HOWTO Setup Tripwire

Setting Up a Tripwire Installation

hostname ~ # emerge tripwire
hostname ~ # cd /etc/tripwire
hostname ~ # emacs -nw /etc/tripwire/twpol.txt
     <check that HOSTNAME= is sane (around line 64 - 70 depending on distribution)>
hostname ~ # sh ./twinstall.sh   #supply site- and local-key 4 times to setup, site-key a fifth time to sign tw.pol
hostname ~ # twadmin --create-polfile -S /etc/tripwire/site.key twpol.txt

Change the editor used by logwatch during updating:

hostname ~ # emacs -nw /etc/tripwire/twcfg.txt  change nano to vi
hostname ~ # twadmin --create-cfgfile -S /etc/tripwire/site.key twcfg.txt

Now initialize everything (creates the database file /var/lib/tripwire/$hostname.twd)

hostname ~ # tripwire --init

Generate a Report

hostname ~ # tripwire --check

File System Error Messages

To get rid of "File system error." messages where the file or folder does not exist, comment out the culprits from /etc/tripwire/twpol.txt

hostname ~ # emacs -nw /etc/tripwire/twpol.txt

Then, update the policy file, delete and re-init the db:

hostname ~ # twadmin --create-polfile -S /etc/tripwire/site.key /etc/tripwire/twpol.txt
hostname ~ # rm /var/lib/tripwire/$hostname.twd
hostname ~ # tripwire --init

Now, run a check, followed by an update. This shifts files around, which will be flagged as "changed" on the next run, so re-run the check/update:

hostname ~ # tripwire --check
hostname ~ # tripwire --update --twrfile /var/lib/tripwire/report/<hostname_date_time>.twr
hostname ~ # tripwire --check
hostname ~ # tripwire --update --twrfile /var/lib/tripwire/report/<hostname_date_time>.twr

After System Changes

After you emerge packages or change config files:

hostname ~ # tripwire --update --twrfile /var/lib/tripwire/report/<a_previous_integrity_report>.twr

Tidying Up

After a while, the /var/log/tripwire/report/ directory becomes quite large. At some point, these historical reports are of no value, so they can be deleted. One guideline might be to blow away anything more than 6 months old.

Troubleshooting

An error of: Fatal Exception st9exception indicates that the tripwire database has become corrupted. Re-initialize (tripwire --init) and follow the steps under File System Error Messages.