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Version: v1.6.0

Crowdsec configuration

CrowdSec has a main yaml configuration file, usually located in /etc/crowdsec/config.yaml.

Configuration example​

You can find the default configurations on our GitHub repository:

Linux default configuration

Windows default configuration

Environment variables​

It is possible to set configuration values based on environment variables.

For example, if you don't want to store your database password in the configuration file, you can do this:

db_config:
  type:     mysql
  user:     database_user
  password: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  db_name:  db_name
  host:     192.168.0.2
  port:     3306

And export the environment variable such as:

export DB_PASSWORD="<db_password>"
warning

Note: you need to be root or put the environment variable in /etc/environment

If the variable is not defined, crowdsec >= 1.5.0 will leave the original string. This is to allow for literal $ characters, especially in passwords: versions before 1.5.0 replaced a non-existent reference with an empty string which corrupted the password and made it harder to find configuration mistakes.

Overriding values​

If you change config.yaml and later upgrade crowdsec, the package system may ask if you want to replace the configuration with the version from the new package, or leave the file with your changes untouched. This is usually not a problem because new directives have default values, but they won't appear in your configuration file until you manually merge them in. On some OSes (like freebsd) the package system just writes a config.yaml.sample with the new values if there has been any change to config.yaml.

It can also be easier, while automating deployments, to write local configuration changes to a separate file instead of parsing and rewriting config.yaml.

For all these reasons, you can write your local settings in config.yaml.local, which follows the same format and has the same options as config.yaml. Values defined in config.yaml.local will take precedence. Mappings are merged, sequences are replaced. You can use the environment variable substitution, explained above, in both files.

Example:

/etc/crowdsec/config.yaml.local
common:
  log_level: debug
api:
  server:
    trusted_ips:
     - 192.168.100.0/24
info

Note: you cannot remove configuration keys from a .local file, only change them (possibly with an empty or default value). So for example, removing db_config.db_path is not possible, even if you don't use it. And you cannot remove a whole mapping (like api.server). Sequences on the other hand, are always replaced.

Configuration files that support .yaml.local:​

  • config.yaml
  • local_api_credentials.yaml
  • simulation.yaml
  • bouncers/crowdsec-firewall-bouncer.yaml
  • bouncers/crowdsec-custom-bouncer.yaml
  • bouncers/crowdsec-blocklist-mirror.yaml

In the case of profiles.yaml, the files are read as a whole (as if they were attached) instead of merged. See profiles - introduction.

Configuration directives​

/etc/crowdsec/config.yaml
common:
  daemonize: "(true|false)"
  pid_dir: "<path_to_pid_folder>"
  log_media: "(file|stdout)"
  log_level: "(error|info|debug|trace)"
  log_dir: "<path_to_log_folder>"
  working_dir: "<path_to_working_folder>"
  log_max_size: <max_size_of_log_file>
  log_max_age: <max_age_of_log_file>
  log_max_files: <number_of_log_files_to_keep>
  compress_logs: (true|false)
config_paths:
  config_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_config_folder>"
  data_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_data_folder>"
  simulation_path: "<path_to_simulation_file>"
  hub_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_hub_folder>"
  index_path: "<path_to_hub_index_file>"
  notification_dir: "<path_to_notification_config_folder>"
  plugin_dir: "<path_to_notification_binaries_folder>"
crowdsec_service:
  enable: <true|false>  ## enable or disable crowdsec agent
  acquisition_path: "<acqusition_file_path>"
  acquisition_dir: "<acquisition_dir_path>"
  console_context_path: <path_to_context_file>
  parser_routines: "<number_of_parser_routines>"
  buckets_routines: "<number_of_buckets_routines>"
  output_routines: "<number_of_output_routines>"
plugin_config:
  user: "<user_to_run_plugin_process_as>"
  group: "<group_to_run_plugin_process_as>"
cscli:
  output: "(human|json|raw)"
  hub_branch: "<hub_branch>"
db_config:
  type:     "<db_type>"
  db_path:  "<path_to_database_file|path_to_socket_file>" #Socket file mysql or mariadb
  user:     "<db_user>"      # for mysql/pgsql
  password: "<db_password>"  # for mysql/pgsql
  db_name:  "<db_name>"      # for mysql/pgsql
  host:     "<db_host_ip>"   # for mysql/pgsql
  port:     "<db_host_port>" # for mysql/pgsql
  sslmode:  "<require/disable>" # for pgsql
  use_wal:  "true|false" # for sqlite
  max_open_conns: "<max_number_of_conns_to_db>"
  flush:
    max_items: "<max_alerts_in_db>"
    max_age: "<max_age_of_alerts_in_db>"
    bouncers_autodelete:
      cert: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
      api_key: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
    agents_autodelete:
      cert: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"
      login_password: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"
api:
  cti:
    key: "<api_cti_key>"
    cache_timeout: "60m"
    cache_size: 50
    enabled: "(true|false)"
    log_level: "(info|debug|trace)"
  client:
    insecure_skip_verify: "(true|false)"
    credentials_path: "<path_to_local_api_client_credential_file>"
  server:
    enable: <true|false> # enable or disable local API
    log_level: "(error|info|debug|trace>")"
    listen_uri: "<listen_uri>" # host:port
    profiles_path: "<path_to_profile_file>"
    use_forwarded_for_headers: "<true|false>"
    console_path: <path_to_console_file>
    online_client:
      credentials_path: "<path_to_crowdsec_api_client_credential_file>"
    disable_remote_lapi_registration: (true|false)
    capi_whitelists_path: "<path_to_capi_whitelists_file>"
    tls:
      cert_file: "<path_to_certificat_file>"
      key_file: "<path_to_certificat_key_file>"
      client_verification: "NoClientCert|RequestClientCert|RequireAnyClientCert|VerifyClientCertIfGiven|RequireAndVerifyClientCert"
      ca_cert_path: "<path_to_ca_cert_file>"
      agents_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the agents
       - agents_ou
      bouncers_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the bouncers
       - bouncers_ou
      crl_path: "<path_to_crl_file>"
      cache_expiration: "<cache_duration_for_revocation_check>"
    trusted_ips: # IPs or IP ranges which should have admin API access
      #- 127.0.0.1
      #- ::1
      #- 10.0.0.0/24
prometheus:
  enabled: "(true|false)"
  level: "(full|aggregated)"
  listen_addr: "<listen_address>"
  listen_port: "<listen_port>"

common​

common:
  daemonize: "(true|false)"
  pid_dir: "<path_to_pid_folder>"
  log_media: "(file|stdout)"
  log_level: "(error|info|debug|trace)"
  log_dir: "<path_to_log_folder>"
  working_dir: "<path_to_working_folder>"
  log_max_size: <max_size_of_log_file>
  log_max_age: <max_age_of_log_file>
  log_max_files: <number_of_log_files_to_keep>
  compress_logs: (true|false)

daemonize​

bool

Daemonize or not the crowdsec daemon.

pid_dir​

string

Folder to store PID file.

log_media​

string

Log media. Can be stdout or file.

log_level​

string

Log level. Can be error, info, debug, trace.

log_folder​

string

Folder to write log file.

warning

Works only with log_media = file.

working_dir​

string

Current working directory.

log_max_size​

int

Maximum size in megabytes of the log file before it gets rotated. Defaults to 500 megabytes.

log_max_age​

int

Maximum number of days to retain old log files based on the timestamp encoded in their filename. Note that a day is defined as 24 hours and may not exactly correspond to calendar days due to daylight savings, leap seconds, etc. The default is to remove old log files after 28 days.

log_max_files​

int

Maximum number of old log files to retain. The default is to retain 3 old log files (though MaxAge may still cause them to get deleted.)

compress_logs​

bool

Whether to compress the log file after rotation or not.

config_paths​

This section contains most paths to various sub configuration items.

config_paths:
  config_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_config_folder>"
  data_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_data_folder>"
  simulation_path: "<path_to_simulation_file>"
  hub_dir: "<path_to_crowdsec_hub_folder>"
  index_path: "<path_to_hub_index_file>"
  notification_dir: "<path_to_notification_config_folder>"
  plugin_dir: "<path_to_notification_binaries_folder>"

config_dir​

string

Main configuration directory of crowdsec.

data_dir​

string

This is where crowdsec is going to store data, such as files downloaded by scenarios, geolocalisation database, metabase configuration database, or even SQLite database.

simulation_path​

string

Path to the simulation configuration.

hub_dir​

string

Directory where cscli will store parsers, scenarios, collections and such.

index_path​

string

Path to the .index.json file downloaded by cscli to know the list of available configurations.

plugin_dir​

string Path to directory where the plugin binaries/scripts are located.

Note: binaries must be root-owned and non-world writable, and binaries/scripts must be named like <plugin_type>-<plugin_subtype> eg "notification-slack"

notification_dir​

string Path to directory where configuration files for notification plugins are kept.

Each notification plugin is expected to have its own configuration file.

crowdsec_service​

This section is only used by crowdsec agent.

crowdsec_service:
  enable: <true|false>
  acquisition_path: "<acqusition_file_path>"
  acquisition_dir: "<acqusition_dir_path>"
  console_context_path: <path_to_context_file>
  parser_routines: "<number_of_parser_routines>"
  buckets_routines: "<number_of_buckets_routines>"
  output_routines: "<number_of_output_routines>"

#### enable

bool

Enable or disable the CrowdSec Agent (true by default).

parser_routines​

int

Number of dedicated goroutines for parsing files.

buckets_routines​

int

Number of dedicated goroutines for managing live buckets.

output_routines​

int

Number of dedicated goroutines for pushing data to local api.

console_context_path​

string

Path to the yaml file containing the context to send to the local API.

acquisition_path​

string

Path to the yaml file containing logs that needs to be read.

acquisition_dir​

string

(>1.0.7) Path to a directory where each yaml is considered as a acquisition configuration file containing logs that needs to be read. If both acquisition_dir and acquisition_path are specified, the entries are merged alltogether.

cscli​

This section is only used by cscli.

cscli:
  output: "(human|json|raw)"
  hub_branch: "<hub_branch>"
  prometheus_uri: "<uri>"

output​

string

The default output format (human, json or raw).

hub_branch​

string

The git branch on which cscli is going to fetch configurations.

prometheus_uri​

uri

(>1.0.7) An uri (without the trailing /metrics) that will be used by cscli metrics command, ie. http://127.0.0.1:6060/

plugin_config​

user​

string

The owner of the plugin process. If set to an empty string, the plugin process will run as the same user as crowdsec. Both user and group must be either set or unset.

group​

string

The group of the plugin process. If set to an empty string, the plugin process will run in the same group as crowdsec. Both user and group must be either set or unset.

db_config​

The configuration of the database to use for the local API.

db_config:
  type:     "<db_type>"

  db_path:  "<path_to_database_file|path_to_socket_file>"  # database path for sqlite or socket file for mysql/pgx
  use_wal:  "true|false" # for sqlite

  user:     "<db_user>"      # for mysql/postgresql/pgx
  password: "<db_password>"  # for mysql/postgresql/pgx
  db_name:  "<db_name>"      # for mysql/postgresql/pgx
  host:     "<db_host_ip>"   # for mysql/postgresql/pgx # must be omitted if using socket file
  port:     "<db_host_port>" # for mysql/postgresql/pgx # must be omitted if using socket file
  sslmode:  "<require/disable>" # for postgresql/pgx
  max_open_conns: "<max_number_of_conns_to_db>"
  decision_bulk_size: "<decision_bulk_size>"
  flush:
    max_items: "<max_alerts_in_db>"
    max_age: "<max_age_of_alerts_in_db>"
    bouncers_autodelete:
      cert: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
      api_key: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
    agents_autodelete:
      cert: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"
      login_password: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"

type​

db_config:
  type: sqlite

The type of database to use. It can be:

  • sqlite
  • mysql
  • postgresql
  • pgx

db_path​

db_config:
  type: sqlite
  db_path: /var/lib/crowdsec/data/crowdsec.db
---
db_config:
  type: mysql
  db_path: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
---
db_config:
  type: pgx
  db_path: /var/run/postgresql/ #Folder that holds socket file. Socket MUST be the named `.s.PGSQL.5432`

The path to the database file (only if the type of database is sqlite) or path to socket file (only if the type of database is mysql|pgx)

user​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx

  user: foo

The username to connect to the database (only if the type of database is mysql or postgresql)

password​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx

  password: foobar

The password to connect to the database (only if the type of database is mysql or postgresql)

db_name​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx

  db_name: crowdsec

The database name to connect to (only if the type of database is mysql or postgresql)

host​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx

  host: foo

The host to connect to (only if the type of database is mysql or postgresql). Must be omitted if using socket file.

port​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx

  port: 3306|5432|5432

The port to connect to (only if the type of database is mysql or postgresql). Must be omitted if using socket file.

db_config:
  type: postgresql

  sslmode: require

Require or disable ssl connection to database (only if the type of database is postgresql). See PostgreSQL SSL modes for possible values.

max_open_conns​

db_config:
  type: mysql|postgresql|pgx|sqlite
  max_open_conns: 100

Maximum number of open connections to the database.

Defaults to 100. Set to 0 for unlimited connections.

decision_bulk_size​

db_config:
  decision_bulk_size: 1000

Maximum number of decisions inserted or updated in a single query.

Added in v1.5.3.

This can affect the responsiveness of the system. If you use big blocklists on devices like raspberry or similar appliances with slow disks, you can raise this up to 2000. Higher values will still be interpreted as 2000 due to query size limits.

use_wal​

db_config:
  type: sqlite
  use_wal: true

SQLite Write-Ahead Logging is an option allowing more concurrency in SQLite that will improve performances in most scenarios.

When WAL is unspecified you will see the following warning message at startup :

You are using sqlite without WAL, this can have an impact of performance. If you do not store the database in a network share, set db_config.use_wal to true. Set explicitly to false to disable this warning.

flush​

flush:
  max_items: <nb_max_alerts_in_database>
  max_age: <max_alerts_age_in_database>
  bouncers_autodelete:
    cert: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
    api_key: "<max_duration_since_last_pull>"
  agents_autodelete:
    cert: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"
    login_password: "<max_duration_since_last_push>"

max_items​

int

Number max of alerts in database.

max_age​

string

Alerts retention time.

Supported units:

  • s: seconds

  • m: minutes

  • h: hours

  • d: days

bouncers_autodelete​

cert​

Bouncers authenticated using TLS certificate will be deleted after duration without any requests.

Supported units are the same as for max_age

api_key​

Bouncers authenticated using API key auth will be deleted after duration without any requests.

Supported units are the same as for max_age

agents_autodelete​

cert​

Agents authenticated using TLS certificate will be deleted after duration without any requests and if there is no active alerts for them.

Supported units are the same as for max_age

login_password​

Agents authenticated using login/password will be deleted after duration without any requests and if there is no active alerts for them.

Supported units are the same as for max_age

api​

The api section is used by both cscli, crowdsec and the local API.

api:
  cti:
    key: "<api_cti_key>"
    cache_timeout: "60m"
    cache_size: 50
    enabled: "(true|false)"
    log_level: "(info|debug|trace)"
  client:
    insecure_skip_verify: "(true|false)"
    credentials_path: "<path_to_local_api_client_credential_file>"
  server:
    enable: <true|false>
    log_level: "(error|info|debug|trace>"
    listen_uri: "<listen_uri>" # host:port
    profiles_path: "<path_to_profile_file>"
    use_forwarded_for_headers: "(true|false)"
    console_path: <path_to_console_file>
    online_client:
      credentials_path: "<path_to_crowdsec_api_client_credential_file>"
    disable_remote_lapi_registration: (true|false)
    capi_whitelists_path: "<path_to_capi_whitelists_file>"
    tls:
      cert_file: "<path_to_certificat_file>"
      key_file: "<path_to_certificat_key_file>"
      client_verification: "NoClientCert|RequestClientCert|RequireAnyClientCert|VerifyClientCertIfGiven|RequireAndVerifyClientCert"
      ca_cert_path: "<path_to_ca_cert_file>"
      agents_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the agents
       - agents_ou
      bouncers_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the bouncers
       - bouncers_ou
      crl_path: "<path_to_crl_file>"
      cache_expiration: "<cache_duration_for_revocation_check>"

cti​

The cti subsection is used by crowdsec and cscli to query the CrowdSec CTI.

cti:
  key: "<api_cti_key>"
  cache_timeout: "60m"
  cache_size: 50
  enabled: "(true|false)"
  log_level: "(info|debug|trace)"
key​

string

The API key to use to query the CTI. This key is generated via console

cache_timeout​

string

The duration to cache the CTI API response.

Supported units:

  • s: seconds

  • m: minutes

  • h: hours

  • d: days

cache_size​

int

The number of CTI API responses to cache.

enabled​

bool

Whether to enable the CTI integration.

log_level​

string

The log level for the CTI integration.

client​

The client subsection is used by crowdsec and cscli to read and write decisions to the local API.

client:
  insecure_skip_verify: "(true|false)"
  credentials_path: "<path_to_local_api_client_credential_file>"
insecure_skip_verify​

bool

Allows the use of https with self-signed certificates.

credentials_path​

string

Path to the credential files (contains API url + login/password).

server​

The server subsection is the local API configuration.

server:
  enable: <true|false>
  log_level: (error|info|debug|trace)
  listen_uri: <listen_uri> # host:port
  profiles_path: <path_to_profile_file>
  use_forwarded_for_headers: (true|false)
  trusted_ips: # IPs or IP ranges which should have admin API access
    #- 127.0.0.1
    #- ::1
    #- 10.0.0.0/24
  console_path: <path_to_console_file>
  online_client:
    credentials_path: <path_to_crowdsec_api_client_credential_file>
  disable_remote_lapi_registration: (true|false)
  capi_whitelists_path: "<path_to_capi_whitelists_file>"
  tls:
    cert_file: <path_to_certificat_file>
    key_file: <path_to_certificat_key_file>
    client_verification: "NoClientCert|RequestClientCert|RequireAnyClientCert|VerifyClientCertIfGiven|RequestAndVerifyClientCert"
      ca_cert_path: "<path_to_ca_cert_file>"
      agents_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the agents
       - agents_ou
      bouncers_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the bouncers
       - bouncers_ou
      crl_path: "<path_to_crl_file>"
      cache_expiration: "<cache_duration_for_revocation_check>"
enable​

bool

Enable or disable the CrowdSec Local API (true by default).

listen_uri​

string

Address and port listen configuration, the form host:port.

profiles_path​

string

The path to the profiles configuration.

console_path​

string

The path to the console configuration.

disable_remote_lapi_registration​

bool

This option will disable the registration of remote agents using cscli lapi register command. As by default the local API registration will create a machine in the database (not validated), this option will prevent the creation of a machine in the database.

capi_whitelists_path​

string

The path to whitelists file for community and 3rd party blocklists. Those IPs/CIDR whitelists apply on all the IPs received from community blocklist or 3rd party lists subscriptions.

expected file format:

ips:
 - 1.2.3.4
 - 2.3.4.5
cidrs:
 - 1.2.3.0/24
use_forwarded_for_headers​

bool

Allow the usage of X-Forwarded-For or X-Real-IP to get the client IP address. Do not enable if you are not running the LAPI behind a trusted reverse-proxy or LB.

online_client​

Configuration to push signals and receive bad IPs from Crowdsec API.

online_client:
  credentials_path: "<path_to_crowdsec_api_client_credential_file>"
credentials_path​

string

Path to a file containing credentials for the Central API.

tls​

if present, holds paths to certs and key files.

tls:
  cert_file: "<path_to_certificat_file>"
  key_file: "<path_to_certificat_key_file>"
  client_verification: "NoClientCert|RequestClientCert|RequireAnyClientCert|VerifyClientCertIfGiven|RequireAndVerifyClientCert"
  ca_cert_path: "<path_to_ca_cert_file>"
  agents_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the agents
    - agents_ou
  bouncers_allowed_ou: # List of allowed Organisational Unit for the bouncers
    - bouncers_ou
  crl_path: "<path_to_crl_file>"
  cache_expiration: "<cache_duration_for_revocation_check>"

cert_file​

string

Path to certificate file.

key_file​

string

Path to certficate key file.

client_verification​

Whether LAPI should require or not a client certificate for authentication.

Supported values mirror the ones available in the golang TLS library.

Default to VerifyClientCertIfGiven which will allow connection without certificate or require a valid client certificate if one is provided

warning

Crowdsec supports all ClientAuthType value from the go TLS library for sake of completness, but using any value other than NoClientCert (completly disable authentication with certificates), VerifyClientCertIfGiven (only use the certificate if provided) or RequireAndVerifyClientCert (only allows certificate authentication and disable password/API key auth) is insecure and must not be used.

ca_cert_path​

Path to the CA certificates used to sign the client private keys.

Only required if using TLS auth and if the system does not trust the CA.

If not set and if the system does not trust the CA, all TLS authenticated requests will fail.

agents_allowed_ou​

List of Organizational Unit allowed for the agents.

If not set, no agents will be able to authenticate with TLS.

bouncers_allowed_ou​

List of Organizational Unit allowed for the bouncers.

If not set, no bouncers will be able to authenticate with TLS.

crl_path​

Path to the certificate revocation list of the CA.

Optional. If not set, only OCSP revocation check will be performed (only if the client certificate contains an OCSP URL).

cache_expiration​

How log to cache the result of a revocation check.

Defaults to 1h.

The format must be compatible with golang time.Duration

trusted_ips​

list

IPs or IP ranges which have admin access to API. The APIs would still need to have API keys. 127.0.0.1 and ::1 are always given admin access whether specified or not.

prometheus​

This section is used by local API and crowdsec.

prometheus:
  enabled: "(true|false)"
  level: "(full|aggregated)"
  listen_addr: "<listen_address>"
  listen_port: "<listen_port>"

enabled​

bool

Allows to enable/disable prometheus instrumentation.

level​

string

Can be full (all metrics) or aggregated (to allow minimal metrics that will keep cardinality low).

listen_addr​

string

Prometheus listen url.

listen_port​

int

Prometheus listen port.

CrowdSec ConsoleCrowdSec Console