Zeek Log Formats and Inspection

Zeek creates a variety of logs when run in its default configuration. This data can be intimidating for a first-time user. In this section, we will process a sample packet trace with Zeek, and take a brief look at the sorts of logs Zeek creates. We will look at logs created in the traditional format, as well as logs in JSON format. We will also introduce a few command-line tools to examine Zeek logs.

Working with a Sample Trace

For the examples that follow, we will use Zeek on a Linux system to process network traffic captured and stored to disk. We saved this trace file earlier in packet capture (PCAP) format as tm1t.pcap. The command line protocol analyzer Tcpdump, which ships with most Unix-like distributions, summarizes the contents of this file.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ tcpdump -n -r tm1t.pcap
reading from file tm1t.pcap, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet)
14:39:59.305988 IP 192.168.4.76.36844 > 192.168.4.1.53: 19671+ A? testmyids.com. (31)
14:39:59.306059 IP 192.168.4.76.36844 > 192.168.4.1.53: 8555+ AAAA? testmyids.com. (31)
14:39:59.354577 IP 192.168.4.1.53 > 192.168.4.76.36844: 8555 0/1/0 (94)
14:39:59.372840 IP 192.168.4.1.53 > 192.168.4.76.36844: 19671 1/0/0 A 31.3.245.133 (47)
14:39:59.430166 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [S], seq 3723031366, win 65535, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 3137978796 ecr 0,nop,wscale 11], length 0
14:39:59.512232 IP 31.3.245.133.80 > 192.168.4.76.46378: Flags [S.], seq 2993782376, ack 3723031367, win 28960, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 346747623 ecr 3137978796,nop,wscale 7], length 0
14:39:59.512284 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [.], ack 1, win 32, options [nop,nop,TS val 3137978878 ecr 346747623], length 0
14:39:59.512593 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [P.], seq 1:78, ack 1, win 32, options [nop,nop,TS val 3137978878 ecr 346747623], length 77: HTTP: GET / HTTP/1.1
14:39:59.600488 IP 31.3.245.133.80 > 192.168.4.76.46378: Flags [.], ack 78, win 227, options [nop,nop,TS val 346747711 ecr 3137978878], length 0
14:39:59.604000 IP 31.3.245.133.80 > 192.168.4.76.46378: Flags [P.], seq 1:296, ack 78, win 227, options [nop,nop,TS val 346747713 ecr 3137978878], length 295: HTTP: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
14:39:59.604020 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [.], ack 296, win 33, options [nop,nop,TS val 3137978970 ecr 346747713], length 0
14:39:59.604493 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [F.], seq 78, ack 296, win 33, options [nop,nop,TS val 3137978970 ecr 346747713], length 0
14:39:59.684281 IP 31.3.245.133.80 > 192.168.4.76.46378: Flags [F.], seq 296, ack 79, win 227, options [nop,nop,TS val 346747796 ecr 3137978970], length 0
14:39:59.684346 IP 192.168.4.76.46378 > 31.3.245.133.80: Flags [.], ack 297, win 33, options [nop,nop,TS val 3137979050 ecr 346747796], length 0

This is a simple exchange involving domain name system (DNS) traffic followed by HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic.

Rather than run Zeek against a live interface, we will ask Zeek to digest this trace. This process allows us to vary Zeek’s run-time operation, keeping the traffic constant.

First we make two directories to store the log files that Zeek will produce. Then we will move into the “default” directory.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ mkdir default
zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ mkdir json
zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test$ cd default/

Zeek TSV Format Logs

From this location on disk, we tell Zeek to digest the tm1t.pcap file.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ zeek -C -r ../tm1t.pcap

The -r flag tells Zeek where to find the trace of interest.

The -C flag tells Zeek to ignore any TCP checksum errors. This happens on many systems due to a feature called “checksum offloading,” but it does not affect our analysis.

Zeek completes its task without reporting anything to the command line. This is standard Unix-like behavior. Using the ls command we see what files Zeek created when processing the trace.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ ls -al
total 28
drwxrwxr-x 2 zeek zeek 4096 Jun  5 14:48 .
drwxrwxr-x 4 zeek zeek 4096 Jun  5 14:43 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  737 Jun  5 14:48 conn.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  778 Jun  5 14:48 dns.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  712 Jun  5 14:48 files.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  883 Jun  5 14:48 http.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  254 Jun  5 14:48 packet_filter.log

Zeek created five files. We will look at the contents of Zeek log data in detail in later sections. For now, we will take a quick look at each file, beginning with the conn.log.

We use the cat command to show the contents of each log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat conn.log
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   conn
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      uid     id.orig_h       id.orig_p       id.resp_h       id.resp_p       proto   service duration        orig_bytes      resp_bytes      conn_state    local_orig      local_resp      missed_bytes    history orig_pkts       orig_ip_bytes   resp_pkts       resp_ip_bytes   tunnel_parents
#types  time    string  addr    port    addr    port    enum    string  interval        count   count   string  bool    bool    count   string  count   count count    count   set[string]
1591367999.305988       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     dns     0.066852        62      141     SF      -    -0       Dd      2       118     2       197     -
1591367999.430166       CLqEx41jYPOdfHF586      192.168.4.76    46378   31.3.245.133    80      tcp     http    0.254115        77      295     SF      -    -0       ShADadFf        6       397     4       511     -
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

Next we look at Zeek’s dns.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   dns
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      uid     id.orig_h       id.orig_p       id.resp_h       id.resp_p       proto   trans_id        rtt     query   qclass  qclass_name     qtypeqtype_name       rcode   rcode_name      AA      TC      RD      RA      Z       answers TTLs    rejected
#types  time    string  addr    port    addr    port    enum    count   interval        string  count   string  count   string  count   string  bool    bool bool     bool    count   vector[string]  vector[interval]        bool
1591367999.306059       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     8555    -       testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET   28       AAAA    0       NOERROR F       F       T       F       0       -       -       F
1591367999.305988       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     19671   0.066852        testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET    1       A       0       NOERROR F       F       T       T       0       31.3.245.133    3600.000000     F
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

Next we look at Zeek’s files.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat files.log
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   files
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      fuid    uid     id.orig_h       id.origh_p      id.resp_h       id.resp_p       source  depth   analyzers       mime_type       filename        duration        local_orig    is_orig seen_bytes      total_bytes     missing_bytes   overflow_bytes  timedout        parent_fuid     md5     sha1    sha256  extracted       extracted_cutoff      extracted_size
#types  time    string  string  addr    port    addr    port    string  count   set[string]     string  string  interval        bool    bool    countcount    count   count   bool    string  string  string  string  string  bool    count
1591367999.604000       FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4      CLqEx41jYPOdfHF586      192.168.4.76    46378   31.3.245.133    80      HTTP    0       (empty) text/plain      -       0.000000      -       F       39      39      0       0       F       -       -       -       -       -       -       -
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

Next we look at Zeek’s http.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat http.log
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   http
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      uid     id.orig_h       id.orig_p       id.resp_h       id.resp_p       trans_depth     method  host    uri     referrer        version user_agent    origin  request_body_len        response_body_len       status_code     status_msg      info_code       info_msg        tags    username        password      proxied orig_fuids      orig_filenames  orig_mime_types resp_fuids      resp_filenames  resp_mime_types
#types  time    string  addr    port    addr    port    count   string  string  string  string  string  string  string  count   count   count   string  countstring   set[enum]       string  string  set[string]     vector[string]  vector[string]  vector[string]  vector[string]  vector[string]  vector[string]
1591367999.512593       CLqEx41jYPOdfHF586      192.168.4.76    46378   31.3.245.133    80      1       GET     testmyids.com   /       -       1.1     curl/7.47.0   -       0       39      200     OK      -       -       (empty) -       -       -       -       -       -       FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4      -       text/plain
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

Finally, we look at Zeek’s packet_filter.log. This log shows any filters that Zeek applied when processing the trace.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat packet_filter.log
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   packet_filter
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      node    filter  init    success
#types  time    string  string  bool    bool
1591368512.420771       zeek    ip or not ip    T       T
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

As we can see with each log file, there is a set of headers beginning with the hash character (#) followed by metadata about the trace. This format is the standard version of Zeek data, represented as tab separated values (TSV).

Interpreting this data as shown requires remembering which “column” applies to which “value.” For example, in the dns.log, the third field is id.orig_h, so when we see data in that field, such as 192.168.4.76, we know that 192.168.4.76 is id.orig_h.

One of the common use cases for interacting with Zeek log files requires analyzing specific fields. Investigators may not need to see all of the fields produced by Zeek when solving a certain problem. The following sections offer a few ways to address this concern when processing Zeek logs in text format.

Zeek TSV Format and awk

A very traditional way of interacting with Zeek logs involves using native Unix-like text processing tools like awk. Awk requires specifying the fields of interest as positions in the log file. Take a second look at the dns.log entry above, and consider the parameters necessary to view only the source IP address, the query, and the response. These values appear in the 3rd, 10th, and 22nd fields in the Zeek TSV log entries. Therefore, we could invoke awk using the following syntax:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ awk '/^[^#]/ {print $3, $10, $22}' dns.log
192.168.4.76 testmyids.com -
192.168.4.76 testmyids.com 31.3.245.133

Now we have a much more compact view, with just the fields we want. Unfortunately, this requires specifying fields by location. If we were to modify the log output, or if the Zeek project were to change the log output, any scripts we built using awk and field locations would require modification. For this reason, the Zeek project recommends alternatives like the following.

Zeek TSV Format and zeek-cut

The Zeek project provides a tool called zeek-cut to make it easier for analysts to interact with Zeek logs in TSV format. It parses the header in each file and allows the user to refer to the specific columnar data available. This is in contrast to tools like awk that require the user to refer to fields referenced by their position.

Consider the dns.log generated earlier. If we process it with zeek-cut, without any modifications, this is the result:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log | zeek-cut
1591367999.306059       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     8555    -       testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET   28       AAAA    0       NOERROR F       F       T       F       0       -       -       F
1591367999.305988       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     19671   0.066852        testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET    1       A       0       NOERROR F       F       T       T       0       31.3.245.133    3600.000000     F

That is the dns.log, minus the header fields showed earlier. Note we have to invoke the cat utility in a pipeline to process files with zeek-cut.

If we pass zeek-cut the fields we wish to see, the output looks like this:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log | zeek-cut id.orig_h query answers
192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   -
192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   31.3.245.133

The sequence of field names given to zeek-cut determines the output order. This means you can also use zeek-cut to reorder fields. For example:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log | zeek-cut query answers id.orig_h
testmyids.com   -               192.168.4.76
testmyids.com   31.3.245.133    192.168.4.76

This feature can be helpful when piping output into programs like sort.

zeek-cut uses output redirection through the cat command and | operator. Whereas tools like awk allow you to indicate the log file as a command line option, zeek-cut only takes input through redirection such as | and <.

For example, instead of using cat and the pipe redirector, we could obtain the previous output with this syntax:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ zeek-cut id.orig_h query answers < dns.log
192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   -
192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   31.3.245.133

Note that in its default setup using ZeekControl (but not with a simple command-line invocation like zeek -i eth0), watching a live interface and writing logs to disk, Zeek will rotate log files on an hourly basis. Zeek will move the current log file into a directory named using the format YYYY-MM-DD. Zeek will use gzip to compress the file with a naming convention that includes the log file type and time range of the file.

When processing a compressed log file, use the zcat tool instead of cat to read the file. Consider working with the gzip-encoding file created in the following example. For demonstration purposes, we create a copy of the dns.log file as dns1.log, gzip it, and then read it with zcat instead of cat.

so16@so16:~/zeek-test/default$ cp dns.log dns1.log
so16@so16:~/zeek-test/default$ gzip dns1.log
so16@so16:~/zeek-test/default$ zcat dns1.log.gz
#separator \x09
#set_separator  ,
#empty_field    (empty)
#unset_field    -
#path   dns
#open   2020-06-05-14-48-32
#fields ts      uid     id.orig_h       id.orig_p       id.resp_h       id.resp_p       proto   trans_id        rtt     query   qclass  qclass_name     qtypeqtype_name       rcode   rcode_name      AA      TC      RD      RA      Z       answers TTLs    rejected
#types  time    string  addr    port    addr    port    enum    count   interval        string  count   string  count   string  count   string  bool    bool bool     bool    count   vector[string]  vector[interval]        bool
1591367999.306059       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     8555    -       testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET   28       AAAA    0       NOERROR F       F       T       F       0       -       -       F
1591367999.305988       CazOhH2qDUiJTWMCY       192.168.4.76    36844   192.168.4.1     53      udp     19671   0.066852        testmyids.com   1       C_INTERNET    1       A       0       NOERROR F       F       T       T       0       31.3.245.133    3600.000000     F
#close  2020-06-05-14-48-32

zeek-cut accepts the flag -d to convert the epoch time values in the log files to human-readable format. For example, observe the default timestamp value:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ zcat dns1.log.gz | zeek-cut ts id.orig_h query answers
1591367999.306059       192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   -
1591367999.305988       192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   31.3.245.133

Now see the effect of using the -d flag:

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log | zeek-cut -d ts id.orig_h query answers
2020-06-05T14:39:59+0000        192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   -
2020-06-05T14:39:59+0000        192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   31.3.245.133

Converting the timestamp from a log file to UTC can be accomplished with the -u option.

The default time format when using the -d or -u is the strftime format string %Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z which results in a string with year, month, day of month, followed by hour, minutes, seconds and the timezone offset.

The default format can be altered by using the -D and -U flags, using the standard strftime syntax. For example, to format the timestamp in the US-typical “Middle Endian” you could use a format string of: %m-%d-%YT%H:%M:%S%z

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cat dns.log | zeek-cut -D %d-%m-%YT%H:%M:%S%z ts id.orig_h query answers
06-05-2020T14:39:59+0000        192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   -
06-05-2020T14:39:59+0000        192.168.4.76    testmyids.com   31.3.245.133

Using awk and zeek-cut have been the traditional method of interacting with Zeek logs. In the next section we will look at the possibilities once we enable an alternative output format.

Zeek JSON Format Logs

During the last decade, the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format has become a standard way to label and store many types of data. Zeek offers support for this format. In the following example we will re-run the tm1t.pcap trace through Zeek, but request that it output logs in JSON format.

First we change into the json directory to avoid overwriting our existing log files.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/default$ cd ../json/

Next we tell Zeek to output logs in JSON format using the command as shown.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ zeek -C -r ../tm1t.pcap LogAscii::use_json=T

When we look at the directory contents, we see the same five output files.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ ls -al
total 28
drwxrwxr-x 2 zeek zeek 4096 Jun  5 14:47 .
drwxrwxr-x 4 zeek zeek 4096 Jun  5 14:43 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  708 Jun  5 14:47 conn.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  785 Jun  5 14:47 dns.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  325 Jun  5 14:47 files.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek  405 Jun  5 14:47 http.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zeek zeek   90 Jun  5 14:47 packet_filter.log

However, if we look at the file contents, the format is much different.

First we look at packet_filter.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ cat packet_filter.log
{"ts":1591368442.854585,"node":"zeek","filter":"ip or not ip","init":true,"success":true}
zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ cat conn.log
{"ts":1591367999.305988,"uid":"CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":36844,"id.resp_h":"192.168.4.1","id.resp_p":53,"proto":"udp","service":"dns","duration":0.06685185432434082,"orig_bytes":62,"resp_bytes":141,"conn_state":"SF","missed_bytes":0,"history":"Dd","orig_pkts":2,"orig_ip_bytes":118,"resp_pkts":2,"resp_ip_bytes":197}
{"ts":1591367999.430166,"uid":"C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":46378,"id.resp_h":"31.3.245.133","id.resp_p":80,"proto":"tcp","service":"http","duration":0.25411510467529297,"orig_bytes":77,"resp_bytes":295,"conn_state":"SF","missed_bytes":0,"history":"ShADadFf","orig_pkts":6,"orig_ip_bytes":397,"resp_pkts":4,"resp_ip_bytes":511}

Next we look at dns.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ cat dns.log
{"ts":1591367999.306059,"uid":"CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":36844,"id.resp_h":"192.168.4.1","id.resp_p":53,"proto":"udp","trans_id":8555,"query":"testmyids.com","qclass":1,"qclass_name":"C_INTERNET","qtype":28,"qtype_name":"AAAA","rcode":0,"rcode_name":"NOERROR","AA":false,"TC":false,"RD":true,"RA":false,"Z":0,"rejected":false}
{"ts":1591367999.305988,"uid":"CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":36844,"id.resp_h":"192.168.4.1","id.resp_p":53,"proto":"udp","trans_id":19671,"rtt":0.06685185432434082,"query":"testmyids.com","qclass":1,"qclass_name":"C_INTERNET","qtype":1,"qtype_name":"A","rcode":0,"rcode_name":"NOERROR","AA":false,"TC":false,"RD":true,"RA":true,"Z":0,"answers":["31.3.245.133"],"TTLs":[3600.0],"rejected":false}

Next we look at files.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ cat files.log
{"ts":1591367999.604,"fuid":"FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4","uid":"C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":46378,"id.resp_h":"31.3.245.133","id.resp_p":80,"source":"HTTP","depth":0,"analyzers":[],"mime_type":"text/plain","duration":0.0,"is_orig":false,"seen_bytes":39,"total_bytes":39,"missing_bytes":0,"overflow_bytes":0,"timedout":false}

Next we look at the http.log.

zeek@zeek:~/zeek-test/json$ cat http.log
{"ts":1591367999.512593,"uid":"C5bLoe2Mvxqhawzqqd","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":46378,"id.resp_h":"31.3.245.133","id.resp_p":80,"trans_depth":1,"method":"GET","host":"testmyids.com","uri":"/","version":"1.1","user_agent":"curl/7.47.0","request_body_len":0,"response_body_len":39,"status_code":200,"status_msg":"OK","tags":[],"resp_fuids":["FEEsZS1w0Z0VJIb5x4"],"resp_mime_types":["text/plain"]}

Comparing the two log styles, we see strengths and weaknesses for each. For example, the TSV format shows the Zeek types associated with each entry, such as string, addr, port, and so on. The JSON format does not include that data. However, the JSON format associates each field “key” with a “value,” such as "id.orig_p":46378. While this necessarily increases the amount of disk space used to store the raw logs, it makes it easier for analysts and software to interpret the data, as the key is directly associated with the value that follows. For this reason, most developers and analysts have adopted the JSON output format for Zeek logs. That is the format we will use for the log analysis sections of the documentation.

Zeek JSON Format and jq

Analysts sometimes choose to inspect JSON-formatted Zeek files using applications that recognize JSON format, such as jq, which is a JSON parser by Stephen Dolan, available at GitHub (https://stedolan.github.io/jq/). It may already be installed on your Unix-like system.

In the following example we process the dns.log file with the . filter, which tells jq to simply output what it finds in the file. By default jq outputs JSON formatted data in its “pretty-print” style, which puts one key:value pair on each line as shown.

so16@so16:~/zeek-test/json$ jq . dns.log
{
  "ts": 1591367999.306059,
  "uid": "CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc",
  "id.orig_h": "192.168.4.76",
  "id.orig_p": 36844,
  "id.resp_h": "192.168.4.1",
  "id.resp_p": 53,
  "proto": "udp",
  "trans_id": 8555,
  "query": "testmyids.com",
  "qclass": 1,
  "qclass_name": "C_INTERNET",
  "qtype": 28,
  "qtype_name": "AAAA",
  "rcode": 0,
  "rcode_name": "NOERROR",
  "AA": false,
  "TC": false,
  "RD": true,
  "RA": false,
  "Z": 0,
  "rejected": false
}
{
  "ts": 1591367999.305988,
  "uid": "CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc",
  "id.orig_h": "192.168.4.76",
  "id.orig_p": 36844,
  "id.resp_h": "192.168.4.1",
  "id.resp_p": 53,
  "proto": "udp",
  "trans_id": 19671,
  "rtt": 0.06685185432434082,
  "query": "testmyids.com",
  "qclass": 1,
  "qclass_name": "C_INTERNET",
  "qtype": 1,
  "qtype_name": "A",
  "rcode": 0,
  "rcode_name": "NOERROR",
  "AA": false,
  "TC": false,
  "RD": true,
  "RA": true,
  "Z": 0,
  "answers": [
    "31.3.245.133"
  ],
  "TTLs": [
    3600
  ],
  "rejected": false
}

We can tell jq to output what it sees in “compact” format using the -c switch.

so16@so16:~/zeek-test/json$ jq . -c dns.log
{"ts":1591367999.306059,"uid":"CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":36844,"id.resp_h":"192.168.4.1","id.resp_p":53,"proto":"udp","trans_id":8555,"query":"testmyids.com","qclass":1,"qclass_name":"C_INTERNET","qtype":28,"qtype_name":"AAAA","rcode":0,"rcode_name":"NOERROR","AA":false,"TC":false,"RD":true,"RA":false,"Z":0,"rejected":false}
{"ts":1591367999.305988,"uid":"CMdzit1AMNsmfAIiQc","id.orig_h":"192.168.4.76","id.orig_p":36844,"id.resp_h":"192.168.4.1","id.resp_p":53,"proto":"udp","trans_id":19671,"rtt":0.06685185432434082,"query":"testmyids.com","qclass":1,"qclass_name":"C_INTERNET","qtype":1,"qtype_name":"A","rcode":0,"rcode_name":"NOERROR","AA":false,"TC":false,"RD":true,"RA":true,"Z":0,"answers":["31.3.245.133"],"TTLs":[3600],"rejected":false}

The power of jq becomes evident when we decide we only want to see specific values. For example, the following tells jq to look at the dns.log and report the source IP of systems doing DNS queries, followed by the query, and any answer to the query.

so16@so16:~/zeek-test/json$ jq -c '[."id.orig_h", ."query", ."answers"]' dns.log
["192.168.4.76","testmyids.com",null]
["192.168.4.76","testmyids.com",["31.3.245.133"]]

For a more comprehensive description of the capabilities of jq, see the jq manual.

With this basic understanding of how to interact with Zeek logs, we can now turn to specific logs and interpret their values.

Conclusion

This section showed a sample of the sorts of logs that Zeek generates when processing a simple network trace. It explained the differences between logs in the traditional TSV format and the newer JSON format. It also demonstrated the use of a few simple command line tools to inspect Zeek logs in both formats.