A Network Traffic Feature Extraction Tool

Overview

This tool is engineered for robust and efficient feature extraction, particularly for applications such as network intrusion detection systems, among others. Leveraging Rust language and eBPF, it excels in processing high volumes of network traffic with remarkable speed and throughput. (When your traffic is already captured, don't worry! It also has a build in pcap reader which is also amazingly fast.) With various pre-defined feature sets and the ability to create custom feature sets, RustiFlow offers a versatile solution for network security applications.

Key Features

• High Throughput: Utilizes Rust and the Aya library for eBPF program compilation and execution, ensuring exceptional performance and resource efficiency.
• Versatile Feature Sets: Offers a variety of pre-defined feature sets (flows) and the flexibility to create custom feature sets tailored to specific requirements. An example of the custom flow is shown here.
• Pcap File Support: Facilitates packet analysis from pcap files, compatible with both Linux and Windows generated files.
• Diverse Output Options: Features can be outputted to the console, a CSV file, or other formats with minimal effort.

Feature sets

See the wiki for the different feature sets available.

Architecture

Realtime processing

Offline PCAP processing

Using the release binary:

Copy the rustiflow binary that you can find in this repo in releases to a location of your choice or to the /usr/local/bin folder. If it does not have the right permissions, you can run the following command:

chmod +x /path/to/rustiflow

Using commands:

You can then run the binary with the following commands displayed on the help menu.

Using the tui interface:

If you want a more graphical interface, you can use the tui interface by just running rustiflow without any arguments. This will open the following interface:

NOTE: When using the save button, the current selection will be saved to the rustiflow.toml file. You can reuse this file with following command:

rustiflow --config-file rustiflow.toml realtime <interface> [--only-ingress]

rustiflow -c rustiflow.toml pcap <path to pcap file>

After saving the configuration file, you can safely reset without changing the configuration file.

Using the configuration file:

This is an example of a configuration file that you can use to run the tool with the --config-file option.

[config]
features = "CIDDS"
active_timeout = 522
idle_timeout = 885855
early_export = 25
expiration_check_interval = 0

[output]
output = "Csv"
export_path = "path/to/output.csv"
header = false
drop_contaminant_features = true

Example 2:

[config]
features = "Nfstream"
active_timeout = 3600
idle_timeout = 120
early_export = 10
expiration_check_interval = 60
threads = 8

[output]
output = "Print"
header = true
drop_contaminant_features = false

Using the Container:

Make sure that you don't use docker desktop and that you don't have it installed on your machine. If you have this setup, it will not work as intended as the --network host will not link the container to the host network, but to the network of a VM that docker desktop uses.

• Build the Container:

  docker build -t rustiflow .

• Run the Container:

  docker run --network host -v /path/on/host:/app rustiflow [ARGS like you are used to]

  Run it with the --privileged flag if you want to capture traffic in real-time.
• Example:

  docker run --network host -v /home/user/pcap:/app rustiflow pcap basic-flow 60 /app/pcap.pcap print

  docker run --privileged --network host -v /home/matisse/Documents:/app rustiflow realtime enp5s0 cic-flow 60 csv /app/output.csv

Installation Guide for development

Prerequisites:

• libpcap-dev:

  sudo apt install libpcap-dev

• Rust Installation:

  curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

• Nightly Rust Toolchain:

  rustup install stable
  rustup toolchain install nightly --component rust-src

bpf Linker Installation:

• For Linux x86_64:

  cargo install bpf-linker

• For MacOS/Linux (Other Architectures):

  brew install llvm
  cargo install --no-default-features bpf-linker

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Specific:

  sudo apt install linux-tools-5.8.0-63-generic
  export PATH=/usr/lib/linux-tools/5.8.0-63-generic:$PATH

Building the Project

• eBPF Programs:

  cargo xtask ebpf-ipv4
  cargo xtask ebpf-ipv6

• User Space Programs:

  cargo build

Running the Project in dev mode

cargo xtask run -- [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Usage Instructions

Command Help:

rustiflow help

Usage: rustiflow [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  realtime  Real-time feature extraction
  pcap      Feature extraction from a pcap file
  help      Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -c, --config-file <CONFIG_FILE>
          Configuration file path

  -f, --features <FEATURES>
          The feature set to use (required if no config file is provided)

          Possible values:
          - basic:    A basic flow that stores the basic features of a flow
          - cic:      Represents the CIC Flow, giving 83 features
          - cidds:    Represents the CIDDS Flow, giving 10 features
          - nfstream: Represents a nfstream inspired flow, giving 69 features
          - ntl:      Represents the NTL Flow, giving 120 features
          - custom:   Represents a flow that you can implement yourself

      --active-timeout <ACTIVE_TIMEOUT>
          The maximum time a flow is allowed to last in seconds (optional)
          
          [default: 3600]

      --idle-timeout <IDLE_TIMEOUT>
          The maximum time with no packets for a flow in seconds (optional)
          
          [default: 120]

      --early-export <EARLY_EXPORT>
          The print interval for open flows in seconds (optional)

      --expiration-check-interval <EXPIRATION_CHECK_INTERVAL>
          Interval (in seconds) for checking and expiring flows in the flowtable. This represents how often the flowtable should be scanned to remove inactive flows
          
          [default: 60]

      --threads <THREADS>
          The numbers of threads to use for processing packets (optional) (default: number of logical CPUs)

      -o, --output <OUTPUT>
              Output method (required if no config file is provided)

              Possible values:
              - print: The output will be printed to the console
              - csv:   The output will be written to a CSV file

          --export-path <EXPORT_PATH>
              File path for output (used if method is Csv)

          --header
              Whether to export the feature header

          --drop-contaminant-features
              Whether to drop contaminant features

      -h, --help
              Print help (see a summary with '-h')

      -V, --version
              Print version

Note: For specific logging levels, adjust RUST_LOG to error for error messages, and debug for debug messages. If you don't want any additional logs, just remove RUST_LOG=info.

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