Default-log-dir not honored when running suricata command in foreground without -l parameter

Help
1

Please include the following information with your help request:

  • Suricata version → Suricata 7.0.3
  • Operating system and/or Linux distribution → Ubuntu 24.04.1
  • How you installed Suricata (from source, packages, something else): sudo apt install suricata

When running sudo suricata -c /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml -r some.pcap I’ve noticed fast.log, eve.json and stats.log files are created in current working directory instead of in /var/log/suricata directory, which is the location set inside suricata.yaml config file (specifically, in its default-log-dir: option). I must add -l /var/log/suricata argument in order to put these files inside this wanted folder.

That’s not the documented behaviour, so I infer there’s some bug.
Thanks

2

Thanks for reaching out.

I’ve looked at the source code and the behavior is intentional, even if not documented.

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The idea behind this is if Suricata is also running as a service, and you run it as a PCAP and log to the same directory, you will corrupt those log files for the service.

So running on a device is considered system mode, and on a file is user mode, where as you noticed logs to current directory.

Yes, we need documentation on this.

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Indeed, there’s a ticket for that, even… Documentation #7545: userguide: document user mode and system mode and their relation to the log directory - Suricata - Open Information Security Foundation

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Thanks very much everyone!!