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    Suricata upgrade/install adds default rulesets

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    • S Offline
      SteveITS Rebel Alliance
      last edited by SteveITS

      @bmeeks Hi Bill, we had traditionally disabled stream-events.rules because of false positives. I have noticed a few times lately it's been enabled. I found that my backup just before the upgrade from 23.05.1 to 23.09.1 does not have it but after the upgrade it does. Other rulesets as well:

      before:
      <rulesets>
      GPLv2_community.rules||app-layer-events.rules||decoder-events.rules||emerging-activex.rules||dhcp-events.rules||dnp3-events.rules||emerging-attack_response.rules||dns-events.rules||emerging-botcc.portgrouped.rules||files.rules||emerging-botcc.rules||http-events.rules||emerging-chat.rules||http2-events.rules||ipsec-events.rules||kerberos-events.rules||modbus-events.rules||emerging-current_events.rules||mqtt-events.rules||nfs-events.rules||ntp-events.rules||emerging-dos.rules||smb-events.rules||smtp-events.rules||ssh-events.rules||emerging-exploit.rules||tls-events.rules||emerging-games.rules||emerging-inappropriate.rules||emerging-malware.rules||emerging-misc.rules||emerging-mobile_malware.rules||emerging-p2p.rules||emerging-scada.rules||emerging-scan.rules||emerging-shellcode.rules||emerging-user_agents.rules||emerging-web_client.rules||emerging-web_server.rules||emerging-worm.rules
      </rulesets>

      after:
      <rulesets>
      GPLv2_community.rules||app-layer-events.rules||decoder-events.rules||emerging-activex.rules||dhcp-events.rules||dnp3-events.rules||emerging-attack_response.rules||dns-events.rules||emerging-botcc.portgrouped.rules||files.rules||emerging-botcc.rules||http-events.rules||emerging-chat.rules||http2-events.rules||ipsec-events.rules||kerberos-events.rules||modbus-events.rules||emerging-current_events.rules||mqtt-events.rules||nfs-events.rules||ntp-events.rules||emerging-dos.rules||smb-events.rules||smtp-events.rules||ssh-events.rules||emerging-exploit.rules||tls-events.rules||emerging-games.rules||emerging-inappropriate.rules||emerging-malware.rules||emerging-misc.rules||emerging-mobile_malware.rules||emerging-p2p.rules||emerging-scada.rules||emerging-scan.rules||emerging-shellcode.rules||emerging-user_agents.rules||emerging-web_client.rules||emerging-web_server.rules||emerging-worm.rules||ftp-events.rules||quic-events.rules||rfb-events.rules||stream-events.rules
      </rulesets>
      (via a copy and CTRL-F it looks like the rest of the list is the same)

      My process for upgrading is simply:

      • uninstall Suricata (and pfBlocker etc.)
      • upgrade pfSense
      • install Suricata

      "Send notifications when new rule categories appear" is checked but we haven't received any emails.

      Edit: by "before" I mean "when I start the upgrade"

      Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to reboot, or more depending on packages, and device or disk speed.
      Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

      S R 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • S SteveITS referenced this topic on
      • S Offline
        SteveITS Rebel Alliance @SteveITS
        last edited by

        Per https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15120 this is expected behavior.

        "The simplest way for you to handle disabling them is to use the SID MGMT disable.conf feature. Put the rule categories you want to disable in that file and they will not get overwritten."

        Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
        When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to reboot, or more depending on packages, and device or disk speed.
        Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

        bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • bmeeksB Offline
          bmeeks @SteveITS
          last edited by

          @SteveITS said in Suricata upgrade/install adds default rulesets:

          Per https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15120 this is expected behavior.

          This code in the post-install routine handles the procedure:

          /****************************************************************/
          	/* Add any new built-in events rules to each configured         */
          	/* interface.                                                   */
          	/****************************************************************/
          	if (count(config_get_path('installedpackages/suricata/rule', [])) > 0) {
          
          		// Add default events rules for Suricata. This array constant
          		// is defined in 'suricata_defs.inc' and must be kept in sync
          		// with the content of the '/rules' directory in the Suricata
          		// binary source tarball.
          		$builtin_rules = SURICATA_DEFAULT_RULES;
          		foreach (config_get_path('installedpackages/suricata/rule', []) as $idx => &$suricatacfg) {
          			$iface_rules_upd = false;
          
          			// Convert delimited string into array and remove any
          			// duplicate ruleset names from earlier bug.
          			$rulesets = array_keys(array_flip(explode("||", $suricatacfg['rulesets'])));
          			foreach ($builtin_rules as $name) {
          				if (in_array($name, $rulesets)) {
          					continue;
          				} else {
          					$rulesets[] = $name;
          					$iface_rules_upd = true;
          				}
          			}
          			// If we updated the rules list, save the change
          			if ($iface_rules_upd) {
          				$suricatacfg['rulesets'] = implode("||", $rulesets);
          				config_set_path("installedpackages/suricata/rule/{$idx}", $suricatacfg);
          			}
          		}
          		// Done with the config array reference, so release it
          		unset($suricatacfg);
          	}
          

          The static array of built-in rules is defined in suricata_defs.inc, and gets updated whenever upstream adds or removes built-in rules.

          S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S Offline
            SteveITS Rebel Alliance @bmeeks
            last edited by

            @bmeeks OK thanks for confirming all this. And then I suppose the "Send notifications when new rule categories appear" option is only for when that happens between upgrades?

            Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
            When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to reboot, or more depending on packages, and device or disk speed.
            Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

            bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • bmeeksB Offline
              bmeeks @SteveITS
              last edited by

              @SteveITS said in Suricata upgrade/install adds default rulesets:

              And then I suppose the "Send notifications when new rule categories appear" option is only for when that happens between upgrades?

              That's an option that was added by a former Netgate developer who has since left their employ. I am not familiar with how it works. I think it may only work for new rules inside certain vendor packages (for example Snort VRT rules or something). I don't think it was ever meant to apply to the built-in rules.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • R Offline
                RobertK 1 @SteveITS
                last edited by

                Hi All,

                i can confirm something similar, for me it's the "quic-events.rules" default category which has got re-enabled after each recent updates (7.0.2_2, 7.0.2_3).
                As it contains only two rules I've used the suppress list, probably it won't be a problem after the next upgrade.

                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S Offline
                  SteveITS Rebel Alliance @RobertK 1
                  last edited by

                  @RobertK-1 We've found the stream events cause a lot of issues so routinely disabled those. The disable.conf file as noted above, is permanent. Otherwise for your case the rule IDs may change and/or they add more.

                  Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to reboot, or more depending on packages, and device or disk speed.
                  Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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