Collect Barracuda WAF logs

Supported in:

This document explains how to collect Barracuda Web Application Firewall (WAF) logs using Bindplane. The parser extracts fields from logs in JSON and Syslog formats, normalizes them, and maps them to the Unified Data Model (UDM). It handles various log types (traffic, web firewall) and performs conditional transformations based on field values, including IP address/hostname resolution, directionality mapping, and severity normalization.

Before you begin

  • Ensure that you have a Google Security Operations instance.
  • Ensure that you are using Windows 2016 or later, or a Linux host with systemd.
  • If running behind a proxy, ensure firewall ports are open.
  • Ensure that you have privileged access to the Barracuda WAF.

Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Collection Agents.
  3. Download the Ingestion Authentication File. Save the file securely on the system where Bindplane will be installed.

Get Google SecOps customer ID

  1. Sign in to the Google SecOps console.
  2. Go to SIEM Settings > Profile.
  3. Copy and save the Customer ID from the Organization Details section.

Install the Bindplane agent

Windows installation

  1. Open the Command Prompt or PowerShell as an administrator.

  2. Run the following command:

    msiexec /i "https://github.com/observIQ/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/observiq-otel-collector.msi" /quiet

Linux installation

  1. Open a terminal with root or sudo privileges.

  2. Run the following command:

    sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSlL https://github.com/observiq/bindplane-agent/releases/latest/download/install_unix.sh)" install_unix.sh

Additional installation resources

Configure the Bindplane agent to ingest Syslog and send to Google SecOps

  1. Access the configuration file:

    1. Locate the config.yaml file. Typically, it's in the /etc/bindplane-agent/ directory on Linux or in the installation directory on Windows.
    2. Open the file using a text editor (for example, nano, vi, or Notepad).

  2. Edit the config.yaml file as follows:

    receivers:
    tcplog:
        # Replace the port and IP address as required
        listen_address: "0.0.0.0:54525"

exporters:
    chronicle/chronicle_w_labels:
        compression: gzip
        # Adjust the path to the credentials file you downloaded in Step 1
        creds: '/path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json'
        # Replace with your actual customer ID from Step 2
        customer_id: <customer_id>
        endpoint: malachiteingestion-pa.googleapis.com
        # Add optional ingestion labels for better organization
        ingestion_labels:
            log_type: SYSLOG
            namespace: barracuda_waf
            raw_log_field: body

service:
    pipelines:
        logs/source0__chronicle_w_labels-0:
            receivers:
                - tcplog
            exporters:
                - chronicle/chronicle_w_labels

  3. Replace the port and IP address as required in your infrastructure.

  4. Replace <customer_id> with the actual customer ID.

  5. Update /path/to/ingestion-authentication-file.json to the path where the authentication file was saved in the Get Google SecOps ingestion authentication file section.

Restart the Bindplane agent to apply the changes

  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Linux, run the following command:

    sudo systemctl restart bindplane-agent

  • To restart the Bindplane agent in Windows, you can either use the Services console or enter the following command:

    net stop BindPlaneAgent && net start BindPlaneAgent

Configure Barracuda WAF

  1. Sign in to the Barracuda WAF console using administrator credentials.
  2. Click the Advanced tab > Export logs.
  3. In the Export logs section, click Add export log server.
  4. Provide the following values:
    • Name: enter a name for the Google SecOps forwarder.
    • Log server type: select Syslog.
    • IP Address or hostname: enter the Bindplane IP address.
    • Port: enter the Bindplane port.
    • Connection type: select TCP connection type (TCP is recommended. However, UDP or SSL protocols can also be used).
    • Validate server certificate: select No.
    • Client certificate: select None.
    • Log timestamp and hostname: select Yes.
    • Click Add.

UDM Mapping Table

Log Field UDM Mapping Logic
action security_result.action If action is DENY, set to BLOCK. Otherwise, set to ALLOW (specifically for WF log type). Also used for generic firewall events.
appProtocol network.application_protocol If appProtocol matches TLSv, set to HTTPS. Otherwise, use the value of appProtocol.
attackDetails security_result.description Extracted from the raw log for WF log type.
attackType security_result.summary Part of the security_result.summary, combined with ruleType.
bytesReceived network.received_bytes Converted to unsigned integer and mapped for TR log type.
bytesSent network.sent_bytes Converted to unsigned integer and mapped for TR log type.
hostName target.hostname If hostName is not an IP address, use its value. Otherwise, it's merged into target.ip.
httpMethod loginId principal.user.userid Mapped for TR log type when not equal to emptyToken.
logType metadata.product_event_type If TR, set metadata.product_event_type to Barracuda Access Log. If WF, set to Barracuda Web Firewall Log.
message metadata.description Used when desc is not empty.
referrer network.http.referral_url Mapped for TR log type when not equal to emptyToken.
responseCode network.http.response_code Converted to integer and mapped for TR log type.
rule security_result.rule_name Mapped for WF log type.
ruleType security_result.summary Part of the security_result.summary, combined with attackType.
sec_desc security_result.rule_name Used for generic firewall events.
server target.ip Merged into target.ip.
serv target.ip Merged into target.ip.
severity security_result.severity For WF log type: Converted to uppercase. If EMERGENCY, ALER, or CRITICAL, set security_result.severity to CRITICAL. If ERROR, set to HIGH. If WARNING, set to MEDIUM. If NOTICE, set to LOW. Otherwise, set to INFORMATIONAL.
src principal.ip Also used for generic firewall events and some status updates.
srcPort principal.port Converted to integer.
target targetPort target.port Converted to integer.
time metadata.event_timestamp.seconds, metadata.event_timestamp.nanos, timestamp.seconds, timestamp.nanos Combined with tz and parsed to create the event timestamp. The seconds and nanos are extracted and populated in the respective fields.
url urlParams target.url Appended to url if not equal to emptyToken for TR log type.
userAgent userName target.user.userid, target.user.user_display_name Used for generic firewall events. If not equal to emptyToken for TR log type, mapped to target.user.user_display_name. Hardcoded to Barracuda. Set to NETWORK_HTTP if both src and target are present. Set to STATUS_UPDATE if only src is present. Set to GENERIC_EVENT as a default or for other scenarios like CEF parsing. Hardcoded to BARRACUDA_WAF.

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