Problems getting logs in with winlogbeat

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 12:28am

ES version 7.16.2

trying to upload sysmon data using winlogbeat. Cluster has "security" enabled and the winlogbeat clients are now connecting an there are no errors in the ES logs. We are using API keys -- this took some time to sort as one can't use kibaba to generate the keys because winlogbeat uses the : format not the combined format given by kibana

Tcpdump shows that the two machines that are trying to upload logs both have established sessions and very minute or so there is an exchange of packets -- presumably some sort of keep alive. There is nothing that looks like data being transferred and there are no beat related indexes being created.

I am working with a colleague who is managing the window end.

Any suggestions on how to find out what is wrong?

warkolm · April 12, 2022, 12:33am

What does your config look like?
What do your Winlogbeat logs show?

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 12:57am

I have prodded my colleague again for the ; )

andrewkroh · April 12, 2022, 1:39am

I'm not sure when this was introduced but there is a format selector for the API key the latest version of Kibana.

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 1:52am

thanks! not in 7.16.2 ; ) I just checked in case I missed it.

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 1:55am

config ( sans key ; ):

###################### Winlogbeat Configuration Example ########################

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The winlogbeat.reference.yml file from the same directory contains
# all the supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/winlogbeat/index.html

# ======================== Winlogbeat specific options =========================

# event_logs specifies a list of event logs to monitor as well as any
# accompanying options. The YAML data type of event_logs is a list of
# dictionaries.
#
# The supported keys are name (required), tags, fields, fields_under_root,
# forwarded, ignore_older, level, event_id, provider, and include_xml. Please
# visit the documentation for the complete details of each option.
# https://go.es.io/WinlogbeatConfig

winlogbeat.event_logs:
  - name: Application
    ignore_older: 72h

  - name: System

  - name: Security
    processors:
      - script:
          lang: javascript
          id: security
          file: ${path.home}/module/security/config/winlogbeat-security.js

  - name: Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
    processors:
      - script:
          lang: javascript
          id: sysmon
          file: ${path.home}/module/sysmon/config/winlogbeat-sysmon.js

  - name: Windows PowerShell
    event_id: 400, 403, 600, 800
    processors:
      - script:
          lang: javascript
          id: powershell
          file: ${path.home}/module/powershell/config/winlogbeat-powershell.js

  - name: Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational
    event_id: 4103, 4104, 4105, 4106
    processors:
      - script:
          lang: javascript
          id: powershell
          file: ${path.home}/module/powershell/config/winlogbeat-powershell.js

  - name: ForwardedEvents
    tags: [forwarded]
    processors:
      - script:
          when.equals.winlog.channel: Security
          lang: javascript
          id: security
          file: ${path.home}/module/security/config/winlogbeat-security.js
      - script:
          when.equals.winlog.channel: Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
          lang: javascript
          id: sysmon
          file: ${path.home}/module/sysmon/config/winlogbeat-sysmon.js
      - script:
          when.equals.winlog.channel: Windows PowerShell
          lang: javascript
          id: powershell
          file: ${path.home}/module/powershell/config/winlogbeat-powershell.js
      - script:
          when.equals.winlog.channel: Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational
          lang: javascript
          id: powershell
          file: ${path.home}/module/powershell/config/winlogbeat-powershell.js

# ====================== Elasticsearch template settings =======================

setup.template.settings:
  index.number_of_shards: 1
  #index.codec: best_compression
  #_source.enabled: false


# ================================== General ===================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# The tags of the shipper are included in their own field with each
# transaction published.
#tags: ["service-X", "web-tier"]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
#  env: staging

# ================================= Dashboards =================================
# These settings control loading the sample dashboards to the Kibana index. Loading
# the dashboards is disabled by default and can be enabled either by setting the
# options here or by using the `setup` command.
#setup.dashboards.enabled: false

# The URL from where to download the dashboards archive. By default this URL
# has a value which is computed based on the Beat name and version. For released
# versions, this URL points to the dashboard archive on the artifacts.elastic.co
# website.
#setup.dashboards.url:

# =================================== Kibana ===================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:

  # Kibana Host
  # Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 5601)
  # In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:5601/path
  # IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:5601
  #host: "localhost:5601"

  # Kibana Space ID
  # ID of the Kibana Space into which the dashboards should be loaded. By default,
  # the Default Space will be used.
  #space.id:

# =============================== Elastic Cloud ================================

# These settings simplify using Winlogbeat with the Elastic Cloud (https://cloud.elastic.co/).

# The cloud.id setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.hosts` and
# `setup.kibana.host` options.
# You can find the `cloud.id` in the Elastic Cloud web UI.
#cloud.id:

# The cloud.auth setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.username` and
# `output.elasticsearch.password` settings. The format is `<user>:<pass>`.
#cloud.auth:

# ================================== Outputs ===================================

# Configure what output to use when sending the data collected by the beat.

# ---------------------------- Elasticsearch Output ----------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
  hosts: ["130.216.5.128:9200"]

  # Protocol - either `http` (default) or `https`.
  protocol: "https"

  # Authentication credentials - either API key or username/password.
  api_key: "xxxxx:yyyyyyyyy"
  #username: "elastic"
  #password: "changeme"

# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
#output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  #hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

  # Optional SSL. By default is off.
  # List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
  #ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

  # Certificate for SSL client authentication
  #ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

  # Client Certificate Key
  #ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

# ================================= Processors =================================
processors:
  - add_host_metadata:
      when.not.contains.tags: forwarded
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~

# ================================== Logging ===================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug

# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publisher", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]

# ============================= X-Pack Monitoring ==============================
# Winlogbeat can export internal metrics to a central Elasticsearch monitoring
# cluster.  This requires xpack monitoring to be enabled in Elasticsearch.  The
# reporting is disabled by default.

# Set to true to enable the monitoring reporter.
#monitoring.enabled: false

# Sets the UUID of the Elasticsearch cluster under which monitoring data for this
# Winlogbeat instance will appear in the Stack Monitoring UI. If output.elasticsearch
# is enabled, the UUID is derived from the Elasticsearch cluster referenced by output.elasticsearch.
#monitoring.cluster_uuid:

# Uncomment to send the metrics to Elasticsearch. Most settings from the
# Elasticsearch output are accepted here as well.
# Note that the settings should point to your Elasticsearch *monitoring* cluster.
# Any setting that is not set is automatically inherited from the Elasticsearch
# output configuration, so if you have the Elasticsearch output configured such
# that it is pointing to your Elasticsearch monitoring cluster, you can simply
# uncomment the following line.
#monitoring.elasticsearch:

# ============================== Instrumentation ===============================

# Instrumentation support for the winlogbeat.
#instrumentation:
    # Set to true to enable instrumentation of winlogbeat.
    #enabled: false

    # Environment in which winlogbeat is running on (eg: staging, production, etc.)
    #environment: ""

    # APM Server hosts to report instrumentation results to.
    #hosts:
    #  - http://localhost:8200

    # API Key for the APM Server(s).
    # If api_key is set then secret_token will be ignored.
    #api_key:

    # Secret token for the APM Server(s).
    #secret_token:


# ================================= Migration ==================================

# This allows to enable 6.7 migration aliases
#migration.6_to_7.enabled: true

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 2:08am

logs:

hmmm... there are errors here I did not know about...


2022-04-12T10:56:27.373+1200	ERROR	[index-management.ilm]	ilm/std.go:166	ILM policy winlogbeat creation failed: 403 Forbidden: {"error":{"root_cause":[{"type":"security_exception","reason":"action [cluster:admin/ilm/put] is unauthorized for API key id [e6AdF4ABThl18eX5VERa] of user [elastic], this action is granted by the cluster privileges [manage_ilm,manage,all]"}],"type":"security_exception","reason":"action [cluster:admin/ilm/put] is unauthorized for API key id [e6AdF4ABThl18eX5VERa] of user [elastic], this action is granted by the cluster privileges [manage_ilm,manage,all]"},"status":403}
2022-04-12T10:56:58.133+1200	ERROR	[publisher_pipeline_output]	pipeline/output.go:154	Failed to connect to backoff(elasticsearch(https://130.216.5.128:9200)): Connection marked as failed because the onConnect callback failed: 403 Forbidden: {"error":{"root_cause":[{"type":"security_exception","reason":"action [cluster:admin/ilm/put] is unauthorized for API key id [e6AdF4ABThl18eX5VERa] of user [elastic], this action is granted by the cluster privileges [manage_ilm,manage,all]"}],"type":"security_exception","reason":"action [cluster:admin/ilm/put] is unauthorized for API key id [e6AdF4ABThl18eX5VERa] of user [elastic], this action is granted by the cluster privileges [manage_ilm,manage,all]"},"status":403}

the api key was generated using the following json copied from: (Grant access using API keys | Winlogbeat Reference [master] | Elastic)

{
  "name": "ES-api-winlogbeat", 
  "role_descriptors": {
    "winlogbeat_writer": { 
      "cluster": ["*"],
      "index": [
        {
          "names": ["winlogbeat-*"],
          "privileges": ["view_index_metadata", "create_doc"]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

andrewkroh · April 12, 2022, 2:55am

Did you setup the ILM policy first using a more privileged user? Like Grant privileges and roles needed for setup | Winlogbeat Reference [7.17] | Elastic

Once that's done you can disable ILM (as is mentioned in Grant privileges and roles needed for publishing | Winlogbeat Reference [7.17] | Elastic) such that you can use a least privilege API key for sending data in.

Russell_Fulton · April 12, 2022, 11:11pm

Thanks Andrew.

I have created a setup role but I am not sure exactly what is involved with " use the 'setup role' to pre-load dependencies."

do I need to create two api keys one with the setup role which we use once to get the index templates and ilm stuff set up and then switch to a key with writer privs?

andrewkroh · April 13, 2022, 6:23pm

Yes, that's effectively what you will do. Work through the install guide and when running the setup command configure a user/pass (or api key) that has at least the setup role.

Then before starting the service to send logs modify the config to use a least privilege API key and disable ILM and template loading (setup.ilm.enabled: false and setup.template.enabled: false).

Russell_Fulton · April 13, 2022, 8:56pm

Thanks again : )

that is what I have done (using two API keys) will try now doing the initial start up using a user that has the setup role.

I suspect the real problem is that there are two of us doing this, both working from home, me on the server end and my accomplish on the windows end -- neither able to cross check what the other has done.

system · May 11, 2022, 8:57pm

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