Zeek 3.0.3

[dougburks]

https://github.com/zeek/zeek/releases/tag/v3.0.2

[dougburks]

Zeek 3.0.2 has a performance issue which is scheduled to be resolved in 3.0.3:

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/security-onion/LvXkYcQlh3Y/discussion

http://mailman.icsi.berkeley.edu/pipermail/zeek/2020-March/015153.html

[dougburks]

https://github.com/zeek/zeek/releases/tag/v3.0.3

[dougburks]

List of packages to be tested:

• securityonion-bro - 3.0.3-1ubuntu1securityonion1 (Zeek 3.0.3)
• securityonion-bro-afpacket - 1.3.0-1ubuntu1securityonion21
• securityonion-bro-scripts - 20121004-0ubuntu0securityonion104
• securityonion-samples-bro - 20170824-1ubuntu1securityonion6

Other issues to be tested: https://github.com/Security-Onion-Solutions/security-onion/issues/1727

An overview of the testing process can be found in the comments below.

Please record all testing results via comments on this issue.

Thanks in advance for your time effort!

[dougburks]

How To Start Testing

• install the current 16.04 ISO image

• snapshot the VM if possible

• add the test PPA:

  sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:securityonion/test

• update:

  sudo soup

Please note that we also have Elastic packages and Docker images in testing right now, so if you want to test just this Zeek update, you should be able to replace that last command with:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install securityonion-bro securityonion-bro-afpacket securityonion-bro-scripts securityonion-samples-bro

[dougburks]

How To Verify Proper Zeek Operation

• first, please note that Bro has been renamed to Zeek but the packages still adhere to the traditional bro naming convention

• as the Zeek packages install, verify that the package installation scripts display a message about checking configuration and adding back any local customizations

• verify that Bro packages were upgraded:

  dpkg -l |grep securityonion-bro

• verify that the new Zeek packages create symlinks as necessary so that the new zeek paths resolve to the traditional bro locations (for example: /opt/zeek is a symlink to /opt/bro, /nsm/zeek is a symlink to /nsm/bro, etc.)

• verify that the new Zeek packages create symlinks as necessary so that well known bro files resolve to the new zeek locations (for example: /opt/bro/etc/broctl.cfg is a symlink to zeekctl.cfg, so it can be accessed via /opt/bro/etc/broctl.cfg or /opt/zeek/etc/zeekctl.cfg)

• if new installation, run through Setup

• verify that the package installation scripts backed up the following with a _pre-3.0.3 extension: /opt/bro/etc/ /opt/bro/share/bro/

• verify that StatusCmdShowAll has been set to 0 in /opt/zeek/etc/zeekctl.cfg:

  grep StatusCmdShowAll /opt/zeek/etc/zeekctl.cfg

• verify that "lb_custom.InterfacePrefix=af_packet::" has been added to /opt/zeek/etc/zeekctl.cfg:

  grep af_packet /opt/zeek/etc/zeekctl.cfg

• Restart Zeek:

  sudo so-zeek-restart

• check status:

  sudo so-status

• check Zeek startup logs for any warnings/errors out of the ordinary:

  cat /nsm/zeek/logs/current/reporter.log
  cat /nsm/zeek/logs/current/stdout.log
  cat /nsm/zeek/logs/current/stderr.log

• replay LOTS of traffic:

  sudo so-test

• verify that files are extracted to /nsm/zeek/extracted:

  ls -alh /nsm/zeek/extracted

• verify that /nsm/zeek/logs/current/conn.log contains the proper sensorname at the end of each log entry:

  cat /nsm/zeek/logs/current/conn.log

• verify that Zeek logs are in the same format as they were pre-upgrade (should be JSON by default).

• verify that the Elastic Stack is parsing and displaying Zeek logs properly (whether JSON or TSV format)

• verify that you can pivot to CapMe for both TCP and UDP traffic

• check sostat output for anything out of the ordinary (specifically, check the pf_ring and Zeek sections for packet loss)

• verify that Zeek ja3 script is loaded and logging:

  grep ja3 /nsm/zeek/logs/current/*

• verify that Zeek hassh script is loaded and logging:

  grep hassh /nsm/zeek/logs/current/*

• verify that /etc/cron.d/bro has been moved to /etc/cron.d/zeek and that it works properly

• verify that /opt/samples/zeek is a symlink to /opt/samples/bro

• verify that everything else works properly with no regressions

• reboot and make sure everything still works properly

Please test in as many different combinations as possible:

• Evaluation Mode (Bro Standalone mode) vs Production Mode (Bro cluster mode)

• single sniffing interface vs multiple sniffing interfaces

• file extraction enabled or disabled

• json-logs enabled or disabled

• traffic without vlan tags vs traffic with vlan tags

• new installation vs upgrade

• Zeek cluster mode - PF_RING (lb_method=pf_ring) vs AF_PACKET (lb_method=custom)

[petiepooo]

Soaking on one system to verify no cpu load spiking... I'll try to get through some of the other test situations asap..

Thanks for turning this around so quickly, Doug!

[dougburks]

Thanks @petiepooo , I really appreciate you bringing this issue to light and helping us turn it around quickly!

[petiepooo]

Soaked on one system for nearly two days and another busier system for over 12 hours.. I would have normally seen at least one worker jump to 100% CPU by now, I believe, so I'm convinced this does fix the CPU load issue.

This is just using af_packet and 2 or 4 workers with the package run in as an upgrade. No regressions noted WRT extracts, elastic ingestion, ja3, hassh, etc. I haven't yet installed via ISO or tried eval mode, pf_ring, multiple ifaces, CSV logs, vlans, etc.

[dougburks]

Thanks again for your time and testing @petiepooo !

[petiepooo]

Soaked on 6 systems over the weekend with no ill effects and no spike in CPU usage. Still no regressions noted, but still limited to just upgrading existing deployments.

[weslambert]

No issues with Zeek from my testing 👍 .

[dougburks]

Published: https://blog.securityonion.net/2020/03/zeek-303-now-available-for-security.html