Cloud security is a critical concern for modern enterprises, especially as organizations increasingly migrate their applications to cloud environments. Ensuring the security and integrity of these applications is paramount because traditional security tools often fall short in cloud-native environments, where containers and virtual machines obscure the underlying hardware. In this landscape, Stratoshark, an innovative tool designed to capture and analyze system calls in cloud applications, emerges as a game-changer. Developed by Sysdig, Stratoshark provides deep insights into the behavior of cloud-native applications, enhancing security and diagnostic capabilities in ways that were previously unattainable.
Stratoshark aims to bring Wireshark-like functionality to cloud environments by focusing on syscall capture. This groundbreaking tool offers a way to capture and analyze syscall activity specifically within Linux-based cloud applications, categorizing syscalls by event type and displaying the direction of resulting calls. By providing granular insights into specific operations within Kubernetes or similar environments, Stratoshark enables security teams to effectively distinguish between bugs and compromised assets, ensuring the integrity and security of cloud-native applications.
Cloud Security Challenges
Modern cloud environments present unique security challenges that traditional diagnostic tools struggle to address. Applications running within containers and virtual machines obscure the underlying hardware, making the direct deployment of traditional diagnostic tools infeasible. This abstraction layer complicates processes such as capturing network packets and using inspection methods to detect unwanted operations or potential breaches in security.
Cloud providers like Microsoft Azure integrate some level of monitoring capabilities into their platforms, but these built-in tools often lack the sophistication and specific functionality required for deep security analysis. The result is a gap in visibility and an increased demand for alternative methods that can provide comprehensive insights into the behavior of cloud-native applications. Security teams must navigate this challenging landscape to effectively protect their cloud infrastructure from sophisticated attacks.
Packet Capture and System Call Analysis
Packet capture has long been a cornerstone technique for network analysis, with Wireshark being the most recognized tool in this domain. Wireshark’s ability to intercept and decode IP packets allows security teams to detect network anomalies, track data exfiltration, and identify various forms of cyberattacks. For instance, by analyzing DNS packets, security professionals can reveal advanced persistent threats leveraging DNS tunneling for covert communication. However, in cloud environments where packet capture is not feasible due to the abstraction layers of containers and virtual machines, alternative methods become indispensable for maintaining security.
One such alternative method involves tools like eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter), which offers the capability to inspect system calls at the OS level. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), for instance, supports eBPF along with tools like Cilium, enabling enhanced cloud-native security by providing crucial syscall data. Nevertheless, extracting actionable insights from this rich data stream requires sophisticated analysis tools. This is where Stratoshark shines, providing the necessary functionality and depth of analysis to turn syscall data into meaningful security intelligence.
Introduction of Stratoshark
Stratoshark emerges as a revolutionary tool designed to bring Wireshark-like functionality to cloud environments, with a special focus on syscall capture. Developed by Sysdig, a company well-known for its Falco security tool, Stratoshark enables the capture and analysis of syscall activity specifically within Linux-based cloud applications. The tool categorizes system calls by event type and shows the direction of resulting calls, which is essential for understanding both inbound and outbound operations within an application.
Stratoshark’s user interface closely mirrors Wireshark’s familiar three-pane layout. This includes a timeline displaying captured calls, detailed analysis windows, and the contents of each call presented in both hexadecimal and ASCII formats. Additionally, Stratoshark allows filtering by process name, PID, and container, offering highly granular insights into specific operations within Kubernetes or other similar environments. With these capabilities, security teams can differentiate between benign bugs and potentially compromised assets, significantly enhancing their ability to secure cloud-native applications.
Building and Using Stratoshark
One of the noteworthy aspects of Stratoshark is that it is not intended for beginners; it requires considerable expertise to build and use effectively. Although there are macOS and Windows clients available for analyzing captures, the actual data capture necessitates a Linux environment. Building Stratoshark involves compiling tools from Wireshark sources and integrating Falco components, which can be downloaded from repositories like GitLab and GitHub.
Given the potential incompatibility issues when compiling in certain environments, such as the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), setting up a fresh Ubuntu virtual machine for the build process is highly recommended. Both Wireshark and Falco must be compiled first, and then the appropriate compiler flags must be set to build Stratoshark successfully. Understanding the significance of eBPF in this context is crucial, as the Azure platform’s support for eBPF probes in services like AKS allows the capture of kernel-level data without requiring privileged access or the installation of kernel modules.
Analysis with Stratoshark
Using Stratoshark, security teams can leverage a familiar interface similar to Wireshark to access “ground-level truth” about the activities occurring at the syscall level. Capturing and analyzing syscalls allows professionals to see when applications open files, establish network connections, or utilize system libraries. This detailed perspective provides a comprehensive view of application behavior, aiding in both troubleshooting and the identification of potential security threats.
At present, Stratoshark’s data capture capabilities are centered on Linux environments. However, as the tool’s open-source development progresses, there is a strong likelihood of extending support to other operating systems, such as Windows. Windows’ forthcoming support for eBPF could be a pivotal development in this regard, significantly broadening Stratoshark’s applicability across various platforms. Capturing relies on Falco’s libscap and libsinsp libraries, with sysdig tools facilitating command-line captures via SSH. Libscap is responsible for collecting syscall data, while libsinsp parses these events for filtering and formatting.
Community and Future Development
Gerald Combs, the creator of Wireshark, has stressed that while Stratoshark is derived from the Wireshark framework, it is indeed a standalone product. This separation is intentional, designed to provide a dedicated space for syscall analysis development without the legacy baggage of Wireshark’s extensive networking and telephony features. Stratoshark is positioned to evolve rapidly with active contributions from the open-source community, aiming to build filters and analysis tools tailored to specific cloud environments like Azure.
The initial release of Stratoshark at version 0.9 marks a significant beginning, with further updates anticipated before aligning version numbers with Wireshark. Even in its early stages, Stratoshark offers substantial value to those familiar with filtering techniques and post-capture scripting to manage the vast volumes of data generated. This community-driven development highlights the importance of specialized instruments for contemporary application architectures, ensuring that Stratoshark remains relevant and effective in evolving cloud environments.
Conclusion
Cloud security is a critical concern for modern enterprises, especially as more organizations migrate their applications to cloud environments. Ensuring the security and integrity of these applications is vital because traditional security tools often fall short in cloud-native settings, where containers and virtual machines hide the underlying hardware. Here, Stratoshark, an innovative tool developed by Sysdig, emerges as a game-changer.
Stratoshark is designed to capture and analyze system calls in cloud applications, providing deep insights into the behavior of cloud-native applications. This enhances security and diagnostic capabilities in previously unattainable ways. Stratoshark brings Wireshark-like functionality to cloud environments by focusing on syscall capture.
This revolutionary tool captures and analyzes syscall activity specifically within Linux-based cloud applications, categorizing syscalls by event type and displaying the direction of resulting calls. By offering granular insights into specific operations within Kubernetes or similar environments, Stratoshark enables security teams to effectively distinguish between bugs and compromised assets, ensuring the integrity and security of cloud-native applications.