Chapter 10. Checking integrity with AIDE

Procedure

1. To install the aide package:

   # yum install aide

2. To generate an initial database:

   # aide --init

   Note

   In the default configuration, the aide --init command checks just a set of directories and files defined in the /etc/aide.conf file. To include additional directories or files in the AIDE database, and to change their watched parameters, edit /etc/aide.conf accordingly.

3. To start using the database, remove the .new substring from the initial database file name:

   # mv /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz /var/lib/aide/aide.db.gz

4. To change the location of the AIDE database, edit the /etc/aide.conf file and modify the DBDIR value. For additional security, store the database, configuration, and the /usr/sbin/aide binary file in a secure location such as a read-only media.

Procedure

1. To initiate a manual check:

   # aide --check
   Start timestamp: 2018-07-11 12:41:20 +0200 (AIDE 0.16)
   AIDE found differences between database and filesystem!!
   ...
   [trimmed for clarity]

2. At a minimum, configure the system to run AIDE weekly. Optimally, run AIDE daily. For example, to schedule a daily execution of AIDE at 04:05 a.m. using the cron command, add the following line to the /etc/crontab file:

    05 4 * * * root /usr/sbin/aide --check

Procedure

1. Update your baseline AIDE database:

   # aide --update

   The aide --update command creates the /var/lib/aide/aide.db.new.gz database file.

2. To start using the updated database for integrity checks, remove the .new substring from the file name.