Skip to main content
Version: v1.5.0

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:
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>"
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>"
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.

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:
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>"
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>"

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>
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.

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.