19. Intrusion Detection/Prevention System

Applies to: KNA, KOA, KWA

The Snort intrusion detection system is integrated in Kernun. According to the configuration, it can either detect and log suspicious network traffic (IDS mode), or block it (IPS mode). For detailed description of the IDS/IPS system, see ips(7).

An example of the IDS configuration is shown in Figure 6.72, “Intrusion detection/prevention system”. The complete sample configuration is available in the /usr/local/kernun/conf/samples/cml/ids.cml file.

Figure 6.72. Intrusion detection/prevention system

Intrusion detection/prevention system

The mode log item specifies that the IDS mode is used, whereas one of drop, reject or advanced would be used for IPS.

The iface EXT item specifies that the external interface should be inspected. Any number of interfaces can be included.

The pass-ssh item specifies that traffic to the administration ssh server (see Section 2.3, “SSH Server”) should be excluded from the inspection. Note that this item can be useful to prevent the situation when Kernun would become unaccessible. If this item is enabled, at least the ssh interface is always accessible (with respect to the IDS/IPS system).

19.1. Update of Rules

Traffic analysis is based on rules that describe suspicious traffic. It is desirable to update the rules regularly. An automatic rule download system is available in Kernun. This option can be configured with the license item, which specifies the oinkcode that is used to access the current ruleset. The oinkcode can be obtained from the Snort Web pages. In our example, the subscription (the paid alternative of the ruleset update) is specified. With this configuration, Kernun downloads fresh rules once a day. The oinkcron command can be used after logging to Kernun to download the rules for the first time (and not have to wait until the rules are downloaded automatically).