start event correlation
operations.
The joincfset field lists the names of one or more configuration file sets, and the
current configuration file will be added to each set. If a set doesn't exist, it will be
created and the current configuration file becomes its first member. If the procallin
field is set to No, the rules from the configuration file will be used for matching input
from Jump rules only.
The Options rule supports the following fields:
type fixed to Options (value is case insensitive).
joincfset (optional)
configuration file set names that are separated by whitespace.
procallin (optional)
Yes or No (values are case insensitive, default is Yes).
rem (optional, may appear more than once)
remarks and comments.
Examples:
The following rule adds the current configuration file to the set sshd-rules which is used
for matching input from Jump rules only:
type=Options
joincfset=sshd-rules
procallin=no
The following rule adds the current configuration file to sets linux and solaris which are
used for matching all input:
type=Options
joincfset=linux solaris
EVENT CORRELATION OPERATIONS
In order to identify event correlation operations, SEC assigns an ID to every operation
that is composed from the configuration file name, the rule number, and the operation
description string (defined by the desc field of the rule). If there are N rules in the
configuration file, the rule numbers belong to the range 0..N-1, and the number of the k-
th rule is k-1. Note that since the configuration file name and rule number are part of
the operation ID, different rules can have identical desc fields without a danger of a
clash between operations.
For example, if the configuration file my.conf contains only one rule
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=user (\S+) login failure on (\S+)
desc=Repeated login failures for user $1 on $2
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=60
thresh=3
then the number of this rule is 0. When this rule matches an input event "user admin
login failure on tty1", the desc field yields an operation description string Repeated
login failures for user admin on tty1, and the event will be processed by the operation
with the following ID:
my.conf | 0 | Repeated login failures for user admin on tty1
(If the operation for this ID does not exist, SEC will start it.) By tuning the desc
field of the rule, the scope of individual event correlation operations can be changed.
For instance, the above rule starts three event correlation operations for the following
events:
user admin login failure on tty1
user admin login failure on tty5
user admin login failure on tty2
However, if the desc field is set to Repeated login failures for user $1, these events are
processed by the *same* event correlation operation.
Each operation has an event correlation window which defines its scope in time. The size
of the window is defined by the window* field, and the beginning of the window can be
obtained with the getwpos action. SingleWithThreshold, SingleWith2Thresholds and
EventGroup operations can slide its window forward during event processing, while for all
operations the window can also be moved explicitly with the setwpos action. Also, with the
reset action event correlation operations can be terminated. Note that getwpos, setwpos,
and reset actions only work for operations started by the rules from the same
configuration file.
For example, consider the configuration file /etc/sec/sshd.rules that contains the
following rules:
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=60
thresh=3
type=Single
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Accepted .+ for (\S+) from [\d.]+ port \d+ ssh2
desc=SSH login successful for user $1
action=reset -1 Three SSH login failures within 1m for user $1
Suppose the following events are generated by an SSH daemon, and each event timestamp
reflects the time SEC observes the event:
Dec 29 15:00:03 test sshd[14129]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 31312 ssh2
Dec 29 15:00:08 test sshd[14129]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 31312 ssh2
Dec 29 15:00:17 test sshd[14129]: Accepted password for risto from 10.1.2.7 port 31312
ssh2
Dec 29 15:00:52 test sshd[14142]: Failed password for risto from 10.1.1.2 port 17721 ssh2
The first event at 15:00:03 starts an event correlation operation with the ID
/etc/sec/sshd.rules | 0 | Three SSH login failures within 1m for user risto
However, when the third event occurs at 15:00:17, the second rule matches it and
terminates the operation with the action
reset -1 Three SSH login failures within 1m for user risto
The -1 parameter of reset restricts the action to operations started by the previous rule
(i.e., the first rule that has a number 0), while the Three SSH login failures within 1m
for user risto parameter refers to the operation description string. Together with the
current configuration file name (/etc/sec/sshd.rules), the parameters yield the operation
ID
/etc/sec/sshd.rules | 0 | Three SSH login failures within 1m for user risto
(If the operation with the given ID would not exist, reset would perform no operation.)
As a consequence, the fourth event at 15:00:52 starts another operation with the same ID
as the terminated operation had. Without the second rule, the operation that was started
at 15:00:03 would not be terminated, and the appearance of the fourth event would trigger
a warning e-mail from that operation.
INPUT PROCESSING AND TIMING
SEC processes input data iteratively by reading one line at each iteration, writing this
line into a relevant input buffer, and matching the content of the updated buffer with
rules from configuration files. If during the matching process an action list is executed
which creates new input events (e.g., through the event action), they are *not* written to
buffer(s) immediately, but rather consumed at following iterations.
Note that when both synthetic events and regular input are available for processing,
synthetic events are always consumed first. When all synthetic events have been consumed
iteratively, SEC will start processing new data from input files.
With the --jointbuf option, SEC employs a joint input buffer for all input sources which
holds N last input lines (the value of N can be set with the --bufsize option). Updating
the input buffer means that the new line becomes the first element of the buffer, while
the last element (the oldest line) is removed from the end of the buffer. With the
--nojointbuf option, SEC maintains a buffer of N lines for each input file, and if the
input line comes from file F, the buffer of F is updated as described previously. There
is also a separate buffer for synthetic and internal events.
Suppose SEC is started with the following command line
/usr/bin/sec --conf=/etc/sec/test-multiline.conf --jointbuf \
--input=/var/log/prog1.log --input=/var/log/prog2.log
and the configuration file /etc/sec/test-multiline.conf has the following content:
type=Single
rem=this rule matches two consecutive lines where the first \
line contains "test1" and the second line "test2", and \
writes the matching lines to standard output
ptype=RegExp2
pattern=test1.*\n.*test2
desc=two consecutive test lines
action=write - $0
When the following lines appear in input files /var/log/prog1.log and /var/log/prog2.log
Dec 31 12:33:12 test prog1: test1 (file /var/log/prog1.log)
Dec 31 12:34:09 test prog2: test1 (file /var/log/prog2.log)
Dec 31 12:39:35 test prog1: test2 (file /var/log/prog1.log)
Dec 31 12:41:53 test prog2: test2 (file /var/log/prog2.log)
they are stored in a common input buffer. Therefore, rule fires after the third event has
appeared, and writes the following lines to standard output:
Dec 31 12:34:09 test prog2: test1 (file /var/log/prog2.log)
Dec 31 12:39:35 test prog1: test2 (file /var/log/prog1.log)
However, if SEC is started with the --nojointbuf option, separate input buffers are set up
for /var/log/prog1.log and /var/log/prog2.log. Therefore, the rule fires after the third
event has occurred, and writes the following lines to standard output:
Dec 31 12:33:12 test prog1: test1 (file /var/log/prog1.log)
Dec 31 12:39:35 test prog1: test2 (file /var/log/prog1.log)
The rule also fires after the fourth event has occurred, producing the following output:
Dec 31 12:34:09 test prog2: test1 (file /var/log/prog2.log)
Dec 31 12:41:53 test prog2: test2 (file /var/log/prog2.log)
The content of input buffers can be modified with the rewrite action, and modifications
become visible immediately during ongoing event processing iteration. Suppose SEC is
started with the following command line
/usr/bin/sec --conf=/etc/sec/test-rewrite.conf \
--input=- --nojointbuf
and the configuration file /etc/sec/test-rewrite.conf has the following content:
type=Single
rem=this rule matches two consecutive lines where the first \
line contains "test1" and the second line "test2", and \
joins these lines in the input buffer
ptype=RegExp2
pattern=^(.*test1.*)\n(.*test2.*)$
continue=TakeNext
desc=join two test lines
action=rewrite 2 Joined $1 and $2
type=Single
rem=this rule matches a line which begins with "Joined", \
and writes this line to standard output
ptype=RegExp
pattern=^Joined
desc=output joined lines
action=write - $0
When the following two lines appear in standard input
This is a test1
This is a test2
they are matched by the first rule which uses the rewrite action for replacing those two
lines in the input buffer with a new content. The last line in the input buffer ("This is
a test2") is replaced with "Joined This is a test1 and This is a test2", while the
previous line in the input buffer ("This is a test1") is replaced with an empty string.
Since the rule contains continue=TakeNext statement, the matching process will continue
from the following rule. This rule matches the last line in the input buffer if it begins
with "Joined", and writes the line to standard output, producing
Joined This is a test1 and This is a test2
After each event processing iteration, the pattern match cache is cleared. In other
words, if a match is cached with the rule varmap* field, it is available during ongoing
iteration only. Note that results from a successful pattern matching are also cached when
the subsequent context expression evaluation yields FALSE. This allows for reusing
results from partial rule matches. For example, the following rule creates the cache
entry "ssh_failed_login" for any SSH failed login event, even if the context ALERTING_ON
does not exist:
type=Single
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[\d+\]: Failed .+ for (\S+) from ([\d.]+) port \d+ ssh2
varmap=ssh_failed_login; user=1; ip=2
context=ALERTING_ON
desc=SSH login failure for user $1 from $2
action=pipe '%s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH login alert' root@localhost
However, provided the context expression does not contain match variables, enclosing the
expression in square brackets (e.g., [ALERTING_ON]) forces its evaluation before the
pattern matching, and will thus prevent the matching and the creation of the cache entry
if the evaluation yields FALSE.
Rules from the same configuration file are matched against the buffer content in the order
they are given in that file. When multiple configuration files have been specified, rule
sequences from all files are matched against the buffer content (unless specified
otherwise with Options rules). The matching order is determined by the order of
configuration files in SEC command line. For example, if the Perl glob() function returns
filenames in ascending ASCII order, and configuration files /home/risto/A.conf,
/home/risto/B.conf2, and /home/risto/C.conf are specified with --conf=/home/risto/*.conf
--conf=/home/risto/*.conf2 in SEC command line, then SEC first matches the input against
the rule sequence from A.conf, then from C.conf, and finally from B.conf2. Also, note
that even if A.conf contains a Suppress rule for a particular event, the event is still
processed by rulesets in C.conf and B.conf2. However, note that glob() might return file
names in different order if locale settings change. If you want to enforce a fixed order
for configuration file application in a portable way, it is recommended to create a unique
set for each file with the Options rule, and employ the Jump rule for defining the
processing order for sets, e.g.:
# This rule appears in A.conf
type=Options
joincfset=FileA
procallin=no
# This rule appears in B.conf2
type=Options
joincfset=FileB
procallin=no
# This rule appears in C.conf
type=Options
joincfset=FileC
procallin=no
# This rule appears in main.conf
type=Jump
ptype=TValue
pattern=TRUE
cfset=FileA FileC FileB
After the relevant input buffer has been updated and its content has been matched by the
rules, SEC handles caught signals and checks the status of child processes. When the
timeout specified with the --cleantime option has expired, SEC also checks the status of
contexts and event correlation operations. Therefore, relatively small values should be
specified with the --cleantime option, in order to retain the accuracy of the event
correlation process. If the --cleantime option is set to 0, SEC checks event correlation
operations and contexts after processing every input line, but this consumes more CPU
time. If the --poll-timeout option value exceeds the value given with --cleantime, the
--poll-timeout option value takes precedence (i.e., sleeps after unsuccessful polls will
not be shortened).
Finally, note that apart from the sleeps after unsuccessful polls, SEC measures all time
intervals and occurrence times in seconds, and always uses the time(2) system call for
obtaining the current time. Also, for input event occurrence time SEC always uses the time
it observed the event, *not* the timestamp extracted from the event.
INTERNAL EVENTS AND CONTEXTS
In the action list of a context, the context can also be referred with the internal
context name _THIS. The name _THIS is created and deleted dynamically by SEC and it points
to the context only during its action list execution. This feature is useful when the
context has had several names during its lifetime (created with the alias action), and it
is hard to determine which names exist when the context expires. For example, if the
context is created with create A 60 (report A /bin/mail root) which is immediately
followed by alias A B and unalias A, the report action will fail since the name A no
longer refers to the context. However, replacing the first action with create A 60
(report _THIS /bin/mail root) will produce the correct result.
If the --intevents command line option is given, SEC will generate internal events when it
is started up, when it receives certain signals, and when it terminates normally. Inside
SEC, internal event is treated as if it was a line that was read from a SEC input file.
Specific rules can be written to match internal events, in order to take some action
(e.g., start an external event correlation module with spawn when SEC starts up). The
following internal events are supported:
SEC_STARTUP - generated when SEC is started (this event will always be the first event
that SEC sees)
SEC_RESTART - generated after SEC has received the SIGHUP signal and all internal data
structures have been cleared (this event will be the first event that SEC sees after
reloading its configuration)
SEC_SOFTRESTART - generated after SEC has received the SIGABRT signal (this event will be
the first event that SEC sees after reloading its configuration)
SEC_LOGROTATE - generated after SEC has received the SIGUSR2 signal (this event will be
the first event that SEC sees after reopening its log file and closing its outputs)
SEC_SHUTDOWN - generated when SEC receives the SIGTERM signal, or when SEC reaches all
EOFs of input files after being started with the --notail option. With the --childterm
option, SEC sleeps for 3 seconds after generating SEC_SHUTDOWN event, and then sends
SIGTERM to its child processes (if a child process was triggered by SEC_SHUTDOWN, this
delay leaves the process enough time for setting a signal handler for SIGTERM).
Before generating an internal event, SEC sets up a context named SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT, in
order to disambiguate internal events from regular input. The SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT context
is deleted immediately after the internal event has been matched against all rules.
If the --intcontexts command line option is given, or there is an --input option with a
context specified, SEC creates an internal context each time it reads a line from an input
file or a synthetic event. The internal context is deleted immediately after the line has
been matched against all rules. For all input files that have the context name explicitly
set with --input=<file_pattern>=<context>, the name of the internal context is <context>.
If the line was read from the input file <filename> for which there is no context name
set, the name of the internal context is _FILE_EVENT_<filename>. For synthetic events,
the name of the internal context is _INTERNAL_EVENT. This allows for writing rules that
match data from one particular input source only. E.g., the rule
type=Suppress
ptype=TValue
pattern=TRUE
context=[!_FILE_EVENT_/dev/logpipe]
passes only the lines that were read from /dev/logpipe.
INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION
The SingleWithScript rule and shellcmd, spawn, pipe, and report actions fork a child
process for executing an external program. If the program command line contains shell
metacharacters, the command line is first parsed by the shell which then starts the
program. SEC communicates with its child processes through pipes (created with the
pipe(2) system call). When the child process is at the read end of the pipe, data have to
be written to the pipe in blocking mode which ensures reliable data transmission. In
order to avoid being blocked, SEC forks another child process for writing data to the pipe
reliably.
After forking an external program, SEC continues immediately, and checks the program
status periodically until the program exits. The running time of a child process is not
limited in any way. With the --childterm option, SEC sends the SIGTERM signal to all child
processes when it terminates. If some special exit procedures need to be accomplished in
the child process (or the child wishes to ignore SIGTERM), then the child must install a
handler for the SIGTERM signal. Note that if the program command line contains shell
metacharacters, the parsing shell will run as a child process of SEC and the parent
process of the program. Therefore, the SIGTERM signal will be sent to the shell, *not* the
program. In order to avoid this, the shell's builtin exec command can be used (see sh(1)
for more information) which replaces the shell with the program without forking a new
process, e.g.,
action=spawn exec /usr/local/bin/myscript.pl 2>/var/log/myscript.log
Note that if an action list includes two actions which fork external programs, the
execution order these programs is not determined by the order of actions in the list,
since both programs are running asynchronously. In order to address this issue, the
execution order must be specified explicitly (e.g., instead of writing action=shellcmd
cmd1; shellcmd cmd2, use the shell && operator and write action=shellcmd cmd1 && cmd2).
Sometimes it is desireable to start an external program and provide it with data from
several rules. In order to create such setup, names pipes can be used. For example, if
/var/log/pipe is a named pipe, then
action=shellcmd /usr/bin/logger -f /var/log/pipe -p user.notice
starts the /usr/bin/logger utility which sends all lines read from /var/log/pipe to the
local syslog daemon with the "user" facility and "notice" level. In order to feed events
to /usr/bin/logger, the write action can be used (e.g., write /var/log/pipe This is my
event). Although SEC keeps the named pipe open across different write actions, the pipe
will be closed on the reception of SIGHUP, SIGABRT and SIGUSR2 signals. Since a number of
command line tools terminate on receiving EOF from input, they need restarting after such
signals have arrived. For this purpose, the --intevents option and SEC internal events can
be used. For example, the following rule starts the /usr/bin/logger utility at SEC
startup, and also restarts it after the reception of relevant signals:
type=Single
ptype=RegExp
pattern=^(?:SEC_STARTUP|SEC_RESTART|SEC_SOFTRESTART|SEC_LOGROTATE)$
context=SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT
desc=start the logger tool
action=free %emptystring; owritecl /var/log/pipe %emptystring; \
shellcmd /usr/bin/logger -f /var/log/pipe -p user.notice
Note that if /var/log/pipe is never opened for writing by a write action, /usr/bin/logger
will never see EOF and will thus not terminate. The owritecl action opens and closes
/var/log/pipe, in order to ensure the presence of EOF in such cases.
PERL INTEGRATION
SEC supports patterns, context expressions, and actions which involve calls to the Perl
eval() function or the execution of precompiled Perl code. The use of Perl code in SEC
patterns and context expressions allows for creating proper match conditions for scenarios
which can't be handled by a simple regular expression match. For example, consider the
following iptables syslog events:
May 27 10:00:15 box1 kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:be:9e:2f:00:10:db:ff:20:03:08:00 SRC=10.6.4.14 DST=10.1.8.2 LEN=84 TOS=0x00
PREC=0x00 TTL=251 ID=61426 PROTO=ICMP TYPE=8 CODE=0 ID=11670 SEQ=2
May 27 10:02:22 box1 kernel: iptables: IN=eth0 OUT=
MAC=08:00:27:be:9e:2f:00:10:db:ff:20:03:08:00 SRC=10.6.4.14 DST=10.1.8.2 LEN=52 TOS=0x00
PREC=0x00 TTL=60 ID=61441 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=53125 DPT=23 WINDOW=49640 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
Depending on the protocol and the nature of the traffic, events can have a wide variety of
fields, and parsing out all event data with one regular expression is infeasible. For
addressing this issue, a PerlFunc pattern can be used which creates match variables from
all fields of the matching event, stores them in one Perl hash, and returns a reference to
this hash. Outside the PerlFunc pattern, match variables are initialized from the key-
value pairs in the returned hash. Suppose the following Jump rule with a PerlFunc pattern
is defined in the main.rules rule file:
type=Jump
ptype=PerlFunc
pattern=sub { my(%var); my($line) = $_[0]; \
if ($line !~ /kernel: iptables:/g) { return 0; } \
while ($line =~ /\G\s*([A-Z]+)(?:=(\S*))?/g) { \
$var{$1} = defined($2)?$2:1; \
} return \%var; }
varmap=IPTABLES
desc=parse iptables event
cfset=iptables
For example, if the iptables event contains the fields SRC=10.6.4.14, DST=10.1.8.2 and
SYN, the above PerlFunc pattern sets up match variable $+{SRC} which holds 10.6.4.14,
match variable $+{DST} which holds 10.1.8.2, and match variable $+{SYN} which holds 1.
The Jump rule caches all created match variables under the name IPTABLES, and submits the
matching event to iptables ruleset for further processing. Suppose the iptables ruleset is
defined in the iptables.rules rule file:
type=Options
procallin=no
joincfset=iptables
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=Cached
pattern=IPTABLES
context=IPTABLES :> ( sub { return $_[0]->{"PROTO"} eq "ICMP"; } )
desc=ICMP flood type $+{TYPE} code $+{CODE} from host $+{SRC}
action=logonly
window=10
thresh=100
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=Cached
pattern=IPTABLES
context=IPTABLES :> ( sub { return exists($_[0]->{"SYN"}) && \
exists($_[0]->{"FIN"}) ; } )
desc=SYN+FIN flood from host $+{SRC}
action=logonly
window=10
thresh=100
The two SingleWithThreshold rules employ Cached patterns for matching iptables events by
looking up the IPTABLES entry in the pattern match cache (created by the above Jump rule
for each iptables event). In order to narrow down the match to specific iptables events,
the rules employ precompiled Perl functions in context expressions. The :> operator is
used for speeding up the matching, providing the function with a single parameter which
refers to the hash of variable name-value pairs for the IPTABLES cache entry.
The first SingleWithThreshold rule logs a warning message if within 10 seconds 100
iptables events have been observed for ICMP packets with the same type, code, and source
IP address. The second SingleWithThreshold rule logs a warning message if within 10
seconds 100 iptables events have been observed for TCP packets coming from the same host,
and having both SYN and FIN flag set in each packet.
Apart from using action list variables for data sharing between rules, Perl variables
created in Perl code can be employed for the same purpose. For example, when SEC has
executed the following action
action=eval %a ($b = 1)
the variable $b and its value become visible in the following context expression
context= =(++$b > 10)
(with that expression one can implement event counting implicitly). In order to avoid
possible clashes with variables inside the SEC code itself, user-defined Perl code is
executed in the main::SEC namespace (i.e., inside the special package main::SEC). By
using the main:: prefix, SEC data structures can be accessed and modified. For example,
the following rules restore and save contexts on SEC startup and shutdown (SEC keeps all
contexts in %main::context_list hash):
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=SEC_STARTUP
context=SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT
continue=TakeNext
desc=Load the Storable module and terminate if it is not found
action=eval %ret (require Storable); \
if %ret ( logonly Storabe loaded ) else ( eval %o exit(1) )
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=SEC_STARTUP
context=SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT
desc=Restore all SEC contexts from /tmp/SEC_CONTEXTS on startup
action=lcall %ret -> ( sub { %main::context_list = \
%{Storable::retrieve("/tmp/SEC_CONTEXTS")}; } )
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=SEC_SHUTDOWN
context=SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT
desc=Save all SEC contexts into /tmp/SEC_CONTEXTS on shutdown
action=lcall %ret -> ( sub { \
Storable::store(\%main::context_list, "/tmp/SEC_CONTEXTS"); } )
However, note that modifying data structures within SEC code is recommended only for
advanced users who have carefully studied relevant parts of the code.
Finally, sometimes larger chunks of Perl code have to be used for event processing and
correlation. However, writing many lines of code directly into a rule is cumbersome and
may decrease its readability. In such cases it is recommended to separate the code into a
custom Perl module which is loaded at SEC startup, and use the code through the module
interface (see perlmod(1) for further details):
type=Single
ptype=SubStr
pattern=SEC_STARTUP
context=SEC_INTERNAL_EVENT
desc=Load the SecStuff module
action=eval %ret (require '/usr/local/sec/SecStuff.pm'); \
if %ret ( none ) else ( eval %o exit(1) )
type=Single
ptype=PerlFunc
pattern=sub { return SecStuff::my_match($_[0]); }
desc=event '$0' was matched by my_match()
action=write - %s
EXAMPLES
Example 1 - a ruleset for Cisco events
This section presents an example rulebase for managing Cisco devices. It is assumed that
the managed devices have syslog logging enabled, and that all syslog messages are sent to
a central host and written to logfile(s) that are monitored by SEC.
# Set up contexts NIGHT and WEEKEND for nights
# and weekends. The context NIGHT has a lifetime
# of 8 hours and the context WEEKEND 2 days
type=Calendar
time=0 23 * * *
desc=NIGHT
action=create %s 28800
type=Calendar
time=0 0 * * 6
desc=WEEKEND
action=create %s 172800
# If a router does not come up within 5 minutes
# after it was rebooted, generate event
# "<router> REBOOT FAILURE". The next rule matches
# this event, checks the router with ping and sends
# a notification if there is no response.
type=PairWithWindow
ptype=RegExp
pattern=\s([\w.-]+) \d+: %SYS-5-RELOAD
desc=$1 REBOOT FAILURE
action=event %s
ptype2=RegExp
pattern2=\s$1 \d+: %SYS-5-RESTART
desc2=%1 successful reboot
action2=logonly
window=300
type=SingleWithScript
ptype=RegExp
pattern=^([\w.-]+) REBOOT FAILURE
script=/bin/ping -c 3 -q $1
desc=$1 did not come up after reboot
action=logonly $1 is pingable after reboot
action2=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
# Send a notification if CPU load of a router is too
# high (two CPUHOG messages are received within 5
# minutes); send another notification if the load is
# normal again (no CPUHOG messages within last 15
# minutes). Rule is not active at night or weekend.
type=SingleWith2Thresholds
ptype=RegExp
pattern=\s([\w.-]+) \d+: %SYS-3-CPUHOG
context=!(NIGHT || WEEKEND)
desc=$1 CPU overload
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=300
thresh=2
desc2=$1 CPU load normal
action2=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window2=900
thresh2=0
# If a router interface is in down state for less
# than 15 seconds, generate event
# "<router> INTERFACE <interface> SHORT OUTAGE";
# otherwise generate event
# "<router> INTERFACE <interface> DOWN".
type=PairWithWindow
ptype=RegExp
pattern=\s([\w.-]+) \d+: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface ([\w.-]+), changed state to down
desc=$1 INTERFACE $2 DOWN
action=event %s
ptype2=RegExp
pattern2=\s$1 \d+: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface $2, changed state to up
desc2=%1 INTERFACE %2 SHORT OUTAGE
action2=event %s
window=15
# If "<router> INTERFACE <interface> DOWN" event is
# received, send a notification and wait for
# "interface up" event from the same router interface
# for the next 24 hours
type=Pair
ptype=RegExp
pattern=^([\w.-]+) INTERFACE ([\w.-]+) DOWN
desc=$1 interface $2 is down
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
ptype2=RegExp
pattern2=\s$1 \d+: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface $2, changed state to up
desc2=%1 interface %2 is up
action2=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=86400
# If ten "short outage" events have been observed
# in the window of 6 hours, send a notification
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=^([\w.-]+) INTERFACE ([\w.-]+) SHORT OUTAGE
desc=Interface $2 at node $1 is unstable
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail root@localhost
window=21600
thresh=10
Example 2 - hierarchically organized rulesets for iptables and sshd events
This section presents an example of hierarchically organized rules for processing Linux
iptables events from /var/log/messages and SSH login events from /var/log/secure. It is
assumed that all rule files reside in the /etc/sec directory and that the rule hierarchy
has two levels. The file /etc/sec/main.rules contains first-level Jump rules for matching
and parsing events from input files and submitting them to proper rulesets for further
processing. All other rule files in the /etc/sec directory contain second-level rules
which receive their input from first-level Jump rules. Also, the example assumes that SEC
is started with the following command line:
/usr/bin/sec --conf=/etc/sec/*.rules --intcontexts \
--input=/var/log/messages --input=/var/log/secure
#
# the content of /etc/sec/main.rules
#
type=Jump
context=[ _FILE_EVENT_/var/log/messages ]
ptype=PerlFunc
pattern=sub { my(%var); my($line) = $_[0]; \
if ($line !~ /kernel: iptables:/g) { return 0; } \
while ($line =~ /\G\s*([A-Z]+)(?:=(\S*))?/g) { \
$var{$1} = defined($2)?$2:1; \
} return \%var; }
varmap=IPTABLES
desc=parse iptables events and direct to relevant ruleset
cfset=iptables
type=Jump
context=[ _FILE_EVENT_/var/log/secure ]
ptype=RegExp
pattern=sshd\[(?<pid>\d+)]: (?<status>Accepted|Failed) \
(?<authmethod>[\w-]+) for (?<invuser>invalid user )?\
(?<user>[\w-]+) from (?<srcip>[\d.]+) port (?<srcport>\d+) ssh2$
varmap=SSH_LOGIN
desc=parse SSH login events and direct to relevant ruleset
cfset=ssh-login
type=Jump
context=[ _INTERNAL_EVENT ]
ptype=TValue
pattern=True
desc=direct synthetic events to relevant ruleset
cfset=ssh-events
#
# the content of /etc/sec/iptables.rules
#
type=Options
procallin=no
joincfset=iptables
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=Cached
pattern=IPTABLES
context=IPTABLES :> ( sub { return exists($_[0]->{"SYN"}) && \
exists($_[0]->{"FIN"}) ; } ) \
&& !SUPPRESS_IP_$+{SRC}
desc=SYN+FIN flood from host $+{SRC}
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail -s 'iptables alert' root@localhost; \
create SUPPRESS_IP_$+{SRC} 3600
window=10
thresh=100
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=Cached
pattern=IPTABLES
context=IPTABLES :> ( sub { return exists($_[0]->{"SYN"}) && \
!exists($_[0]->{"ACK"}) ; } ) \
&& !SUPPRESS_IP_$+{SRC}
desc=SYN flood from host $+{SRC}
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail -s 'iptables alert' root@localhost; \
create SUPPRESS_IP_$+{SRC} 3600
window=10
thresh=100
#
# the content of /etc/sec/ssh-login.rules
#
type=Options
procallin=no
joincfset=ssh-login
type=Single
ptype=Cached
pattern=SSH_LOGIN
context=SSH_LOGIN :> ( sub { return $_[0]->{"status"} eq "Failed" && \
$_[0]->{"srcport"} < 1024 && \
defined($_[0]->{"invuser"}); } )
continue=TakeNext
desc=Probe of invalid user $+{user} from privileged port of $+{srcip}
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH alert' root@localhost
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=Cached
pattern=SSH_LOGIN
context=SSH_LOGIN :> ( sub { return $_[0]->{"status"} eq "Failed" && \
defined($_[0]->{"invuser"}); } )
desc=Ten login probes for invalid users from $+{srcip} within 60s
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH alert' root@localhost
thresh=10
window=60
type=PairWithWindow
ptype=Cached
pattern=SSH_LOGIN
context=SSH_LOGIN :> ( sub { return $_[0]->{"status"} eq "Failed"; } )
desc=User $+{user} failed to log in from $+{srcip} within 60s
action=event %s
ptype2=Cached
pattern2=SSH_LOGIN
context2=SSH_LOGIN :> \
( sub { return $_[0]->{"status"} eq "Accepted"; } ) && \
$+{user} %+{user} $+{srcip} %+{srcip} -> \
( sub { return $_[0] eq $_[1] && $_[2] eq $_[3]; } )
desc2=User $+{user} logged in successfully from $+{srcip} within 60s
action2=logonly
window=60
#
# the content of /etc/sec/ssh-events.rules
#
type=Options
procallin=no
joincfset=ssh-events
type=SingleWithThreshold
ptype=RegExp
pattern=User ([\w-]+) failed to log in from [\d.]+ within 60s
desc=Ten login failures for user $1 within 1h
action=pipe '%t: %s' /bin/mail -s 'SSH alert' root@localhost
thresh=10
window=3600
ENVIRONMENT
If the SECRC environment variable is set, SEC expects it to contain the name of its
resource file. Resource file lines which are empty or which begin with the number sign (#)
are ignored (whitespace may precede #). Each remaining line is appended to the argv array
of SEC as a *single* element. Also, the lines are appended to argv in the order they
appear in the resource file. Therefore, if the SEC command line option has a value, the
option name and the value must either be separated by the equal sign (=) or a newline.
Here is a simple resource file example:
# read events from standard input
--input=-
# rules are stored in /etc/sec/test.conf
--conf
/etc/sec/test.conf
Note that although SEC rereads its resource file at the reception of the SIGHUP or SIGABRT
signal, adding an option that specifies a certain startup procedure (e.g., --pid or
--detach) will not produce the desired effect at runtime. Also note that the resource file
content is *not* parsed by shell, therefore shell metacharacters are passed to SEC as-is.
SIGNALS
SIGHUP full restart -- SEC will reinterpret its command line and resource file options,
reopen its log and input files, close its output files and sockets (these will be
reopened on demand), reload its configuration, and drop *all* event correlation
state (all event correlation operations will be terminated, all contexts will be
deleted, all action list variables will be erased, etc.). With the --childterm
option, SEC will also send the SIGTERM signal to its child processes.
SIGABRT
soft restart -- SEC will reinterpret its command line and resource file options,
reopen its log file, and close its output files and sockets (these will be reopened
on demand). If the --keepopen option is specified, previously opened input files
will remain open across soft restart, otherwise all input files will be reopened.
SEC will (re)load configuration from rule files which have been modified (file
modification time returned by stat(2) has changed) or created after the previous
configuration load. SEC will also terminate event correlation operations started
from rule files that have been modified or removed after the previous configuration
load. Other operations and previously loaded configuration from unmodified rule
files will remain intact. Note that on some systems SIGIOT is used in place of
SIGABRT.
SIGUSR1
detailed information about the current state of SEC (performance and rule matching
statistics, running event correlation operations, created contexts, etc.) will be
written to the SEC dumpfile.
SIGUSR2
SEC will reopen its logfile (useful for logfile rotation), and also close its
output files and sockets which will be reopened on demand.
SIGINT SEC will increase its logging level by one; if the current level is 6, the level
will be set back to 1. Please note this feature is available only if SEC is running
non-interactively (e.g., in daemon mode).
SIGTERM
SEC will terminate gracefully. With the --childterm option, all SEC child processes
will receive SIGTERM.
BUGS
With some locale settings, apostrophes (') in this man page might be displayed
incorrectly. As a workaround, set the LANG environment variable to C when reading this man
page (e.g., env LANG=C man sec).
AUTHOR
Risto Vaarandi (ristov at users d0t s0urcef0rge d0t net)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported by SEB. The author thanks the following people for supplying
software patches, documentation fixes, and suggesting new features: Al Sorrell, David
Lang, James Brown, Jon Frazier, Mark D. Nagel, Peter Eckel, Rick Casey, and William Gertz.
Last but not least, the author expresses his profound gratitute to John P. Rouillard for
many great ideas and creative discussions that have helped to develop SEC.
SEE ALSO
cron(8), crontab(1), date(1), fork(2), mail(1), perl(1), perlmod(1), perlre(1), pipe(2),
sh(1), snmptrap(1), stat(2), syslog(3), time(2)