Libnids-1.24 API

#
====================
libnids-1.24
====================

1. Introduction
2. IP defragmentation
3. TCP stream assembly
4. A sample application
5. Basic libnids structures and functions
6. Misc useful hacks
7. New features in version 1.21
8. FAQ

## 1. Introduction

Declarations of data structures and functions defined by libnids are gathered in include file "nids.h". An application which uses libnids must include this file and must be linked with libnids.a (or libnids.so.x.x).

An application's function main usually looks this way:

    main()
    {
    	application private processing, not related to libnids
    	optional modification of libnids parameters
    	if (!nids_init() ) something's wrong, terminate;
    	registration of callback functions
    	nids_run();
    	// not reached in normal situation
    }

Another method is mentioned later.

## 2. IP defragmentation

In order to receive all IP packets seen by libnids (including fragmented ones, packets with invalid checksum et cetera) a programmer should define a callback function of the following type
``

void ip_frag_func(struct ip * a_packet, int len)

After calling `nids_init`, this function should be registered with libnids:
``

nids_register_ip_frag(ip_frag_func);

Function `ip_frag_func` will be called from libnids; parameter `a_packet` will point to a received datagram, `len` is the packet length.

Analogically, in order to receive only packets, which will be accepted by a target host (that is, packets not fragmented or packets assembled from fragments; a header correctness is verified) one should define a callback function
``

void ip_func(struct ip * a_packet, int len)

and register it with
``

nids_register_ip(ip_func);

## 3. TCP stream assembly

In order to receive data exchanged in a TCP stream, one must declare a callback function
``

void tcp_callback(struct tcp_stream * ns, void ** param)

Structure `tcp_stream` provides all info on a TCP connection. For instance, it contains two fields of type `struct half_stream` (named `client` and `server`), each of them describing one side of a connection. We'll explain all its fields later.

One of `tcp_stream` field is named `nids_state`. Behaviour of tcp_callback depends on value of this field.

-      ns->nids_state==NIDS_JUST_EST

  In this case, `ns` describes a connection which has just been established. Tcp_callback must decide if it wishes to be notified in future of arrival of data in this connection. All the connection parameters are available (IP addresses, ports numbers etc). If the connection is interesting, tcp_callback informs libnids which data it wishes to receive (data to client, to server, urgent data to client, urgent data to server). Then the function returns.

-      ns->nids_state==NIDS_DATA

  In this case, new data has arrived. Structures `half_stream` (members of `tcp_stream`) contain buffers with data.
- The following values of `nids_state` field : `
  - NIDS_CLOSE
  - NIDS_RESET
  - NIDS_TIMED_OUT
  ` mean that the connection has been closed. Tcp_callback should free allocated resources, if any.

-     ns->nids_state==NIDS_EXITING

  In this case, libnids is exiting. This is the applications last opportunity to make use of any data left stored in the half_stream buffers. When reading traffic from a capture file rather than the network, libnids may never see a close, reset, or timeout. If the application has unprocessed data (e.g., from using nids_discard(), this allows the application to process it.

## 4. A sample application

Now let's have a look at a simple application, which displays on stderr data exchanged in all TCP connections seen by libnids.

    #include <sys/types.h>
    #include <sys/socket.h>
    #include <netinet/in.h>
    #include <netinet/in_systm.h>
    #include <arpa/inet.h>
    #include <string.h>
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include "nids.h"

    #define int_ntoa(x)	inet_ntoa(*((struct in_addr *)&x))

    // struct tuple4 contains addresses and port numbers of the TCP connections
    // the following auxiliary function produces a string looking like
    // 10.0.0.1,1024,10.0.0.2,23
    char *
    adres (struct tuple4 addr)
    {
      static char buf[256];
      strcpy (buf, int_ntoa (addr.saddr));
      sprintf (buf + strlen (buf), ",%i,", addr.source);
      strcat (buf, int_ntoa (addr.daddr));
      sprintf (buf + strlen (buf), ",%i", addr.dest);
      return buf;
    }

    void
    tcp_callback (struct tcp_stream *a_tcp, void ** this_time_not_needed)
    {
      char buf[1024];
      strcpy (buf, adres (a_tcp->addr)); // we put conn params into buf
      if (a_tcp->nids_state == NIDS_JUST_EST)
        {
        // connection described by a_tcp is established
        // here we decide, if we wish to follow this stream
        // sample condition: if (a_tcp->addr.dest!=23) return;
        // in this simple app we follow each stream, so..
          a_tcp->client.collect++; // we want data received by a client
          a_tcp->server.collect++; // and by a server, too
          a_tcp->server.collect_urg++; // we want urgent data received by a
                                       // server
    #ifdef WE_WANT_URGENT_DATA_RECEIVED_BY_A_CLIENT
          a_tcp->client.collect_urg++; // if we don't increase this value,
                                       // we won't be notified of urgent data
                                       // arrival
    #endif
          fprintf (stderr, "%s established\n", buf);
          return;
        }
      if (a_tcp->nids_state == NIDS_CLOSE)
        {
          // connection has been closed normally
          fprintf (stderr, "%s closing\n", buf);
          return;
        }
      if (a_tcp->nids_state == NIDS_RESET)
        {
          // connection has been closed by RST
          fprintf (stderr, "%s reset\n", buf);
          return;
        }

      if (a_tcp->nids_state == NIDS_DATA)
        {
          // new data has arrived; gotta determine in what direction
          // and if it's urgent or not

          struct half_stream *hlf;

          if (a_tcp->server.count_new_urg)
          {
            // new byte of urgent data has arrived
            strcat(buf,"(urgent->)");
            buf[strlen(buf)+1]=0;
            buf[strlen(buf)]=a_tcp->server.urgdata;
            write(1,buf,strlen(buf));
            return;
          }
          // We don't have to check if urgent data to client has arrived,
          // because we haven't increased a_tcp->client.collect_urg variable.
          // So, we have some normal data to take care of.
          if (a_tcp->client.count_new)
    	{
              // new data for the client
    	  hlf = &a_tcp->client; // from now on, we will deal with hlf var,
                                    // which will point to client side of conn
    	  strcat (buf, "(<-)"); // symbolic direction of data
    	}
          else
    	{
    	  hlf = &a_tcp->server; // analogical
    	  strcat (buf, "(->)");
    	}
        fprintf(stderr,"%s",buf); // we print the connection parameters
                                  // (saddr, daddr, sport, dport) accompanied
                                  // by data flow direction (-> or <-)

       write(2,hlf->data,hlf->count_new); // we print the newly arrived data

        }
      return ;
    }

    int
    main ()
    {
      // here we can alter libnids params, for instance:
      // nids_params.n_hosts=256;
      if (!nids_init ())
      {
      	fprintf(stderr,"%s\n",nids_errbuf);
      	exit(1);
      }
      nids_register_tcp (tcp_callback);
      nids_run ();
      return 0;
    }

## 5. Basic libnids structures and functions

Now it's time for more systematic description of libnids structures. As mentioned, they're all declared in `nids.h`

       struct tuple4 // TCP connection parameters
       {
       unsigned short source,dest; // client and server port numbers
       unsigned long saddr,daddr;  // client and server IP addresses
       };

       struct half_stream // structure describing one side of a TCP connection
       {
       char state;            // socket state (ie TCP_ESTABLISHED )
       char collect;          // if >0, then data should be stored in
                              // "data" buffer; else
                              // data flowing in this direction will be ignored
                              // have a look at samples/sniff.c for an example
                              // how one can use this field
       char collect_urg;      // analogically, determines if to collect urgent
                              // data
       char * data;           // buffer for normal data
       unsigned char urgdata; // one-byte buffer for urgent data
       int count;             // how many bytes has been appended to buffer "data"
                              // since the creation of a connection
       int offset;            // offset (in data stream) of first byte stored in
                              // the "data" buffer; additional explanations
                              // follow
       int count_new;         // how many bytes were appended to "data" buffer
                              // last (this) time; if == 0, no new data arrived
       char count_new_urg;    // if != 0, new urgent data arrived

       ... // other fields are auxiliary for libnids

       };

       struct tcp_stream
       {
       struct tuple4 addr;   // connections params (saddr, daddr, sport, dport)
       char nids_state;                  // logical state of the connection
       struct half_stream client,server; // structures describing client and
                                         // server side of the connection
       ...                               // other fields are auxiliary for libnids
       };

In the above sample program function tcp_callback printed data from `hlf->data` buffer on stderr, and this data was no longer needed. After tcp_callback return, libnids by default frees space occupied by this data. Field `hlf->offset` will be increased by number of discarded bytes, and new data will be stored at the beginning of "data" buffer. If the above is not the desired behaviour (for instance, data processor needs at least N bytes of input to operate, and so far libnids received `count_new<N` bytes) one should call function
``

void nids_discard(struct tcp_stream * a_tcp, int num_bytes)

before tcp_callback returns. As a result, after tcp_callback return libnids will discard at most `num_bytes` first bytes from buffer "data" (updating "offset" field accordingly, and moving rest of the data to the beginning of the buffer). If `nids_discard` function is never called (like in above sample program), buffer `hlf->data` contains exactly `hlf->count_new` bytes. Generally, number of bytes in buffer `hlf->data` equals `hlf->count-hlf->offset`.

Thanks to nids_discard function, a programmer doesn't have to copy received bytes into a separate buffer - `hlf->data` will always contain as many bytes, as possible. However, often arises a need to maintain auxiliary data structures per each pair (libnids_callback, tcp stream). For instance, if we wish to detect an attack against wu-ftpd (this attack involves creating deep directory on the server), we need to store somewhere current directory of a ftpd daemon. It will be changed by "CWD" instructions sent by ftp client. That's what the second parameter of tcp_callback is for. It is a pointer to a pointer to data private for each (libnids_callback, tcp stream) pair. Typically, one should use it as follows:

       void
       tcp_callback_2 (struct tcp_stream * a_tcp, struct conn_param **ptr)
       {
       if (a_tcp->nids_state==NIDS_JUST_EST)
       {
            struct conn_param * a_conn;
       	if the connection is uninteresting, return;
            a_conn=malloc of some data structure
            init of a_conn
            *ptr=a_conn // this value will be passed to tcp_callback_2 in future
                        // calls
            increase some of "collect" fields
            return;
       }
       if (a_tcp->nids_state==NIDS_DATA)
       {
    	struct conn_param *current_conn_param=*ptr;
            using current_conn_param and the newly received data from the net
            we search for attack signatures, possibly modyfying
            current_conn_param
            return ;

       }

Functions `nids_register_tcp` and `nids_register_ip*` can be called arbitrary number of times. Two different functions (similar to tcp_callback) are allowed to follow the same TCP stream (with a certain non-default exception).

Libnids parameters can be changed by modification of fields of the global variable `nids_params`, declared as follows:

       struct nids_prm
       {
       int n_tcp_streams; // size of the hash table used for storing structures
                          // tcp_stream; libnis will follow no more than
                          // 3/4 * n_tcp_streams connections simultaneously
                          // default value: 1040. If set to 0, libnids will
                          // not assemble TCP streams.
       int n_hosts;       // size of the hash table used for storing info on
                          // IP defragmentation; default value: 256
       char * filename;   // capture filename from which to read packets;
                          // file must be in libpcap format and device must
                          // be set to NULL; default value: NULL
       char * device;     // interface on which libnids will listen for packets;
                          // default value == NULL, in which case device will
                          // be determined by call to pcap_lookupdev; special
                          // value of "all" results in libnids trying to
                          // capture packets on all interfaces (this works only
                          // with Linux kernel > 2.2.0 and libpcap >= 0.6.0);
                          // see also doc/LINUX
       int sk_buff_size;  // size of struct sk_buff, a structure defined by
                          // Linux kernel, used by kernel for packets queuing. If
                          // this parameter has different value from
                          // sizeof(struct sk_buff), libnids can be bypassed
                          // by attacking resource managing of libnis (see TEST
                          // file). If you are paranoid, check sizeof(sk_buff)
                          // on the hosts on your network, and correct this
                          // parameter. Default value: 168
       int dev_addon;     // how many bytes in structure sk_buff is reserved for
                          // information on net interface; if dev_addon==-1, it
                          // will be corrected during nids_init() according to
                          // type of the interface libnids will listen on.
                          // Default value: -1.
       void (*syslog)();  // see description below the nids_params definition
       int syslog_level;  // if nids_params.syslog==nids_syslog, then this field
                          // determines loglevel used by reporting events by
                          // system daemon syslogd; default value: LOG_ALERT
       int scan_num_hosts;// size of hash table used for storing info on port
                          // scanning; the number of simultaneuos port
    		      // scan attempts libnids will detect. if set to
    		      // 0, port scanning detection will be turned
    		      // off. Default value: 256.
       int scan_num_ports;// how many TCP ports has to be scanned from the same
                          // source. Default value: 10.
       int scan_delay;    // with no more than scan_delay milisecond pause
                          // between two ports, in order to make libnids report
                          // portscan attempt. Default value: 3000
       void (*no_mem)();  // called when libnids runs out of memory; it should
                          // terminate the current process
       int (*ip_filter)(struct ip*);  // this function is consulted when an IP
                          // packet arrives; if ip_filter returns non-zero, the
                          // packet is processed, else it is discarded. This way
                          // one can monitor traffic directed at selected hosts
                          // only, not entire subnet. Default function
                          // (nids_ip_filter) always returns 1
       char *pcap_filter; // filter string to hand to pcap(3). Default is
    		      // NULL. be aware that this applies to the
    		      // link-layer, so filters like "tcp dst port 23"
    		      // will NOT correctly handle fragmented traffic; one
                          // should add "or (ip[6:2] & 0x1fff != 0)" to process
                          // all fragmented packets
       int promisc;       // if non-zero, the device(s) libnids reads packets
                          // from will be put in promiscuous mode. Default: 1
       int one_loop_less; // disabled by default; see the explanation
       int pcap_timeout;  // the "timeout" parameter to pcap_open_live
                          // 1024 (ms) by default ; change to a lower value
                          // if you want a quick reaction to traffic; this
                          // is present starting with libnids-1.20
       int multiproc;     // start ip defragmentation and tcp stream assembly in a
                          // different thread parameter to a nonzero value and
                          // compiling libnids in an environment where  glib-2.0 is
                          // available enables libnids to use two different threads
                          // - one for receiving IP fragments from libpcap,
                          // and one, with lower priority, to process fragments,
                          // streams and to notify callbacks. Preferrably using
                          // nids_run() this behavior is invisible to the user.
                          // Using this functionality with nids_next() is quite
                          // useless since the thread must be started and stopped
                          // for every packet received.
                          // Also, if it is enabled, global variables (nids_last_pcap_header
                          // and nids_last_pcap_data) may not point to the
    		      // packet currently processed by a callback
       int queue_limit;   // limit on the number of packets to be queued;
                          // used only when multiproc=true; 20000 by default
       int tcp_workarounds; // enable (hopefully harmless) workarounds for some
                          // non-rfc-compliant TCP/IP stacks
       pcap_t *pcap_desc; // pcap descriptor
       } nids_params;

The field syslog of nids_params variable by default contains the address of function `nids_syslog`, declared as:
``

void nids_syslog (int type, int errnum, struct ip *iph, void *data);

Function `nids_params.syslog` is used to report unusual condition, such as port scan attempts, invalid TCP header flags and other. This field should be assigned the address of a custom event logging function. Function `nids_syslog` (defined in libnids.c) can be an example on how to decode parameters passed to `nids_params.syslog`. `Nids_syslog` logs messages to system daemon syslogd, disregarding such things like message rate per second or free disk space (that is why it should be replaced).

If one is interested in UDP datagrams, one should declare
``

void udp_callback(struct tuple4 * addr, char * buf, int len, struct ip * iph);

and register it with
``

nids_register_udp(udp_callback)

Parameter `addr` contains address info, `buf` points to data carried by UDP packet, `len` is the data length, and `iph` points to the IP packet which contained the UDP packet. The checksum is verified.

## 6. Misc useful hacks

As a nice toy :) function
``

void nids_killtcp(struct tcp_stream * a_tcp)

is implemented. It terminates TCP connection described by a_tcp by sending RST segments.
Originally the RST segments sent by libnids were given a sequence number in the half of the TCP window of the destination. MS Windows systems with MS05-019 patch applied do not seem to tear down a connection upon receiving such RSTs, so now libnids sends two RSTs in each direction - additional one has the lowest (expected) seq. Unfortunately, it is somewhat unreliable: if due to traffic burst, your application is a few miliseconds delayed behind the current traffic, its view of what the current/expected seq is may be incorrect.
Naturaly, sending a RST as a defensive measure is unreliable by design, unless deployed on an "inline NIDS", or NIPS, as a few call it; therefore the "toy" label.

Using `nids_run()` has one disadvantage - the application becomes totally packets driven. Sometimes it is necessary to perform some task even when no packets arrive. Instead of `nids_run()`, one can use function
`
int nids_next()
`

It calls `pcap_next()` instead of `pcap_loop`, that is it processes only one packet. If no packet is available, the process will sleep. `Nids_next()` returns 1 on success, 0 on error (`nids_errbuf` contains appropriate message then).

Typically, when using `nids_next()`, an aplication will sleep in a `select()` function, with a snooping socket fd present in `read fd_set`. This fd can be obtained via a call to
``

int nids_getfd()

It returns a file descriptor when succeeded and -1 on error ( `nids_errbuf` is filled then).
Similarly, function
``

int nids_dispatch(int cnt)
is a wrapper around pcap_dispatch. It maybe advantageous to use it instead of nids_next() when we want to distinguish between return values (ie end-of-file vs error).

There are a few reasons why you may want to skip checksum processing on certain packets:

1. Nowadays, some NIC drivers are capable of computing checksums of outgoing packets. In such case, outgoing packets passed to libpcap can have uncomputed checksums. So, you may want to not check checksums on outgoing packets.
2. In order to improve performance, you may wish to not compute checksums for hosts one trusts (or protects), e.g. one's server farm.

In order to let libnids know which packets should not be checksummed, you should allocate an array of struct nids_chksum_ctl (defined in nids.h):

       struct nids_chksum_ctl
    {       u_int netaddr;
            u_int mask;
            u_int action;
    	/* reserved fields */
    };

and register it with
`
nids_register_chksum_ctl(struct nids_chksum_ctl *, int);
`
where the second parameter indicates the number of elements in the array.
Checksumming functions will first check elements of this array one by one, and if the source ip SRCIP of the current packet satisfies condition
`
(SRCIP&chksum_ctl_array[i].mask)==chksum_ctl_array[i].netaddr
`
then if the "action" field is NIDS_DO_CHKSUM, the packet will be checksummed; if the "action" field is NIDS_DONT_CHKSUM, the packet will not be checksummed. If the packet matches none of the array elements, the default action is to perform checksumming.
The example of usage is available in the samples/chksum_ctl.c file.

The include file nids.h defines the constants NIDS_MAJOR (1) and NIDS_MINOR (21), which can be used to determine in runtime the version of libnids. Nids.h used to define HAVE_NEW_PCAP as well, but since 1.19 it is nonsupported as obsolete.

Typically, data carried by a tcp stream can be divided into protocol-dependent records (say, lines of input). A tcp callback can receive an amount of data, which contains more then one record. Therefore, a tcp callback should iterate its protocol parsing routine over the whole amount of data received. This adds complexity to the code.
If `nids_params.one_loop_less` is non-zero, libnids behaviour changes slightly. If a callback consumes some (but not all) of newly arrived data, libnids calls it immediately again. Only non-processed data remain in the buffer, and `rcv->count_new` is decreased appropriately. Thus, a callback can process only one record at the time - libnids will call it again, until no new data remain or no data can be processed. Unfortunately, this behaviour introduces horrible semantics problems in case of 2+ callbacks reading the same half of a tcp stream. Therefore, if `nids_params.one_loop_less` is non-zero, you are not allowed to attach two or more callbacks to the same half of tcp stream. Unfortunately, the existing interface is unable to propagate the error to the callback - therefore, you must watch it yourself. You have been warned.

The pcap header of the last seen packet is exported as
`
extern struct pcap_pkthdr *nids_last_pcap_header;
`
It is wise to use it to get timestamp, to get a better accuracy and save a syscall.

Other applications using libnids can be found in "samples" directory.

## 7. New features in version 1.21

Version 1.21 brings several bugfixes, optimizations and a few new features, but mostly extra external variables and functions to access libnids' intrinsics from the outside.

`nids_last_pcap_data` is a new external variable to get the data of the last PCAP frame, like it was already possible to use `nids_last_pcap_header` in order to get the header of the last PCAP frame.

`nids_linkoffset` is a new external variable to get the computed offset between the link layer and the network layer for the current PCAP device. It is useful to reconstruct PCAP frames from IP defragmented packets which you get in your `ip_func` (see chapter on IP defragmentation) by copying the same amount of bytes from the beginning of `nids_last_pcap_data` representing the link layer, like this:

    void				ip_callback(struct ip *pkt, int len)
    {
      u_char                        *frame;
      struct pcap_pkthdr            ph;

      frame = malloc(len + nids_linkoffset);
      memcpy(frame, nids_last_pcap_data, nids_linkoffset);
      memcpy(frame + nids_linkoffset, pkt, len);
      ph.ts = nids_last_pcap_header->ts;
      ph.caplen = ph.len = len + nids_linkoffset;
      pcap_dump(nids_params.pcap_desc, &ph, frame);
      free(frame);
    }

In versions prior to 1.21 it was only possible to give libnids a device or file name and have it take total control over libpcap operations when using `nids_run()` or `nids_next()`. Now, with `nids_params.pcap_desc` it is possible to have your `pcap_handler` outside libnids and choose which frames you want to be processed by libnids (e.g. only TCP packets to keep track of TCP connections whilst this is not your only objective); all you have to do is copy your pointer to the `pcap_t` structure (returned by `pcap_open_live()`, `pcap_open_dead()` or `pcap_open_offline()`) to `nids_params.pcap_desc` and call `nids_pcap_handler()`, normally with the same parameters as your own pcap_handler (the one you registered with `pcap_dispatch()` or `pcap_loop()`) was called with. NOTE: since libnids cannot know when you are finished if you interactively pass packets to it with `nids_pcap_handler()`, you must tell it when to free the allocated resources by calling `nids_exit()`.

`nids_params.tcp_workarounds` is a new libnids runtime option which can be used to enable extra checks for faulty implementations of TCP such as the ones which allow connections to be closed despite the fact that there should be retransmissions for lost packets first, thus violating section 3.5 of RFC 793. In those cases, and if this option is non-zero, libnids will set the `NIDS_TIMED_OUT` state for TCP connections that were savagely closed.

`nids_find_tcp_stream()` is a new external function that can be used to find the corresponding `tcp_stream` structure for a given pointer to a `tuple4` structure.

`nids_free_tcp_stream()` is a new external function that can be used for example to force libnids into not following a TCP stream anymore. BEWARE! Calling `nids_free_tcp_stream()` from inside one of your registered `tcp_callback`s on a TCP stream that is already in a closing state (`NIDS_CLOSE`, `NIDS_TIMED_OUT`, `NIDS_RESET` or `NIDS_EXITING`) will result in a double free (because libnids will call `nids_free_tcp_stream()` internally when your `tcp_callback` returns) and your program will crash.

`nids_unregister_ip_frag()`, `nids_unregister_ip()`, `nids_unregister_udp()` and `nids_unregister_tcp()` are new external functions that can be used to unregister callbacks previous registed with the corresponding `nids_register_*()`, at any time.

`tcp_stream.user` is a new field in the structure passed to TCP callbacks. It is similar to their `void **param` argument, except that it is global to all the TCP callbacks for the same stream, whereas `param` is specific to each callback.

## 8. FAQ

- Q.1 For a connection X, my tcp callback gets only the data sent by the server ?
  A.1 You probably run a libnids app on a host that is the client side of X; and your NIC driver offloads checksums computing to the hardware. So, when libnids sees packets sent by the client, their checksum is not computed, and they are dropped. See the API.html file on the description of the nids_register_chksum_ctl(), and configure libnids app to skip checksum verification of packets sent by the host you run libnids on.
- Q.2 How to make libnids track already established TCP connections ?
  A.2 Intentionally not implemented; it would be unreliable, due to the fact that some crucial information (like TCP window scale) is present only in SYN packets. If you really need this functionality, you can try the included libnids-track-established.patch, prepared by Alon Bar-Lev; of course, the responsibility is yours.