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.
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.
-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.
-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.
-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
Use the given file 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.
-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 interpretted 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 is 10/24/2005. An example of time
is 18:00:00.
You may also use the word: now, recent, today, yesterday,
this-week, week-ago, this-month, 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). 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
end time. The format of end 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 is 10/24/2005. An example of
time is 18:00:00.
You may also use the word: now, recent, today, yesterday,
this-week, this-month, this-year. 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). 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.
-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.
-v, --version
Print the version and exit
-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.
SEE ALSO
auditd(8), pam_loginuid(8).