analyzing-web-server-logs-for-intrusion

Parse Apache and Nginx access logs to detect SQL injection attempts, local file inclusion, directory traversal, web scanner fingerprints, and brute-force patterns. Uses regex-based pattern matching against OWASP attack signatures, GeoIP enrichment for source attribution, and statistical anomaly detection for request frequency and response size outliers.

Instructions

Install dependencies: pip install geoip2 user-agents
Collect web server access logs in Combined Log Format (Apache) or Nginx default format.
Parse each log entry extracting: IP, timestamp, method, URI, status code, response size, user-agent, referer.
Apply detection rules:
- SQL injection: UNION SELECT, OR 1=1, ' OR ', hex encoding patterns
- LFI/Path traversal: ../, /etc/passwd, /proc/self, php://filter
- XSS: <script>, javascript:, onerror=, onload=
- Scanner signatures: nikto, sqlmap, dirbuster, gobuster, wfuzz user-agents
- Brute force: >50 POST requests to login endpoints from same IP in 5 minutes
Enrich with GeoIP data and generate a prioritized findings report.

python scripts/agent.py --log-file /var/log/nginx/access.log --geoip-db GeoLite2-City.mmdb --output web_intrusion_report.json

Examples

Detect SQLi in URI

192.168.1.100 - - [15/Jan/2024:10:30:45 +0000] "GET /products?id=1' UNION SELECT username,password FROM users-- HTTP/1.1" 200 4532

Scanner User-Agent Detection

Nikto/2.1.6, sqlmap/1.7, DirBuster-1.0-RC1, gobuster/3.1.0

analyzing-web-server-logs-for-intrusion

Safety Notice

Copy this and send it to your AI assistant to learn

Instructions

Examples

Detect SQLi in URI

Scanner User-Agent Detection

Source Transparency

Related Skills

analyzing-cyber-kill-chain

analyzing-android-malware-with-apktool

analyzing-certificate-transparency-for-phishing

acquiring-disk-image-with-dd-and-dcfldd