ausearch(8)
NAME
ausearch - a tool to query audit daemon logs
SYNOPSIS
ausearch [options]
DESCRIPTION
ausearch is a tool that can query the audit daemon logs based for events based on different search criteria. The ausearch utility can also take input from stdin as long as the input is the raw log data. Each commandline option given forms an "and" statement. For example, searching with -m and -ui means return events that have both the requested type and match the user id given. An exception is the -n option; multiple nodes are allowed in a search which will return any matching node. It should also be noted that each syscall excursion from user space into the kernel and back into user space has one event ID that is unique. Any auditable event that is triggered during this trip share this ID so that they may be correlated. Different parts of the kernel may add supplemental records. For example, an audit event on the syscall "open" will also cause the kernel to emit a PATH record with the file name. The ausearch utility will present all records that make up one event together. This could mean that even though you search for a specific kind of record, the resulting events may contain SYSCALL records. Also be aware that not all record types have the requested information. For example, a PATH record does not have a hostname or a loginuid.
OPTIONS
-a, --event audit-event-id
Search for an event based on the given event ID. Messages always
start with something like msg=audit(1116360555.329:2401771). The
event ID is the number after the ':'. All audit events that are
recorded from one application's syscall have the same audit
event ID. A second syscall made by the same application will
have a different event ID. This way they are unique.
--arch CPU
Search for events based on a specific CPU architecture. If you
do not know the arch of your machine but you want to use the 32
bit syscall table and your machine supports 32 bits, you can
also use b32 for the arch. The same applies to the 64 bit
syscall table, you can use b64. The arch of your machine can be
found by doing 'uname -m'.
-c, --comm comm-name
Search for an event based on the given comm name. The comm name
is the executable's name from the task structure.
--debug
Write malformed events that are skipped to stderr.
--checkpoint checkpoint-file
Checkpoint the output between successive invocations of ausearch
such that only events not previously output will print in
subsequent invocations.
An auditd event is made up of one or more records. When
processing events, ausearch defines events as either complete or
in-complete. A complete event is either a single record event
or one whose event time occurred 2 seconds in the past compared
to the event being currently processed.
A checkpoint is achieved by recording the last completed event
output along with the device number and inode of the file the
last completed event appeared in checkpoint-file. On a
subsequent invocation, ausearch will load this checkpoint data
and as it processes the log files, it will discard all complete
events until it matches the checkpointed one. At this point, it
will start outputting complete events.
Should the file or the last checkpointed event not be found, one
of a number of errors will result and ausearch will terminate.
See EXIT STATUS for detail.
-e, --exit exit-code-or-errno
Search for an event based on the given syscall exit code or
errno.
-f, --file file-name
Search for an event based on the given filename. The argument
will match normal files as well as af_unix sockets.
-ga, --gid-all all-group-id
Search for an event with either effective group ID or group ID
matching the given group ID.
-ge, --gid-effective effective-group-id
Search for an event with the given effective group ID or group
name.
-gi, --gid group-id
Search for an event with the given group ID or group name.
-h, --help
Help
-hn, --host host-name
Search for an event with the given host name. The hostname can
be either a hostname, fully qualified domain name, or numeric
network address. No attempt is made to resolve numeric addresses
to domain names or aliases.
-i, --interpret
Interpret numeric entities into text. For example, uid is
converted to account name. The conversion is done using the
current resources of the machine where the search is being run.
If you have renamed the accounts, or don't have the same
accounts on your machine, you could get misleading results.
-if, --input file-name | directory
Use the given file or directory instead of the logs. This is to
aid analysis where the logs have been moved to another machine
or only part of a log was saved.
--input-logs
Use the log file location from auditd.conf as input for
searching. This is needed if you are using ausearch from a cron
job.
--just-one
Stop after emitting the first event that matches the search
criteria.
-k, --key key-string
Search for an event based on the given key string.
-l, --line-buffered
Flush output on every line. Most useful when stdout is connected
to a pipe and the default block buffering strategy is
undesirable. May impose a performance penalty.
-m, --message message-type | comma-sep-message-type-list
Search for an event matching the given message type. You may
also enter a comma separated list of message types. There is an
ALL message type that doesn't exist in the actual logs. It
allows you to get all messages in the system. The list of valid
messages types is long. The program will display the list
whenever no message type is passed with this parameter. The
message type can be either text or numeric. If you enter a list,
there can be only commas and no spaces separating the list.
-n, --node node-name
Search for events originating from node name string. Multiple
nodes are allowed, and if any nodes match, the event is matched.
-o, --object SE-Linux-context-string
Search for event with tcontext (object) matching the string.
-p, --pid process-id
Search for an event matching the given process ID.
-pp, --ppid parent-process-id
Search for an event matching the given parent process ID.
-r, --raw
Output is completely unformatted. This is useful for extracting
records that can still be interpreted by audit tools.
-sc, --syscall syscall-name-or-value
Search for an event matching the given syscall. You may either
give the numeric syscall value or the syscall name. If you give
the syscall name, it will use the syscall table for the machine
that you are using.
-se, --context SE-Linux-context-string
Search for event with either scontext/subject or tcontext/object
matching the string.
--session Login-Session-ID
Search for events matching the given Login Session ID. This
process attribute is set when a user logs in and can tie any
process to a particular user login.
-su, --subject SE-Linux-context-string
Search for event with scontext (subject) matching the string.
-sv, --success success-value
Search for an event matching the given success value. Legal
values are yes and no.
-te, --end [end-date] [end-time]
Search for events with time stamps equal to or before the given
end time. The format of end time depends on your locale. If the
date is omitted, today is assumed. If the time is omitted, now
is assumed. Use 24 hour clock time rather than AM or PM to
specify time. An example date using the en_US.utf8 locale is
09/03/2009. An example of time is 18:00:00. The date format
accepted is influenced by the LC_TIME environmental variable.
You may also use the word: now, recent, today, yesterday,
this-week, week-ago, this-month, or this-year. Today means
starting now. Recent is 10 minutes ago. Yesterday is 1 second
after midnight the previous day. This-week means starting 1
second after midnight on day 0 of the week determined by your
locale (see localtime). Week-ago means 1 second after midnight
exactly 7 days ago. This-month means 1 second after midnight on
day 1 of the month. This-year means the 1 second after midnight
on the first day of the first month.
-ts, --start [start-date] [start-time]
Search for events with time stamps equal to or after the given
start time. The format of start time depends on your locale. If
the date is omitted, today is assumed. If the time is omitted,
midnight is assumed. Use 24 hour clock time rather than AM or PM
to specify time. An example date using the en_US.utf8 locale is
09/03/2009. An example of time is 18:00:00. The date format
accepted is influenced by the LC_TIME environmental variable.
You may also use the word: now, recent, today, yesterday,
this-week, week-ago, this-month, this-year, or checkpoint. Today
means starting at 1 second after midnight. Recent is 10 minutes
ago. Yesterday is 1 second after midnight the previous day.
This-week means starting 1 second after midnight on day 0 of the
week determined by your locale (see localtime). Week-ago means
starting 1 second after midnight exactly 7 days ago. This-month
means 1 second after midnight on day 1 of the month. This-year
means the 1 second after midnight on the first day of the first
month.
checkpoint means ausearch will use the timestamp found within a
valid checkpoint file ignoring the recorded inode, device,
serial, node and event type also found within a checkpoint file.
Essentially, this is the recovery action should an invocation of
ausearch with a checkpoint option fail with an exit status of
10, 11 or 12. It could be used in a shell script something like:
ausearch --checkpoint /etc/audit/auditd_checkpoint.txt -i
_au_status=$?
if test ${_au_status} eq 10 -o ${_au_status} eq 11 -o ${_au_status} eq 12
then
ausearch --checkpoint /etc/audit/auditd_checkpoint.txt --start checkpoint -i
fi
-tm, --terminal terminal
Search for an event matching the given terminal value. Some
daemons such as cron and atd use the daemon name for the
terminal.
-ua, --uid-all all-user-id
Search for an event with either user ID, effective user ID, or
login user ID (auid) matching the given user ID.
-ue, --uid-effective effective-user-id
Search for an event with the given effective user ID.
-ui, --uid user-id
Search for an event with the given user ID.
-ul, --loginuid login-id
Search for an event with the given login user ID. All entry
point programs that are pamified need to be configured with
pam_loginuid required for the session for searching on loginuid
(auid) to be accurate.
-uu, --uuid guest-uuid
Search for an event with the given guest UUID.
-v, --version
Print the version and exit
-vm, --vm-name guest-name
Search for an event with the given guest name.
-w, --word
String based matches must match the whole word. This category of
matches include: filename, hostname, terminal, and SE Linux
context.
-x, --executable executable
Search for an event matching the given executable name.
EXIT STATUS
0 if OK,
1 if nothing found, or argument errors or minor file acces/read
errors,
10 invalid checkpoint data found in checkpoint file,
11 checkpoint processing error
12 checkpoint event not found in matching log file
SEE ALSO
auditd(8), pam_loginuid(8).
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