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linux-auditd-rules

Design & creation

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Updated 10-16 03:40

About this skill

Linux Audit Daemon (auditd) Rules

Distro support

Two-family skill. auditd is the same daemon on both families — same auditctl syntax, same /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules, same ausearch / aureport. Only the package step and the source of pre-built compliance rulesets differ. The RHEL family additionally surfaces SELinux AVC denials through the same audit log, so ausearch -m AVC is a RHEL-side bonus signal. Body uses Debian/Ubuntu; substitute per this matrix.

Concept Debian/Ubuntu RHEL family
Install apt install auditd audispd-plugins dnf install audit (usually preinstalled)
Daemon / unit auditd auditd (same)
Rule drop-ins /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules (same)
Compile + load augenrules --load augenrules --load (same)
Daemon config /etc/audit/auditd.conf /etc/audit/auditd.conf (same)
Log file /var/log/audit/audit.log /var/log/audit/audit.log (same)
Pre-built compliance rules hand-authored / upstream samples scap-security-guide → /usr/share/audit/sample-rules/ (PCI-DSS, CIS, STIG)
AVC denials as audit events AppArmor (not in audit.log) SELinux (ausearch -m AVC, aureport --avc)
Auth log correlated with audit /var/log/auth.log /var/log/secure

auditd answers "who did what, and when?" by hooking the kernel audit subsystem. It complements the other two compliance layers: file-hash drift (linux-file-integrity, AIDE) and benchmark scanning (linux-benchmark-scanning, OpenSCAP/Lynis). See ../../docs/multi-distro/plan.md and the SELinux reference in ../../07-security-and-hardening/linux-server-hardening/references/selinux-reference.md.

Use When

  • Adding, listing, or deleting audit rules with auditctl or persisting them in /etc/audit/rules.d/.
  • Watching files (-w) or syscalls (-a always,exit) for a compliance or forensic requirement.
  • Searching the audit trail with ausearch/aureport to attribute a change to a user.
  • Locking the rule set immutable (-e 2) or tuning audit-log rotation and buffers.

Do Not Use When

  • The task is detecting file-content drift by hash; use linux-file-integrity (AIDE).
  • The task is a benchmark/compliance scan with a score; use linux-benchmark-scanning (OpenSCAP/Lynis).
  • The task is blocking abusive IPs or rootkit scanning; use linux-intrusion-detection.

Required Inputs

Artefact Source Required? If absent
Attribution/compliance objective, exact paths/syscalls, architectures, and key Control owner and system inventory yes Stop rule design; do not deploy broad guesses.
Existing rules, event rate, backlog/loss state, and log capacity Read-only host inspection yes Return a proposed read-only assessment plan.
Persistence, immutable-mode, change window, and console recovery approval Change record mutation only Keep runtime inspection; do not load or lock rules.

Capability Contract

Default to read-only: read/search rules, status, logs, and reports without changing the host. Runtime/persistent rule changes, daemon config, reload, rotation, and -e 2 require explicit authority. Immutable mode requires console recovery and separate approval because reversal needs reboot.

Degraded Mode

Without audit-log access, review supplied rules statically and mark attribution/loss checks not assessed. Without workload reproduction, do not claim the rule captures the intended event. Without authority, emit tested commands as a proposal only.

Decision Rules

Choice Action Failure or risk avoided
File watch or syscall rule Prefer syscall filters for attributable system calls; use narrow file watches where path monitoring is the requirement. Excess noise or missing attribution.
Runtime or persistent Test runtime first, then persist only a proven rule. Reboot regression or lost rule.
Permission mask Record only required operations; avoid hot read auditing unless mandated. Backlog overflow and lost events.
Immutable mode Set -e 2 only after complete validation and recovery approval. Locking a broken/noisy ruleset.

Workflow

  1. Read/search the current rules, daemon/backlog status, log capacity, and relevant events; stop if the target or loss baseline is unknown.
  2. Translate the objective into the narrowest keyed rule and review architecture/path coverage.
  3. With authority, load the rule at runtime first and generate the intended positive event plus a negative control.
  4. Confirm attribution with ausearch, event rate, and zero unacceptable loss; abort and delete the runtime rule if noise/loss exceeds the limit.
  5. Persist and reload only the proven rule, then verify active and on-disk sets match.
  6. Consider -e 2 only after separate approval. Recover from a failed rule by removing/reverting the drop-in and reloading; immutable failures require the approved reboot path.

Quality standards

  • Every rule carries a descriptive -k key so the trail is searchable.
  • Persist rules in rules.d; never rely on runtime-only auditctl across reboots.
  • Watch the narrowest path that meets the requirement — broad watches on busy trees lose events.
  • Ship the log off-box: an attacker with root can delete /var/log/audit/.

Anti-Patterns

  • Auditing reads on hot files. Fix: narrow operations/filters and measure event rate before persistence.
  • Leaving -e 2 set during development. Fix: test runtime, persist, reload, and lock only after approval.
  • Treating uninterpreted numeric IDs as final. Fix: preserve raw IDs and add ausearch -i for human attribution.
  • Ignoring nonzero lost counts. Fix: stop acceptance, reduce noise or tune capacity, and rerun the test.
  • Deploying rules without keys. Fix: assign stable descriptive keys tied to the control objective.
  • Copying a benchmark ruleset wholesale. Fix: map each selected rule to the host architecture, workload, and control.

Outputs

Artefact Consumer Acceptance condition
Rule/control record Compliance and platform owners Maps objective to exact keyed rule, scope, persistence, approval, and rollback.
Attribution report Investigator Positive test identifies expected actor/action/object/time; negative control is excluded.
Health evidence Operator Active/persistent rules match and backlog/lost metrics remain within declared limits.

Evidence Produced

Artefact Acceptance
Rule-load and event evidence Contains redacted auditctl status/list, test event, ausearch attribution, event-rate/loss result, and unavailable checks.

Worked Example

To attribute edits to /etc/sudoers, inspect existing overlap, test a keyed runtime write/attribute rule, make one authorised test change, prove the actor with ausearch -k, confirm no loss, then persist. Do not enable immutable mode during this test.

References

  • references/auditd-reference.md — install, rule syntax, the rule catalogue, immutable mode, rotation, alerting, and the full ausearch/aureport cookbook.

This skill is self-contained. Every command below is a standard tool on both families — auditctl, augenrules, ausearch, aureport (see Distro support for the one install difference). The sk-* script in the Optional fast path section is a convenience wrapper — never required.

auditd: install and enable

sudo apt install auditd audispd-plugins        # dnf install audit (usually preinstalled)
sudo systemctl enable --now auditd
sudo systemctl status auditd --no-pager

Key paths:

  • /etc/audit/auditd.conf — daemon config (log location, rotation, buffer).
  • /etc/audit/rules.d/*.rules — drop-in rule files; combined into /etc/audit/audit.rules at daemon start via augenrules.
  • /var/log/audit/audit.log — the log (mode 600, root-only).

Adding rules with auditctl (runtime)

# Watch a file: -w path  -p perms(r,w,x,a)  -k key
sudo auditctl -w /etc/passwd -p wa -k identity
sudo auditctl -w /etc/ssh/sshd_config -p wa -k sshd_config

# Watch a syscall: -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S <syscall> -k key
sudo auditctl -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F euid=0 -k root_exec

# List / delete / status
sudo auditctl -l
sudo auditctl -D                # delete all rules
sudo auditctl -s                # status: enabled, failure mode, backlog, LOSSES

Runtime rules vanish on reboot — validate here, then persist (below).

Persistent rules in /etc/audit/rules.d/

sudo tee /etc/audit/rules.d/10-linux-skills.rules > /dev/null <<'EOF'
-D
-b 8192
-w /etc/passwd  -p wa -k identity
-w /etc/shadow  -p wa -k identity
-w /etc/sudoers -p wa -k sudoers
-w /etc/ssh/sshd_config -p wa -k sshd_config
-a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F euid=0 -k root_exec
# -e 2          # uncomment to lock immutable AFTER the rules are proven
EOF

sudo augenrules --load          # compile rules.d/ into audit.rules and load
sudo auditctl -l | head

The full rule catalogue (identity, SSH, web/db config, privileged exec, time, kernel modules, network) is in references/auditd-reference.md.

On the RHEL family, compliance rulesets ship ready-made — copy a profile instead of hand-writing:

sudo dnf install scap-security-guide
sudo cp /usr/share/audit/sample-rules/30-pci-dss-v31.rules /etc/audit/rules.d/
sudo augenrules --load

Immutable mode (-e 2)

End the rule set with -e 2 to lock it until reboot. An attacker with root then cannot silently disable auditing mid-incident; rule changes require a reboot. Use -e 0 (or omit) during development, flip to -e 2 once stable.

sudo auditctl -e 2              # lock now (runtime); also as last line of rules.d
sudo auditctl -s | grep enabled # enabled 2 = immutable

Analysing the trail: ausearch / aureport

# ausearch — find events; -i interprets uid/gid into names
sudo ausearch -k sudoers -i
sudo ausearch -f /etc/passwd -i
sudo ausearch --start recent -i
sudo ausearch -m AVC -ts recent        # SELinux denials (RHEL family)

# aureport — summaries
sudo aureport --summary
sudo aureport -au --failed             # failed logins
sudo aureport -k --summary             # events by key

auid= survives su/sudo — it is the original logged-in user, which is what attribution needs. Full cookbook and example investigations in references/auditd-reference.md.

Log rotation and losses

Rotation is handled by auditd itself via /etc/audit/auditd.conf (max_log_file, num_logs, max_log_file_action = ROTATE). If auditctl -s shows a nonzero lost, raise the buffer (-b 16384) or narrow the rules. Detail in references/auditd-reference.md.

Optional fast path (when sk-* scripts are installed)

Running sudo install-skills-bin linux-auditd-rules installs:

Task Fast-path script
Audit health: status, losses, rule count, recent key activity sudo sk-audit-status

This is an optional read-only wrapper around auditctl, ausearch, and aureport. The commands above are the source of truth.

Scripts

This skill installs the following scripts to /usr/local/bin/. To install:

sudo install-skills-bin linux-auditd-rules
Script Source Core? Purpose
sk-audit-status scripts/sk-audit-status.sh yes Read-only auditd health report on both families: daemon state, immutable/enabled flag, loaded rule count, backlog/lost counters, top keys by event volume (aureport -k), and recent AVC denials on the RHEL family. Changes nothing.