Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IDS/IPS
    18 Posts 2 Posters 2.4k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • bmeeksB
      bmeeks @kiekar
      last edited by bmeeks

      @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

      @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

      What kind of hardware are you running pfSense on? Is it an SG-3100 appliance or similar non-Intel CPU box?

      It's a home built PC running on a intel H310 chipset board with an 8 gen cpu and Dell Intel PRO/1000 ET Quad Port 1Gb Gigabit Ethernet Adapter H092P HM9JY.

      I was unable to find any errors showing Signal 10 Bus Error in system log except for errors for notpng

      OK, then the next most likely problem is a syntax issue in the suricata.yaml file. To see what it may be, do this:

      Open a command prompt (shell prompt) on the firewall.
      Execute these commands:

      ls /usr/local/etc/suricata
      cd /usr/local/etc/suricata/suricata_xxxx
      suricata -T -c ./suricata.yaml
      

      In the above command sequence, the first command will list the contents of the Suricata base directory. Look for a sub-directory in there named suricata_xxxxx where the xxxxx will be a GUID string and the physical interface name. Substitute this directory name into the second command.

      For example, suppose you see a sub-directory named suricata_1287_em0 within the /usr/local/etc/suricata directory. Then the second command would look like this:

      cd /usr/local/suricata/suricata_1287_em0
      

      This will start a Suricata session to test the suricata.yaml configuration file. A lot of output will scroll by. Look for any syntax errors that appear and post those back here. If no errors appear, post that back as well. If the process starts successfully, then you will need to type CTRL-C to terminate the process and regain your shell prompt.

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

        One more question:

        How did you upgrade to the 4.1.2 version? Did you do like the Release Notes said and completely remove the package before installing again, or did you just click the re-install icon on the Package Manager Installed Packages tab? If you did the latter, go back and completely remove the package by hitting the delete icon (the little trashcan). After the removal completes, go back to the Package Manager screen and install Suricata again from the Available Packages tab. This is a very critical process, and is why I highlighted it in red in the Release Notes for the 4.1.2 package update notice.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • K
          kiekar
          last edited by

          Thank you for your help so far.

          Below is the output.

          Shell Output - ls /usr/local/etc/suricata
          classification.config
          classification.config.sample
          community-rules.tar.gz.md5
          emerging.rules.tar.gz.md5
          reference.config
          reference.config.sample
          rules
          snortrules-snapshot-3000.tar.gz.md5
          suricata.yaml
          suricata.yaml.sample
          suricata_26546_pppoe1
          threshold.config
          threshold.config.sample
          
          Shell Output - cd /usr/local/etc/suricata/suricata_26546_pppoe1
          Execute Shell Command
          
          
          Shell Output - suricata -T -c ./suricata.yaml
          16/1/2019 -- 15:03:54 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
          16/1/2019 -- 15:03:54 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: ./suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
          
          bmeeksB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • bmeeksB
            bmeeks @kiekar
            last edited by bmeeks

            @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

            Thank you for your help so far.

            Below is the output.

            Shell Output - ls /usr/local/etc/suricata
            classification.config
            classification.config.sample
            community-rules.tar.gz.md5
            emerging.rules.tar.gz.md5
            reference.config
            reference.config.sample
            rules
            snortrules-snapshot-3000.tar.gz.md5
            suricata.yaml
            suricata.yaml.sample
            suricata_26546_pppoe1
            threshold.config
            threshold.config.sample
            
            Shell Output - cd /usr/local/etc/suricata/suricata_26546_pppoe1
            Execute Shell Command
            
            
            Shell Output - suricata -T -c ./suricata.yaml
            16/1/2019 -- 15:03:54 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
            16/1/2019 -- 15:03:54 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: ./suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
            

            Not having a suricata.yaml file is weird. I see you did this from the firewall GUI command for executing a shell script, though, and I don't think that's going to work properly. I have a feeling the "cd" or "change directory" command was transient, and the "cd" was abandoned when the next command was executed.

            If you can't get directly to the firewall console, then try running this command that gives the full path to the suricata.yaml file:

            suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
            
            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • K
              kiekar
              last edited by

              I got the same errcode

              [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
              16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
              16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
              [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
              

              I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

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

                @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                I got the same errcode

                [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                

                I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • K
                  kiekar @bmeeks
                  last edited by

                  @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                  @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                  I got the same errcode

                  [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                  16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                  16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                  [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                  

                  I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                  Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                  Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                  Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                  You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                  Yes, wan interface is setup correctly.

                  I'm going to uninstall suricata with my current settings intacked.

                  0_1547671631135_wan network interface.jpg

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

                    @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                    @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                    @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                    I got the same errcode

                    [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                    16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                    16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                    [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                    

                    I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                    Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                    Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                    Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                    You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                    Yes, wan interface is setup correctly.

                    I'm going to uninstall suricata with my current settings intacked.

                    0_1547671631135_wan network interface.jpg

                    Oh! Something I just remembered and I did not notice earlier. Inline IPS Mode and a PPPoE connection will NOT work! You will have to switch to Legacy Mode blocking with a PPPoE connection. You will never get any alerts with PPPoE and Inline Mode. It is a limitation of FreeBSD and Netmap.

                    K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • K
                      kiekar @bmeeks
                      last edited by

                      @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                      @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                      @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                      @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                      I got the same errcode

                      [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                      16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                      16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                      [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                      

                      I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                      Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                      Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                      Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                      You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                      Yes, wan interface is setup correctly.

                      I'm going to uninstall suricata with my current settings intacked.

                      0_1547671631135_wan network interface.jpg

                      Oh! Something I just remembered and I did not notice earlier. Inline IPS Mode and a PPPoE connection will NOT work! You will have to switch to Legacy Mode blocking with a PPPoE connection. You will never get any alerts with PPPoE and Inline Mode. It is a limitation of FreeBSD and Netmap.

                      Ok Thanks for all your help. I will try to move the pppoe authenication from the firewall to the vsdl modem

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

                        @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                        @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                        @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                        @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                        @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                        I got the same errcode

                        [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                        16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                        16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                        [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                        

                        I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                        Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                        Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                        Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                        You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                        Yes, wan interface is setup correctly.

                        I'm going to uninstall suricata with my current settings intacked.

                        0_1547671631135_wan network interface.jpg

                        Oh! Something I just remembered and I did not notice earlier. Inline IPS Mode and a PPPoE connection will NOT work! You will have to switch to Legacy Mode blocking with a PPPoE connection. You will never get any alerts with PPPoE and Inline Mode. It is a limitation of FreeBSD and Netmap.

                        Ok Thanks for all your help. I will try to move the pppoe authenication from the firewall to the vsdl modem

                        If you want to use Inline IPS Mode, you need to have either a static WAN IP or DHCP on the WAN. PPPoE won't work. A PPPoE connection totally bypasses the Netmap pipe set up by Inline IPS Mode.

                        K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • K
                          kiekar @bmeeks
                          last edited by

                          @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          @kiekar said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                          I got the same errcode

                          [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root: suricata -T -c /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml
                          16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Info> - Running suricata under test mode
                          16/1/2019 -- 15:29:42 - <Error> - [ERRCODE: SC_ERR_FATAL(171)] - failed to open file: /usr/local/etc/suricata_26546_pppoe1/suricata.yaml: No such file or directory
                          [2.4.4-RELEASE][admin@host.mydomain.com]/root:
                          

                          I will uninstall surcicata and re-install. Could i leave the checkbox to keep current settings?

                          Not having a suricata.yaml file for the interface is very strange. Have you gone to the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab and clicked the Save button? Is that interface (pppoe1) the physical name of your WAN interface where you are running Suricata?

                          Is there plenty of free disk space? I would assume "yes", but this is a strange issue.

                          Never seen a case where the suricata.yaml for the interface was missing. That file tells the Suricata binary what to do and how to do it. No surprise it won't start with that file missing.

                          You can try a full remove and install operation. Just be sure you delete the package and then install it again. DO NOT just click the re-install icon!

                          Yes, wan interface is setup correctly.

                          I'm going to uninstall suricata with my current settings intacked.

                          0_1547671631135_wan network interface.jpg

                          Oh! Something I just remembered and I did not notice earlier. Inline IPS Mode and a PPPoE connection will NOT work! You will have to switch to Legacy Mode blocking with a PPPoE connection. You will never get any alerts with PPPoE and Inline Mode. It is a limitation of FreeBSD and Netmap.

                          Ok Thanks for all your help. I will try to move the pppoe authenication from the firewall to the vsdl modem

                          If you want to use Inline IPS Mode, you need to have either a static WAN IP or DHCP on the WAN. PPPoE won't work. A PPPoE connection totally bypasses the Netmap pipe set up by Inline IPS Mode.

                          Ok Thanks, I'm going to have to do some reading how to setup using static IP's or DHCP. I have a block of IP's from my provider and I have been running my current setup for several years now.

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

                            @kiekar
                            Running the Legacy Blocking Mode is fine, and is really just about the same in terms of security. True there may be a leaked packet or two, but in most situations that is of no consequence. You can use all of the SID MGMT features and "alert" and "drop" actions in Legacy Mode. Just check the box on the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab that enables the "block-on-drops-only" option. That will mimic Inline IPS Mode whereby only rules with DROP as the action will actually block traffic. Rules with ALERT as the action will only generate alerts but no blocks.

                            And finally, if you are using NAT on pfSense, then I recommend putting Suricata on your LAN interface so that the internal host addresses you see will reflect reality. Otherwise, with NAT, all internal hosts seen on the WAN side will have the WAN external IP and you won't be able to tell which internal host generated the alert. This is assuming you use NAT. If you don't use NAT on the firewall, then you can place Suricata either on the WAN or LAN without the IP masking issue.

                            K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • K
                              kiekar @bmeeks
                              last edited by

                              @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                              @kiekar
                              Running the Legacy Blocking Mode is fine, and is really just about the same in terms of security. True there may be a leaked packet or two, but in most situations that is of no consequence. You can use all of the SID MGMT features and "alert" and "drop" actions in Legacy Mode. Just check the box on the INTERFACE SETTINGS tab that enables the "block-on-drops-only" option. That will mimic Inline IPS Mode whereby only rules with DROP as the action will actually block traffic. Rules with ALERT as the action will only generate alerts but no blocks.

                              And finally, if you are using NAT on pfSense, then I recommend putting Suricata on your LAN interface so that the internal host addresses you see will reflect reality. Otherwise, with NAT, all internal hosts seen on the WAN side will have the WAN external IP and you won't be able to tell which internal host generated the alert. This is assuming you use NAT. If you don't use NAT on the firewall, then you can place Suricata either on the WAN or LAN without the IP masking issue.

                              I've seen some brief topics on SID MGMT, but I have to say I'm a little lost on the function of it. Could you be so kind an point me in the right direction on some good reading on the SID MGMT. Your help would be much appreciated.

                              Thanks,

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

                                @kiekar
                                Start with these two Sticky Posts here in the IDS/IPS sub-forum.

                                How Automatic SID Management and User Rule Overrides Work in Snort and Suricata
                                About the New Block-on-Drops-Only Option in Suricata

                                To get some examples of SID MGMT, go to the SID MGMT tab and click the "enable" checkbox. That will populate the page with content. Open any of the example files and you will find comments inside each that explain the options. The internal syntax is copied from PulledPork, so you can Google the PulledPork utility used with Snort to get some examples of what you can do with the enablesid.conf, disablesid.conf and dropsid.conf files.

                                K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • K
                                  kiekar @bmeeks
                                  last edited by

                                  @bmeeks said in Suricata fails to start after pfSense reboot:

                                  @kiekar
                                  Start with these two Sticky Posts here in the IDS/IPS sub-forum.

                                  How Automatic SID Management and User Rule Overrides Work in Snort and Suricata
                                  About the New Block-on-Drops-Only Option in Suricata

                                  To get some examples of SID MGMT, go to the SID MGMT tab and click the "enable" checkbox. That will populate the page with content. Open any of the example files and you will find comments inside each that explain the options. The internal syntax is copied from PulledPork, so you can Google the PulledPork utility used with Snort to get some examples of what you can do with the enablesid.conf, disablesid.conf and dropsid.conf files.

                                  Great, thanks so much. You've been a great help

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • First post
                                    Last post
                                  Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.