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<head><title>Libnids-1.16 API</title>
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<h1><center>
                             ====================<br>
                                 libnids-1.16<br>
                             ====================<br>
</h1></center>
<ol>
<li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a>
<li><a href="#IP defragmentation">IP defragmentation</a>
<li><a href="#TCP stream assembly">TCP stream assembly</a>
<li><a href="#A sample application"> A sample application</a>
<li><a href="#Libnids structures">Basic libnids structures and functions</a>
<li><a href="#misc hacks">Misc useful hacks</a>
</ol>
<center><h2>
                             1. <a name="Introduction">Introduction</a>
</h2></center><p>
	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.<p>
	An application's function main usually looks this way:<br>
<pre>
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
}
</pre><p>

	Another method is <a href="#nids_next">mentioned</a> later.
<center><h2> 
                2. <a name="IP defragmentation">IP defragmentation</a>
</h2></center><p>

	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<br><br><code><center>

	void ip_frag_func(struct ip * a_packet, int len)
</center></code><br><p>

After calling <code>nids_init</code>, this function should be registered with
libnids:<br><br><code><center>

	nids_register_ip_frag(ip_frag_func);
</center></code><br><p>
Function <code>ip_frag_func</code> will be called from libnids; parameter 
<code>a_packet</code> will
point to a received datagram, <code>len</code> is the packet length.<p>
	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<br><br><code><center>

	void ip_func(struct ip * a_packet)
</center></code><br><p>
and register it with<br><br><code><center>

	nids_register_ip(ip_func);
</center></code><br><p>
<center><h2>
            3. <a name="TCP stream assembly">TCP stream assembly</a>
</h2></center><p>

	In order to receive data exchanged in a TCP stream, one must declare a
callback function <br><br><code><center>

	void tcp_callback(struct tcp_stream * ns, void ** param)
</center></code><br><p>
Structure <code>tcp_stream</code> provides all info on a TCP connection. For instance, it
contains two fields of type <code>struct half_stream</code> (named <code> 
client</code> and <code>server</code>), each
of them describing one side of a connection. We'll explain all its fields
later.<p>
	One of <code>tcp_stream</code> field is named
<code>nids_state</code>. Behaviour of tcp_callback
depends on value of this field.<br>
<ul>
<li><pre> ns->nids_state==NIDS_JUST_EST</pre> In this case, <code>ns</code> 
   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.
<li><pre> ns->nids_state==NIDS_DATA</pre> In this case, new data has arrived.
   Structures
   <code>half_stream</code> (members of <code>tcp_stream</code>) contain buffers
   with data.
<li> Other values of <code>nids_state</code> field (<code>NIDS_CLOSE, 
   NIDS_RESET, NIDS_TIMEOUT</code>)
   mean that the connection has been closed. Tcp_callback should free 
   allocated resources, if any.
</ul>
<center><h2>

          4. <a name="A sample application">A sample application</a>
</h2></center><p>

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

<pre width="80"><font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;sys/types.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;sys/socket.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;netinet/in.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;netinet/in_systm.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;arpa/inet.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;string.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;</font>
<font color="#A020F0">#include </font><font color="#666666">"nids.h"</font><font color="#A020F0"></font>

<strong><font color="#228B22">#define int_ntoa(x)	inet_ntoa(*((struct in_addr *)&amp;x))</font></strong>

// 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 *
<strong><font color="#4169E1"><a name="dres"></a>adres (struct tuple4 addr)</font></strong>
{
  static char buf[256];
  strcpy (buf, int_ntoa (addr.saddr));
  sprintf (buf + strlen (buf), <font color="#666666">",%i,"</font>, addr.source);
  strcat (buf, int_ntoa (addr.daddr));
  sprintf (buf + strlen (buf), <font color="#666666">",%i"</font>, addr.dest);
  <font color="#4169E1">return</font> buf;
}

<strong><font color="#4169E1"><a name="tcp_callback"></a>void
tcp_callback (struct tcp_stream *a_tcp, void ** this_time_not_needed)</font></strong>
{
  char buf[1024];
  strcpy (buf, adres (a_tcp-&gt;addr)); // we put conn params into buf
  <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;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-&gt;addr.dest!=23) return;
    // in this simple app we follow each stream, so..
      a_tcp-&gt;client.collect++; // we want data received by a client
      a_tcp-&gt;server.collect++; // and by a server, too
      a_tcp-&gt;server.collect_urg++; // we want urgent data received by a
                                   // server
<font color="#A020F0">#ifdef WE_WANT_URGENT_DATA_RECEIVED_BY_A_CLIENT</font>
      a_tcp-&gt;client.collect_urg++; // if we don't increase this value,
                                   // we won't be notified of urgent data
                                   // arrival
<font color="#A020F0">#endif</font>
      fprintf (stderr, <font color="#666666">"%s established\n"</font>, buf);
      <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
    }
  <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;nids_state == NIDS_CLOSE)
    {
      // connection has been closed normally
      fprintf (stderr, <font color="#666666">"%s closing\n"</font>, buf);
      <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
    }
  <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;nids_state == NIDS_RESET)
    {
      // connection has been closed by RST
      fprintf (stderr, <font color="#666666">"%s reset\n"</font>, buf);
      <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
    }

  <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;nids_state == NIDS_DATA)
    {
      // new data has arrived; gotta determine in what direction
      // and if it's urgent or not

      <font color="#4169E1">struct half_stream</font> *hlf;

      <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;server.count_new_urg)
      {
        // new byte of urgent data has arrived 
        strcat(buf,<font color="#666666">"(urgent-&gt;)"</font>);
        buf[strlen(buf)+1]=0;
        buf[strlen(buf)]=a_tcp-&gt;server.urgdata;
        write(1,buf,strlen(buf));
        <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
      }
      // We don't have to check if urgent data to client has arrived,
      // because we haven't increased a_tcp-&gt;client.collect_urg variable.
      // So, we have some normal data to take care of.
      <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;client.count_new)
	{
          // new data for the client
	  hlf = &amp;a_tcp-&gt;client; // from now on, we will deal with hlf var,
                                // which will point to client side of conn
	  strcat (buf, <font color="#666666">"(&lt;-)"</font>); // symbolic direction of data
	}
      <font color="#4169E1">else</font>
	{
	  hlf = &amp;a_tcp-&gt;server; // analogical
	  strcat (buf, <font color="#666666">"(-&gt;)"</font>);
	}
    fprintf(stderr,<font color="#666666">"%s"</font>,buf); // we print the connection parameters
                              // (saddr, daddr, sport, dport) accompanied
                              // by data flow direction (-&gt; or &lt;-)

   write(2,hlf-&gt;data,hlf-&gt;count_new); // we print the newly arrived data
      
    }
  <font color="#4169E1">return</font> ;
}

<strong><font color="#4169E1"><a name="main"></a>int 
main ()</font></strong>
{
  // here we can alter libnids params, for instance:
  // nids_params.n_hosts=256;
  <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (!nids_init ())
  {
  	fprintf(stderr,<font color="#666666">"%s\n"</font>,nids_errbuf);
  	exit(1);
  }
  nids_register_tcp (tcp_callback);
  nids_run ();
  <font color="#4169E1">return</font> 0;
}
</pre>
<center><h2>


        5. <a name="Libnids structures">Basic libnids structures and functions</a>
</h2></center><p>

	Now it's time for more systematic description of libnids structures. As 
mentioned, they're all declared in <code>nids.h</code><p>

<pre width="80">   <font color="#4169E1">struct tuple4</font> // TCP connection parameters
   {
   unsigned short source,dest; // client and server port numbers
   unsigned long saddr,daddr;  // client and server IP addresses
   };


   <font color="#4169E1">struct half_stream</font> // structure describing one side of a TCP connection
   {
   char state;            // socket state (ie TCP_ESTABLISHED )
   char collect;          // if &gt;0, then data should be stored in 
                          // <font color="#666666">"data"</font> 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 <font color="#666666">"data"</font>
                          // since the creation of a connection 
   int offset;            // offset (in data stream) of first byte stored in 
                          // the <font color="#666666">"data"</font> buffer; additional explanations
                          // follow
   int count_new;         // how many bytes were appended to <font color="#666666">"data"</font> 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

   };


   <font color="#4169E1">struct tcp_stream</font>
   {
   <font color="#4169E1">struct tuple4</font> addr;   // connections params (saddr, daddr, sport, dport)
   char nids_state;                  // logical state of the connection
   <font color="#4169E1">struct half_stream</font> client,server; // structures describing client and
                                     // server side of the connection 
   ...                               // other fields are auxiliary for libnids
   };

</pre><p>

	In the above sample program function tcp_callback printed data from
<code>hlf-&gt;data</code> buffer on stderr, and this data was no longer needed. After
tcp_callback return, libnids by default frees space occupied by this data.
Field <code>hlf-&gt;offset</code> 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 
<code>count_new&lt;N</code> bytes) one should call
function<br><br><code><center>

	void nids_discard(struct tcp_stream * a_tcp, int num_bytes)
</center></code><br><p>
before tcp_callback returns. As a result, after tcp_callback return libnids 
will discard at most <code>num_bytes</code> first bytes from buffer "data" 
(updating
"offset" field accordingly, and moving rest of the data to the beginning of
the buffer). 
	If <code>nids_discard</code> function is never called (like in above sample program),
buffer <code>hlf-&gt;data</code> contains exactly
<code>hlf-&gt;count_new</code> bytes. Generally, number of
bytes in buffer <code>hlf-&gt;data</code> equals 
<code>hlf-&gt;count-hlf-&gt;offset</code>.<p>   
	Thanks to nids_discard function, a programmer doesn't have to copy 
received bytes into a separate buffer - <code>hlf-&gt;data</code> 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:<p>

<pre width="80">
   void
   tcp_callback_2 (<font color="#4169E1">struct tcp_stream</font> * a_tcp, <font color="#4169E1">struct conn_param</font> **ptr)
   {
   <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;nids_state==NIDS_JUST_EST)
   {
        <font color="#4169E1">struct conn_param</font> * a_conn;
   	<font color="#4169E1">if</font> the connection is uninteresting, <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
        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 <font color="#666666">"collect"</font> fields
        <font color="#4169E1">return</font>;
   }
   <font color="#4169E1">if</font> (a_tcp-&gt;nids_state==NIDS_DATA)
   {
	<font color="#4169E1">struct conn_param</font> *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  
        <font color="#4169E1">return</font> ;

   }
</pre>
<p>

	Functions <code>nids_register_tcp</code> and <code>
nids_register_ip*</code> 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 <a href="#one_loop_less">exception</a>).<p>
	Libnids parameters can be changed by modyfication of fields of the 
global variable <code>nids_params</code>, declared as follows:

<pre width="80">   <font color="#4169E1">struct nids_prm</font>
   {
   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
                      // <font color="#4169E1">default</font> 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; <font color="#4169E1">default</font> value: 256
   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 <font color="#666666">"all"</font> results in libnids trying to
                      // capture packets on all interfaces (this works only
                      // with Linux kernel &gt; 2.2.0); see also doc/NEW_LIBPCAP 
   int sk_buff_size;  // size of <font color="#4169E1">struct sk_buff</font>, a structure defined by
                      // Linux kernel, used by kernel for packets queuing. If 
                      // this parameter has different value from 
                      // <font color="#4169E1">sizeof</font>(<font color="#4169E1">struct sk_buff</font>), libnids can be bypassed
                      // by attacking resource managing of libnis (see TEST
                      // file). If you are paranoid, check <font color="#4169E1">sizeof</font>(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)(<font color="#4169E1">struct ip</font>*);  // 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 <font color="#666666">"tcp dst port 23"</font>
		      // will NOT correctly handle fragmented traffic.
   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 <a href=#one_loop_less>explanation</a>
   } nids_params;
</pre><p>

	The field syslog of nids_params variable by default contains the 
address of function <code>nids_syslog</code>, declared as:<br><br><code><center>

	void nids_syslog (int type, int errnum, struct ip *iph, void *data);
</center></code><br><p>
Function <code>nids_params.syslog</code> 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 
<code>nids_syslog</code>
(defined in libnids.c) can be an example on how to decode parameters passed
to <code>nids_params.syslog</code>. <code>Nids_syslog</code> 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).<p>
If one is interested in UDP datagrams, one should
declare<br><br><code><center>

       void udp_callback(struct tuple4 * addr, char * buf, int len, 
                         struct ip * iph);
</center></code><br><p>
and register it with
<br><br><code><center>

       nids_register_udp(udp_callback)
</center></code><br><p>
Parameter <code>addr</code> contains address info, <code>buf</code> points to data carried 
by UDP
packet, <code>len</code> is the data length, and <code>iph</code> points to the IP packet which 
contained the UDP packet. The checksum is verified.

<center><h2><a name="misc hacks">6. Misc useful hacks</a>
</h2></center><p>
	

	As a nice toy :) function<br><br><code><center>


	void nids_killtcp(struct tcp_stream * a_tcp)
</center></code><br><p>

is implemented. It terminates TCP connection described by a_tcp by sending
RST segments.<hr>
<a name="nids_next"></a>
	Using <code>nids_run()</code> has one disadvantage - the application becomes
totally packets driven. Sometimes it is necessary to perform some task even
when no packets arrive. Instead of <code>nids_run()</code>, one 
can use function<br><br><code><center>

	int nids_next()
</center></code><br><p>

It calls <code>pcap_next()</code> instead of <code>pcap_loop</code>, that is it processes 
only one 
packet. If no packet is available, the process will sleep. 
<code>Nids_next()</code> returns
1 on success, 0 on error (<code>nids_errbuf</code> contains appropriate 
message then).<p>
	Typically, when using <code>nids_next()</code>, an aplication will 
sleep in a 
<code>select()</code> function, with a snooping socket fd present in 
<code>read fd_set</code>. This fd 
can be obtained via a call to<br><br><code><center>

	int nids_getfd()
</center></code><br><p>


It returns a file descriptor when succeeded and -1 on error (
<code>nids_errbuf</code> is filled then).<hr> 


	The include file nids.h defines the constants NIDS_MAJOR (1) and 
NIDS_MINOR (16), which can be used to determine in runtime the version of 
libnids. If HAVE_NEW_PCAP (the constant also defined in nids.h
) is set to 1, then libnids has been compiled with 
support to capture packets on all devices (see NEW_LIBPCAP file).<hr>
<a name="one_loop_less"></a>
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.<br>
If <code>nids_params.one_loop_less</code> 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 <code>rcv-&gt;count_new</code> 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
<code>nids_params.one_loop_less</code> 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.<hr>


                            
	Other applications using libnids can be found in "samples" directory.
</body>
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