In this guide, we are going to learn how to install OSSEC Agent on Debian 10 Buster. OSSEC is an open source host intrusion detection system (HIDS) that can be used to performs log analysis, integrity checking, Windows registry monitoring, rootkit detection, real-time alerting and active response.
OSSEC is build upon server-agent model. This means that to monitor systems using an OSSEC, you need some OSSEC server, and an agent installed on the servers to monitor. However, you can as well be able to do the monitoring via agentless monitoring, which in this case you do not need install any agents on the endpoint you are monitoring.
Table of Contents
Installing OSSEC Agent on Debian 10 Buster
To begin with, run system update.
apt updateInstall Required Dependencies
A successful build and installation of OSSEC HIDS agent on Debian 10 from the source requires quite a number of dependencies to be installed on the system. Run the command below to install these dependencies.
apt install gcc make libevent-dev zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libpcre2-dev wget tar inotify-tools -yDownload Latest OSSEC Source Code
OSSEC 3.7 is the latest stable release version as of this writing. Check the releases page for the latest releases.
Replace the value of VER with the current release version of OSSEC agent;
VER=3.7.0wget https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids/archive/${VER}.tar.gz -P /tmpExtract OSSEC Source Code
Once the OSSEC source download is completed, extract it as follows;
cd /tmptar xzf ${VER}.tar.gzInstall OSSEC HIDS Agent on Debian 10
To install OSSEC agent, navigate to the source code directory and run the installation script.
cd ossec-hids-${VER}/Execute the installation group;
./install.shSelect you installation language. In this case, we choose the default install language, English.
Press ENTER to choose default installation options or select your language from the list.
(en/br/cn/de/el/es/fr/hu/it/jp/nl/pl/ru/sr/tr) [en]: ENTERAgain, press ENTER to continue.
-- Press ENTER to continue or Ctrl-C to abort. --Specify the type of installation. In our case, we are installing ossec-hids agent, hence select agent.
1- What kind of installation do you want (server, agent, local, hybrid or help)? agent
- Agent(client) installation chosen.Choose the installation path. We go with the default, /var/ossec.
2- Setting up the installation environment.
- Choose where to install the OSSEC HIDS [/var/ossec]: ENTER
- Installation will be made at /var/ossec .Enter the OSSEC-HIDs Server IP address or hostname. Replace the IP used here accordingly.
3- Configuring the OSSEC HIDS.
3.1- What's the IP Address or hostname of the OSSEC HIDS server?: 192.168.56.11
- Adding Server IP 192.168.56.11
Enable system integrity check
3.2- Do you want to run the integrity check daemon? (y/n) [y]: y
- Running syscheck (integrity check daemon).Enable rootkit detection engine.
3.3- Do you want to run the rootkit detection engine? (y/n) [y]: y
- Running rootcheck (rootkit detection).Disable active response. Otherwise, you can enable it if you an understanding of the type and number of alerts you want.
3.4 - Do you want to enable active response? (y/n) [y]: n
- Active response disabled.The agent installer then displays the log files that are read by default. You can add more later on ossec.conf file.
3.5- Setting the configuration to analyze the following logs:
-- /var/log/messages
-- /var/log/secure
-- /var/log/maillog
...Once you are done defining the default options, proceed to install OSSEC agent on Debian 10 by pressing ENTER.
Once the agent is installed, you will see an output similar to;
- System is Debian (Ubuntu or derivative).
- Init script modified to start OSSEC HIDS during boot.
- Configuration finished properly.
- To start OSSEC HIDS:
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control start
- To stop OSSEC HIDS:
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stop
- The configuration can be viewed or modified at /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf
Thanks for using the OSSEC HIDS.
If you have any question, suggestion or if you find any bug,
contact us at https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids or using
our public maillist at
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ossec-list
More information can be found at http://www.ossec.net
--- Press ENTER to finish (maybe more information below). ---
Press ENTER to close the installer.
Connect the OSSEC Agent to OSSEC Server
For the agent to communicate with the server;
- You can need to first add it to the HIDS server, in our case we used AlienVault OSSIM.
- After that extract the agent authentication key from the server.
Once you have extracted the key, Import the key on the agent by running the command below;
/var/ossec/bin/manage_agentsEnter option I, paste the key and confirm adding the key. Then type Q and press enter to exit.
****************************************
* OSSEC HIDS v3.7.0 Agent manager. *
* The following options are available: *
****************************************
(I)mport key from the server (I).
(Q)uit.
Choose your action: I or Q: I
* Provide the Key generated by the server.
* The best approach is to cut and paste it.
*** OBS: Do not include spaces or new lines.
Paste it here (or '\q' to quit): NSttstGSTsgspsgsjshsYmV5a2ktb3Blbnzk999383nndZwbiAxMC43LjMuNTggMWQyNzBjZTZlNzI2OGI2MWUzOWQ4NTg4YjgwM2ZjNDhhZWY2OTQxZTU2OWE2M2U3MjQ1N2Y1w==
Agent information:
ID:10
Name:koromicha
IP Address:192.168.43.17
Confirm adding it?(y/n): y
2023/05/30 18:05:57 manage_agents: ERROR: Cannot unlink /queue/rids/sender: No such file or directory
Added.
** Press ENTER to return to the main menu.
****************************************
* OSSEC HIDS v3.7.0 Agent manager. *
* The following options are available: *
****************************************
(I)mport key from the server (I).
(Q)uit.
Choose your action: I or Q: q
** You must restart OSSEC for your changes to take effect.
manage_agents: Exiting.
Running OSSEC Agent
Once the installation completes, the installer displays how to run OSSEC agent.
To start the agent;
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control startOr
systemctl start ossecTo stop the agent;
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control stopOr
systemctl stop ossecOther unit service control commands;
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control {start|stop|reload|restart|status}To check the status;
/var/ossec/bin/ossec-control statusCheck the logs to see if the agent has connected to the server;
tail -f /var/ossec/logs/ossec.logYou have successfully installed OSSEC agent on Debian 10 Buster.
Related Guides;
How to install and configure AlienVault OSSIM 5.5 on VirtualBox
How to Install and Setup AlienVault HIDS Agent on a Windows Host
Nagios SNMP Monitoring of Linux Hosts on AlienVault USM/OSSIM
Thank you so much for this tutorial!